I'm re-reading Thomas Merton's Contemplative Prayer. A classic!
He begins by asserting that this type of prayer is not just for "monks" but it is for all people engaged in all types of occupations:
Certainly, in the pressures of modern urban life, many will face the need for a certain interior silence and discipline simply to keep themselves together, to maintain their human and Christian identity and their spiritual freedom.
He then goes on to describe the practice of contemplative prayer, calling it "prayer of the heart" which consists of "interior recollection, the abandonment of distracting thoughts and the humble invocation of the Lord Jesus with words from the Bible in a spirit of intense faith."
He says that prayer of the heart is a "way of keeping oneself in the presence of God and of reality, rooted in one's own inner truth." It is prayer that is "accomplished in silence, in nakedness of spirit, in emptiness, in humility."
This type of prayer goes beyond mental meditation on Scripture or spiritual images. This latter is very benefial and encouraged by Scripture (i.e Psalm 1:3). Although contemplative prayer (or prayer of the heart) is often initiated by meditative prayer, it goes beyond it. It is a "prayer of silence, simplicity... a deep personal integration in an attentive, watchful listening of "the heart."
Scripture uses terms like "gazing upon His beauty," "waiting on the Lord," and "abiding in Him" to describe this type of prayer.
Prayer of the heart (contemplation) is like two lovers just being together. They have passed beyond conversation and have entered into a place of silently enjoying being in the company of each other.
Merton says that contemplative prayer is "not so much a way to find God as a way of resting in him whom we have found, who loves us, who is near to us, who comes to us to draw us to himself." He states that through this type of prayer "we seek God himself present in the depths of our being and meet him there by invoking the name of Jesus in faith, wonder and love." This is the practice of being with the One who is "more intimate to us than we are to ourselves."
I will fill you in on more of Merton as I continue to read.
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