Our glory and our hope - We are the Body of Christ. Christ loves us and espouses us as His own flesh. Isn't that enough for us? But we do not really believe it. No! Be content, be content. We are the Body of Christ. We have found Him, He has found us. We are in Him, He is in us. There is nothing further to look for except for the deepening of this life we already possess. Be content.
Thomas Merton. A Search for Solitude. Edited by Lawrence S. Cunningham (Harper San Francisco, 1996) p. 70
I know there are some who would say that Merton would have done better had he followed his own advice! Be that as it may, it is good advice, and necessary, for living the contemplative life on any level. There are few things so destructive of prayer as discontent and restlessness. The Benedictine concept of "stability of life" has always moved me, even when - not living in community - I have not been able always to follow it for myself.
4 comments:
'There are few things so destructive of prayer as discontent and restlessness' Oh how well I know this one - but I suppose if there were no inner conflict to resolve between action and contemplation, there would be no path. And yet - just to fully live that path of the contemplative, to delve into it, is a rich path all on its own, though we seem to 'go nowhere and do nothing.' Thank you for this, Mike.
Yes - it's all too true of me too, Kelly! I think you're right: the path, and the fact that there is a path, actually consists in difficulty and contradiction. But like you, I constantly long for that stillness beyond contradiction, that just sitting quietly with the Lord, that poor Martha found so difficult to cope with in her sister!
Mike
Francios de Sales once said that if all you do for the whole of your hour is have your heart wander away and you continually bring it back your hour will have been well spent. (Not the exact quote but the idea.) That comforts me in those times when it seems like I can't even manage to bring intention to the table.
I think it was Father Sophrony, Lindy, who said something to the effect that if he had one minute of real prayer in 30 minutes of praying, he really felt he was getting somewhere... It begins to look as though it may be true. Not sure if that's encouraging or depressing ;-)
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