About the Mindfulness and Christian Contemplative Prayer (day 2 of 3) course
Mindfulness is useful to revive and deepen the contemplative approach to prayer, where abiding silently in the awareness of God’s presence and love matters more than words. The three study days will focus on the core attitudes of mindful practice and their usefulness for contemplative prayer.
Christian prayer and life can hugely benefit from the wisdom of mindfulness. Mindfulness is especially useful to revive and deepen the contemplative approach to prayer, where abiding silently in the awareness of God’s presence and love matters more than words.
This series of talks has three aims:
(i) understanding more deeply mindfulness and contemplation on their own term; (ii) explore the practical ways in which mindfulness can help to improve daily prayer and make it more contemplative; (iii) expand a mindful and contemplative attitude in all the activities of daily life.
These are the themes of each study day:
1. Suspending judgment & acceptance: the core attitudes of mindful practice and their usefulness for contemplative prayer.
2. Guarding of the heart (nepsis) in the Christian ascetical tradition and watchfulness of thought in the practice of mindfulness.
3. Abiding with the text in the Christian practice of Lectio Divina and paying attention in the practice of mindfulness .
While building on each other, each of these study days is an independent unit. Therefore participants can take part in any or all of them and join at any stage. The study days will combine teaching, practice, and reflection on the practice.
About the course leader
From 27 November 2022, The Revd Luigi Gioia is Associate for Adult Education and Formation at St Thomas Church in New York. His previous ministry role was as Associate Priest and Director of Formation at St Paul’s Knightsbridge, London.
He gives talks, preaches retreats, leads workshops and study days, teaches courses as an invited lecturer in universities, theological colleges, parishes and a variety of institutions in UK, USA and many other countries. He is research associate of the Von Hügel Institute at the University of Cambridge (UK). Besides his academic works, he has written several wide-audience books of spirituality. His first book on prayer Say It To God. In Search Of Prayer was chosen as the Archbishop of Canterbury Lent Book for 2018. His last book, The Wisdom of St Benedict. Monastic Spirituality and the Life of the Church received the First Place in the category of Spirituality Award by the CMA (Catholic Media Association, USA) in 2021. His books have been translated in five languages.
