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koinonia in liturgy

“Consequently, every Camaldolese (as in deed every Christian) should focus their spirituality on Eucharist: ‘Each monk and the community as a whole are to orient their life in such a way that it is preparation for, and an extension of the Eucharistic action’.” [quoting from the Camaldolese Constitutions]

Hale, Robert. “Koinonia: The Privilege of Love.” in Belisle, Peter-Damian, editor. The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2002, p. 102.

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living the practices

“Begin by consenting to God’s presence and action in your life, in your heart, in your mind and body. How do we express this consent in real, concrete ways? Traditionally, the means by which mystics have lived a mystical or contemplative life has been through regular spiritual practices. And while different mystics have focused on or emphasized different practices, all in all there are just a few basic ways of responding to the mystical call.”

McColman, Carl. The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism: an Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2023, p. 336.

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spending priorities

“To allow governments to pour more and more billions into weapons that almost immediately become obsolete, thereby necessitating more billions for newer and bigger weapons, is one of the most colossal injustices in the long history of man. While we are doing this, two-thirds of the world is starving, or living in conditions of subhuman destitution.”

Merton, Thomas. “Peace: a Religious Responsibility.” (1962) in Selected Essays. Edited with an introduction by Patrick F. O’Connell. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2013, p. 139.

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deep meaning of Baptism

"Here, then are our principles: We are baptized into the whole Christ. Baptism implies a responsibility to develop one’s supernatural life, to nourish it by love of God, to reproduce and spread it by love for other men. All this is ordered to the final perfection of a plan that extends far beyond our own individual salvation: a plan for God’s glory which lies at the very heart of the universe. This mystery we must believe and seek to understand if we would make anything of conversion and vocation.

“I might add that every baptism implies a distinct individual vocation, a peculiar function in the building up of the Mystical Body.”

Merton, Thomas. “The White Pebble.” (1950) in Selected Essays. Edited with an introduction by Patrick F. O’Connell. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2013, p. 7.

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knowledge and wonder

“Appetite is rooted in wonder and has intimacy with some creature or ensemble of creatures as its end. Knowledge, in turn, on its Christian construal, is a particular kind of intimacy between one creature and another.”

Griffiths, Paul J. Intellectual Appetite: a Theological Grammar. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009, p. 125.

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openness

“And it’s been my experience that mystical or contemplative Christians tend toward an openness to the wisdom of other religions; however, this openness remains–at least for Christians–rooted in the central wisdom teachings of Jesus, the Bible, and the Christian mystics. Contemplative Christians explore the wisdom of other faiths not to dilute or weaken the wisdom teachings of Jesus, but to strengthen and deepen our appreciation of those teachings.”

McColman, Carl. The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism: an Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2023, p. 22.

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choosing the harder part

“I admit that it is possible and necessary for many Christians to live immersed in ‘the world’ and all that it implies, but they are precisely the ones who ought to practice the most difficult asceticism.”

Merton, Thomas. “The White Pebble.” (1950) in Selected Essays. Edited with an introduction by Patrick F. O’Connell. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2013, p. 10.

Comment: The medieval monastics and the hermits out in wild places have been thought of as the champions, the hard-working prayer warriors, the real ascetics giving up everything for God. Merton turns that on its head by pointing out that it is actually harder to live a Christian life in ‘the world’ amidst the noise.

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purpose of contemplative spirituality

“The purpose of contemplative and mystical spirituality is to foster greater intimacy with and devotion to God, which in itself is a universal goal of all religious and spiritual traditions that are God-centered (Buddhism does not require belief in God, so in a sense it’s a philosophy). Mystical, contemplative spirituality invites us deep into the wisdom of a path without insisting that it is the only path. This is true for contemplative Christians as well as for contemplatives of other traditions.”

McColman, Carl. The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism: an Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2023, pp. 297-298.