Ignatian exercises or lectio divina in which the practitioner "listens to the text of the Bible with the 'ear of the heart', as if he or she is in conversation with God, and God is suggesting the topics for discussion." In Catholic Christianity, contemplation is given importance. The Catholic Church's "model theologian", St. Thomas Aquinas wrote: "It is requisite for the good of the human community that there should be persons who devote themselves to the life of contemplation." (Sentences) One of his disciples, Josef Pieper commented: "For it is contemplation which preserves in the midst of human society the truth which is at one and the same time useless and the yardstick of every possible use; so it is also contemplation which keeps the true end in sight, gives meaning to every practical act of life." Pope John Paul II in the Apostolic Letter "Rosarium Virginis Mariae" referred specifically to the catholic devotion of the Holy Rosary as "an exquisitely contemplative prayer" and said that "By its nature the recitation of the Rosary calls for a quiet rhythm and a lingering pace, helping the individual to meditate on the mysteries of the Lord's life as seen through the eyes of her who was closest to the Lord. In this way the unfathomable riches of these mysteries are disclosed." According to Aquinas, the highest form of life is the contemplative which communicates the fruits of contemplation to others, since it is based on the abundance of contemplation (contemplari et contemplata aliis tradere) (ST, III, Q. 40, A. 1, Ad 2). See also Attunement Contemplative education Contemplative prayer Henosis Hesychasm Interior life Miksang (contemplative photography) Prayer of Quiet Quietism (Christian philosophy) Religious experience Notes References Further reading Butler, Cuthbert. Western Mysticism: Augustine, Gregory and Bernard on Contemplation and the Contemplative Life. Dover, Mineola, New York, 2003. second ed. (Originally published by E.P. Dutton, London 1926). Lossky, Vladimir. The Vision of God. SVS Press, 1997. Papanikolaou, Aristotle. Being With God. University of Notre Dame Press, 2006. Plested, Marcus.The Macarian Legacy: The Place of Macarius-Symeon in the Eastern Christian Tradition. Oxford Theological Monographs, 2004. Spidlik, Tomas. The Spirituality of the Christian East: A Systematic Handbook. Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo Michigan, 1986. Staniloae, Dumitru. The Experience of God: Revelation and Knowledge of the Triune God. Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, Volume 1. Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2005. Staniloae, Dumitru. The Experience of God: The World, Creation and