“Hence, the Christian mystical experience is not only an awareness of the inner self, but also, by a supernatural intensification of faith, it is an experiential grasp of God as present within our inner self.” (Merton, Thomas. The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation. Edited and with an Introduction by William H. Shannon. NY: HarperOne, 2003, p. 12)
the Bible in solitude
“The Psalms are the true garden of the solitary and the Scriptures are his Paradise. They reveal their secrets to him because, in his extreme poverty and humility, he has nothing else to live by except their fruits. For the true solitary the reading of Scripture ceases to be an ‘exercise’ among other exercises, a means of ‘cultivating’ the intellect or ‘the spiritual life’ or ‘appreciating the liturgy.’ To those who read Scripture in an academic or aesthetic or merely devotional way the Bible indeed offers pleasant refreshment and profitable thoughts. But to learn the inner secrets of the Scriptures we must make them our true daily bread, find God in them when we are in greatest need–and usually when we can find Him nowhere else and have nowhere else to look!” (Merton, Thomas. Thoughts in Solitude. NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 1958. (pbk ed 1999), pp. 126-127)
Merton tells us that reading God’s Word changes from a work we do and becomes a refreshment God does for us as we go deeper into solitude. Without other voices telling us “Look, here is Christ” or “There he is” we can become more comfortable and familiar with God through the Bible than before.
becoming a solitary
“To love solitude and to seek it does not mean constantly travelling from one geographical possibility to another. A man becomes a solitary at the moment when, no matter what may be his external surroundings, he is suddenly aware of his own inalienable solitude and sees that he will never be anything but solitary. From that moment, solitude is not potential–it is actual.”
Merton, Thomas. Thoughts in Solitude. NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 1958. (pbk ed 1999), page 77.
let’s take a moment
“Since God is at the depth and centre of your soul, why not then pause from time to time at least from that which occupies you outwardly, even from your spoken prayer, to worship him inwardly, to praise Him, to offer Him your heart and thank Him? What can God have that gives Him greater satisfaction than that a thousand, thousand times a day all His creatures should thus pause to withdraw and worship Him in the heart.” – Brother Lawrence
from an 1981 translation by E.M. Blaiklock quoted in Celtic Daily Prayer, book two. (London: William Collins, 2015), page 1476.
The King
The King shall come when morning dawns
And light triumphant breaks,
When beauty gilds the eastern hills
And life to joy awakes.
Oh, brighter than the rising morning
When Christ, victorious, rose
And left the lonesome place of death
Despite the rage of foes.
Oh, brighter than that glorious morn
Shall dawn upon our race
The day when Christ in splendor comes
And we shall see his face.
The King shall come when morning dawns
And light and beauty brings.
Hail, Christ the Lord! Your people pray:
Come quickly, King of kings.
hymn text by John Brownlie (1859-1925)
Pathology: the Study of a Path 