Contemplative prayer may sound a bit escapist or even elitist. It’s not. Far from it. The word itself is comes from the Latin, contemplatio, which refers to “the act of looking deeply”. The word is made up of two Latin roots, con-, which means “with” or “together”, and -tempore, which refers to the “moment”. So contemplative prayer is prayer that, in its most basic form, is rooted deeply in the present—in daily, ordinary life . . . nothing elitist or escapist at all.

Instead, it aims to bring all of you “together with” all that’s happening in the “moment.”

And when you’re all here—all now—then you’re present to all of God and God is present to all of you.