She “asked herself what this greeting could mean” (Lk 1:29)
Mary, a woman of contemplation
4th Sunday of Advent – Year B
As a priest it is not easy to separate your academic interests, your faith-life, and your ministry. At least I don’t find it that easy. In my current academic research for a PhD, I am studying the effect of Christian contemplative practice on recovery from addictive behaviour. Past few weeks I have been analysing the journal entries and interviews of some of the participants in the intervention-study that I conducted a few months back. The method of contemplation that I used is called ‘Jesus Prayer’ – it originated among the desert fathers and mothers in the 4th centuryEgypt, and is still very popular in the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches. It simply consists of repeating the prayer from the gospels: “Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me […]