Cataphatic Prayer
A young minister I respect mentioned cataphatic prayer in passing, which caused me to Google it, which caused me to find a bunch of conservative sites complaining about it, which caused me to think there's probably something good and valuable about it. Here's some background, from http://cicministry.org/commentary/issue83.htm "Seeing is Believing promotes ???cataphatic prayer,???48 a version of mysticism that involves using mental images of the human imagination to supposedly help a person experience God more profoundly. The following is a definition of cataphatic prayer published in a Creighton University article:" Another form of prayer, called cataphatic, honors and reverences images and feelings and goes through them to God. This form of prayer also has an ancient and well-attested history in the world of religions. Any sort of prayer that highlights the mediation of creation can be called cataphatic. So, praying before icons or images of saints; the mediation of sacraments and sacramentals; prayer out in creation - all these are cataphatic forms of prayer.49
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