Making meditation practical

Introduction to the Devout Life
Part II, Chapters 1-9
Group 2 - Korean Language Group
(Jung Seung-Ku, JS Kim Jong-Soo, Michael Lee Chun-Seob, Oh Kwang-Cheol)

1. Our group could reaffirm that Introduction to the Devout Life is the practical spiritual guide which can more closely lead prayers to God. Francis de Sales, in part II, chapters 1-9, introduces readers into the detailed practice of prayer from experiencing the presence of God to managing dryness in meditation. He not only explains the importance of the process of raising oneself to God by easy examples, but also proposes practical methods for meditation. Moreover, the verses in the Bible he shows for meditation may be very useful to prayers, especially, to beginners of meditation.

2. In Protestant tradition, we are not familiar with praying to our Guardian Angel and to the holy persons. By sharing opinions with each other, however, we could understand that by imagining holy persons in the Bible, it is possible to share the experience of heart and mind that they had at that time, and to allow ourselves to come closer to God today.

3. Francis stresses that meditation has to advance to making a deliberate decision and taking deliberate action. We were impressed by his teaching that the fruit of meditation is gained through the practice. Meditation is completed by practice in our life, and contemplation and life are not different from each other but the one reality. Therefore, meditation is not the spiritual refuge but the place of spiritual action for Christians who want to raise themselves to God.

Jongsoo