Contemplative PrayerIn this classic text, Thomas Merton offers valuable guidance for prayer. He brings together a wealth of meditative and mystical influences–from John of the Cross to Eastern desert monasticism–to create a spiritual path for today. Most important, he shows how the peace contacted through meditation should not be sought in order to evade the problems of contemporary life, but can instead be directed back out into the world to affect positive change. Contemplative Prayer is one of the most well-known works of spirituality of the last one hundred years, and it is a must-read for all seeking to live a life of purpose in today’s world. In a moving and profound introduction, Thich Nhat Hanh offers his personal recollections of Merton and compares the contemplative traditions of East and West. |
From inside the book
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Page 5
... Pure Land tradition practice similarly . They know that what is most essential is to maintain true con- centration while reciting the name of Buddha , just as Christians know that they have to practice with their hearts and not call the ...
... Pure Land tradition practice similarly . They know that what is most essential is to maintain true con- centration while reciting the name of Buddha , just as Christians know that they have to practice with their hearts and not call the ...
Page 23
... pure , as if he were almost an angel , un- touched by matter and passion , and no longer familiar with the economy of sacraments , charity and the Cross . The way of monastic prayer is not a subtle escape from the Christian economy of ...
... pure , as if he were almost an angel , un- touched by matter and passion , and no longer familiar with the economy of sacraments , charity and the Cross . The way of monastic prayer is not a subtle escape from the Christian economy of ...
Page 24
... pure illusion , and ultimately he who lives for and by such an illusion must end either in disgust or in madness . On the other hand , we must admit that social life , so- called " worldly life , " in its own way promotes this illusory ...
... pure illusion , and ultimately he who lives for and by such an illusion must end either in disgust or in madness . On the other hand , we must admit that social life , so- called " worldly life , " in its own way promotes this illusory ...
Page 25
... pure faith . It must be said at once that this struggle does not end at the gate of a monastery , and often it may come to light again in a conflict over one's monastic vocation . The pur- pose of monastic renewal and reform is to find ...
... pure faith . It must be said at once that this struggle does not end at the gate of a monastery , and often it may come to light again in a conflict over one's monastic vocation . The pur- pose of monastic renewal and reform is to find ...
Page 44
... pure aridities and inward darkness , takes from them all these superficiali- ties and puerilities , and by very different means causes them to win the virtues . For however assiduously the beginner practices the mortification in himself ...
... pure aridities and inward darkness , takes from them all these superficiali- ties and puerilities , and by very different means causes them to win the virtues . For however assiduously the beginner practices the mortification in himself ...
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Common terms and phrases
abandon action and contemplation active Augustine Baker awareness Basil beams of love become Benedict Benedictine Bernard bring Buddhists called canonical hours Christ Christian Church conflict contemplative prayer dark night deep deepest Desert Father desire devotio moderna devotion dread efforts emptiness enter Evagrius Ponticus existential experience face fact faith Father freedom Garcia de Cisneros God's grace Gregory he/she Holy Spirit humility images imagination Jakob Boehme John John Tauler kind knowledge light liturgical prayer liturgy live Lord means meditation mental prayer mercy mind monastery monastic prayer monasticism monk mystery mystical name of Jesus ness never nothingness one's oratio ourselves perhaps personal prayer Philokalia practice pray prayer and meditation presence private prayer Psalms pure purity of heart quietism reality realize religion religious sacrifice seeds of joy seek sense silence simple solitude soul speak Tauler things Thomas Merton tion tradition true understanding vocation words
Popular passages
Page 41 - If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you.
Page 41 - For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!
Page 41 - Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.
Page 76 - For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
Page 12 - ... there was once in man a true happiness of which there now remain to him only the mark and empty, trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in things present? But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God Himself.
Page 39 - Christians could perhaps be cured by a simple respect for the concrete realities of every-day life, for nature, for the body, for one's work, one's friends, one's surroundings, etc. A false supernaturalism which imagines that "the supernatural" is a kind of Platonic realm of abstract essences totally apart from and opposed to the concrete world of nature, offers no real support to a genuine life of meditation and prayer. Meditation has no point and no reality unless it is firmly rooted in life.
Page 32 - That I might bless the Lord Who conserves all, • Heaven with its countless bright orders, Land, strand, and flood. That I might search the books all That would be good for...
Page 78 - For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
Page 102 - For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up and high...
Page 41 - In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.