Meditation had been part of the life of the church from the very beginning. We can see it in the teaching of Jesus on prayer when he tells us to go into our inner room; when he tells us to be silent, not to go babbling on like the pagans who think the more they say the more likely they are to be heard; when he tells us to lay aside our worries and anxieties at the time of prayer; when he tells us to set our mind on God’s kingdom before everything else, to pay attention; and when he tells us to live in the present moment, not to be worrying about tomorrow all the time. (Mt 6:6-8, 33) This is his teaching on prayer – to go into our inner room. And these early Christian disciples of the desert lived this spirit of prayer as the essential way of living true discipleship. Not just external discipleship but the discipleship of the heart.
(Christian Life in the Light of Christian Meditation 1: Discipleship by Laurence Freeman OSB )
