Christ?” He replies “a contemplation of Christs love, and desires after further sense
of it, Eph. 3.17, 18, 19.”^6
While the meaning of contemplation^7 has varied over the centuries, the
general meaning, and the one used here follows that of Thomas Merton^ who writes of
contemplation as a “constant loving attention to God” and as a “simple contemplative
gaze.”^8 Likewise Richard Foster writes; “[p]ut simply, the contemplative life is the
steady gaze of the soul upon the God who loves us.”^9 The integrative thread that
unites these various definitions with Ambrose’s own use of the term is that
contemplation is a loving and sustained gaze upon God’s presence in creation and
God’s mighty acts. It is more about noticing and admiring God’s presence than it is
about being able to dissect and explain the meaning of something about God. Further,
contemplation is an attitude and a practice that may yield the gift of a contemplative
experience. Contemplation also produces increased love and knowledge. However,
the gift of contemplation is always dependent upon God’s grace as Bernard
continually reminded his fellow monks.^10 There is no formula or technique that
guarantees that if a person prays in a certain way that it will produce a contemplative
experience. Therefore, contemplation is both an attitude and activity of loving
focused attention or gazing on God that provides a means for keeping company with
and enjoying Jesus Christ.
(^6) Ambrose, Media (^) (1657), 355 (^) - 6.
(^7) For a helpful introduction to contemplation see Aumann, New Catholic
Encyclopedia 8 , 4:203-9.
Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, 217, 219. cf. von Balthasar, Prayer, 20, 104-
- 9
10 Foster, McGinn, Streams of Living WaterGrowth of Mysticism, 211., 49. cf. Foster, Prayer the Heart’s True Home, 158.^