The Pilgrimage to the Heart: Contemplation and Compassion

By Carol Fowler MPS

As Christians, we gain the knowledge of God through catechetical instruction, sermons, and Bible study groups. It is quite another thing to have an intimate and experiential relationship with God and truly know him as we would a friend. Contemporary medical research and the great spiritual traditions concur that we are wired to connect and experience God on our lifes journey, and this connection has a transformative effect on our lives. How do we bridge the gap between belief and the reality or the experience of God? Drawing on insights from the early Christian monks and their contributions to the contemplative prayer tradition, the reader is invited to embark upon a pilgrimage to the heart on his or her personal quest to find God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jun 29, 2018
• ISBN: 9781973629726

Carol Fowler MPS

Carol Fowler is the author of Wake up God, a book of meditation for children. She has a masters degree in pastoral studies and is an avid photographer. Carol spent over thirty years teaching and giving workshops on contemplative prayer and spirituality, as well as facilitating a meditation group at San Quentin federal prison and a ministry at Stanford Childrens Hospital. It was through this work that Carol became aware of the human need for an experiential awareness of God, and the healing effect of meditation and prayer in peoples lives.

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Copyright © 2018 Carol Fowler, MPS.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

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ISBN: 978-1-9736-2973-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-2972-6 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 06/29/2018

Contents

Introduction

Preface

The Human Experience

I Have Called You Friends

Two Stories

Are we wired for God?

Wake up God

The Pilgrimage to the Heart

Travel Brochure

The Passion of God

Contemplation: Our Response

Compassion: The Fruit of relationship

You will see my back

Handprints of God

Prayer of the Heart

Lectio Divina

Epilogue

Introduction

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Today five billion people use mobile phones worldwide. Steve Jobs, the genius behind this technology, revolutionized the way we can communicate with one another. We can connect 24/7 with the outside world whether we are on the ski slopes at Vail, walking our dog in the neighborhood park, or on a safari. Cell phones have transformed the way we live and how we connect with one another.

On June 12, 2005, Steve Jobs gave the commencement speech at Stanford University. He had been diagnosed with cancer the year before, and in his address he says, No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. We are all pilgrims on life’s journey and our destination is heaven or God. But what about the intervening part of the journey before we arrive at our destination? Are we hardwired to connect and experience God here on earth, or do we have to wait until we get to heaven? Contemporary medical research and the great spiritual traditions concur that we are ‘wired’ to connect with God on our life’s journey, and this connection has a transformative effect on our lives.

Foundational to Christianity is the belief that God is our center, and that our journey in life is to awaken to the Divine Reality within ourselves and in all of life’s experiences. Christianity provides pathways of prayer and meditation to enable the seeker to awaken to and experience the divine unity within oneself. It is in this awakening that one grows in living a life of compassion and becomes a bearer of love on one’s life journey.

Preface

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Our hearts are restless until they can find rest in you — Augustine of Hippo (354-430).

These words are the heartbeat of all pilgrims who are seeking to know and find God.

It was the beginning of summer on a warm Sunday morning as my father and I sat under the large gardenia tree in the back yard of our southern California home. It was one of those special moments we imprint in our memory: just a child with her father having lemonade together. As we sat there in the stillness of the early morning, I asked my dad, "If you are really good can you