Contemplative prayer is where God works silently in your heart.

Connie Rossini

Who is Connie Rossini?

Connie Rossini helps whole families grow in intimacy with Christ. She is the author of The Q & A Guide to Mental Prayer and 4 other books on Catholic spirituality and parenting. She is also the co-author of The Contemplative Rosary. In her Facebook group Authentic Contemplative Prayer, nearly 12,000 members discuss the spiritual life, where, the atmosphere is orthodox and charitable. You can find her at her blog: contemplativehomeschool.com.

In this episode, I talk to Connie Rossini about contemplative prayer. She talks about:
-What is contemplation?
-How does it differ from meditation?
-What are some ways we can prepare for contemplative prayer?
-What are the fruits of this? How does this help our personal life and spiritual life?

What is contemplative prayer?

It’s all in the prep

I wrote to Connie right as summer was at it’s peak and everyone was busy getting ready for school. I read Connie’s post on contemplation before. It was just after we recorded our 53rd episode on contemplation with Eric Johnston. When he mentioned it during our podcast, I just knew we had to cover it.

Connie was super quick after I reached out to her on Twitter. We discussed the podcast and soon we had a date. Despite the vacation, she was happy to record. We also have Carmelite priests in the family so we had something in common. Her brother is a Carmelite priest.

I am really surprised by everything Connie said about contemplative prayer. My own understanding of this has been very skewed.

Something Connie said struck me.

“Preparation is the only thing that we can do.”

Connie Rossini

That’s right. We can prepare, be holy and wait. It’s God who does the rest. Contemplative prayer is God’s grace. He comes to us and fills us with His presence. There is no way you can practice it or do stuff to make it happen. It comes when God says we’re ready. We’re ready as long as we do God’s will in that moment of time.

Contemplative prayer takes time

This really was shocking. Connie says this form of prayer takes time to develop. As long as fifteen years. I say we might as well start somewhere. So don’t be afraid. I love the meditative aspects of prayer. Often, I’m just moved to silence, because words can’t described what I feel during my very short prayer time. If I’m at adoration, I find, I cannot verbalize anything at all. Connie addresses all these moments and the reasons why it takes time in this episode. I’m so grateful that she shared her own personal experience with us. It was wonderful to hear her talk about her own personal experience and I encourage you, if you’re keen on starting this form of prayer to take a look at her books.

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