Can Catholics meditate

Answer 1

Yes. I believe they call it "Contemplative Prayer"

Roman Catholic AnswerMeditation in the Catholic tradition is a way of praying that involves thinking over something and applying it to one's life. One form of this is called Lectio Divinia where one uses The Bible, reading a little bit, and then praying to God, asking Him to help you apply the bit of reading to your life. Many of the saints came up with extensive methods of meditation, but it can be as simple as Lectio, or even praying the Our Father, slowly while thinking about each phrase. It has nothing whatsoever to do with or any likeness at all to Eastern meditation which is very anti-Christian and not related in any way to what we refer to when using the term "meditation".

Contemplation, on the other hand, is a kind of prayer that God gives one who is advanced in meditation. Meditation is basically "beginner's prayer". Contemplation is what God gives one after, usually, years of meditation, and "living the Gospel generously". We, of ourselves, as St. Teresa of Avila says, can not do the least thing to attain contemplation.

from Modern Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J. Doubleday & Co., Inc. Garden City, NY 1980Reflective prayer. It is that form of mental prayer in which the mind, in God's presence, thinks about God and divine things. While the affections may also be active, the stress in meditation is on the role of the intellect. Hence this is also called discursive mental prayer. The Objects of meditation are mainly three: mysteries of faith; a person's better knowledge of what God wants him or her to do; and the divine will, to know how God wants to be served by the one who is meditating. (Etym. Latin meditatio a thinking over.)