Touched by God: The Way to Contemplative Prayer
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
Luigi Gioia's Say it to God was chosen for the 2018 Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book--no mean feat for a first time author. In this new book, Gioia moves on to show the art of contemplation. But he points out from the start that contemplation is not a more advanced way of praying but a greater awareness of the presence of God. The defining mark of this awareness is that we become more and more aware of God's presence, a unique kind of inner peace and joy which has been described by spiritual authors with a variety of arresting and often poetic images.
What Gioia describes is not some kind of spiritual wonderland; for it does not dispense us from struggles and doubts and often the non-evidence of God. It brings a peace which coexists with doubt, a peace which can flourish in the middle of struggles, a joy that we can discover even in suffering.
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- Examines the role of feelings in our relation with God and answer the objections that they might be purely subjective and hence irrelevant or untrustworthy
- Revisits similar themes in a more narrative form with the help of the writings that the New Testament attributes to the Apostle John
- Interacts with a play and a novel to illustrate how contemplative prayer opens our eyes and our ears to recognize God's presence
Part One - Feelings
- The gift of Feeling
- Irrelevant Feelings
- Frustrating Feelings
- Silent Rest
- Restless Desire
- Mindfulness
- Arresting Awareness
- A Strange Ability
Part Two - John
- Empty Hands
- Playful Encounters
- Soft Spot
- Chasing the Fugitive
- God's Touch Body and Flesh
- Acknowledging Stillness
- Contemplating the Light
- Struggling to See
- The Inner Nagging
Part Three - Quietism
- Sue the bastard!
- Embracing history
- A new sense of identity
- What did you expect?