Contemplative Haven

Part 2: What is Prayer of the Heart?

I like very much Sister Donna’s insight that Lectio Divina and prayer of the heart go hand-in-hand; that we immerse ourselves in sacred reading and then offer ourselves to God and He to us, exactly in the same way as when we participate in the two parts of [...]

I had a very peculiar experience coming home from work yesterday.  I was on the bus coming from downtown to home, when about three-quarters of the way through my commute the back door of the bus started acting up.  The open-shut mechanism wasn’t working properly; people would get off and the door wouldn’t fully shut, etc., and [...]

Wondrous truths, and manifold as wondrous,
God hath written in those stars above;
But not less in the bright flowerets under us
Stands the revelation of his love.
[From Flowers, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]
 

Crown of Thorns

Bridal Wreath (Spiraea)

…the revelation of His love.

Part 1:  The Story of St. Teresa of Avila

I spent nearly twenty years on that stormy sea, often falling in this way and each time rising again, but to little purpose, as I would only fall once more. My life was so far from perfection that I took hardly any notice of venial sins; as [...]

“If no one told me who I was, who would I be? Quietly meditate on this by spending some time in the spaciousness of not knowing. Imagine that your subconscious mind is nonexistent and there is no storage receptacle for excuses during your life. There’s just an open and inviting clear space inside of you [...]

One of the best days of my life.     ♥

In Chapter XI of Contemplative Prayer (by Thomas Merton, with an Introduction by Thich Nhat Hanh), Merton writes:
What is the purpose of meditation in the sense of “the prayer of the heart”?
In the “prayer of the heart” we seek first of all the deepest ground of our identity in God. We do not reason about [...]

From a letter dated 1940:
Should we strive for perfect love, you ask? Absolutely. For this we were created. [Perfect love] will be our eternal life, and here we have to seek to come as close to it as possible. Jesus became incarnate in order to be our way. What can we do? Try with all [...]