Posted on by Kurt Bodling

gifts of solitude

"One of the gifts of solitude, and one of the first to be discovered, is the gift of attentiveness. …

"Related to the gift of attentiveness is the gift of healing. … No one would deny that people play a crucial role in healing. But there is an aspect of spiritual and emotional healing that seems best accomplished alone, especially when tha healing relates to coming to terms with loss or with some significant change in one’s life. …

"Personal clarity, insight, and creativity are other gifts of solitude. …

“The greatest gift of solitude, however, is an awareness of the presence of God. God is often discovered in a very personal way during periods of solitude.”

Moore, Christopher Chamberlin. Solitude: A Neglected Path to God. Cambridge, MA: Cowley Publications, 2001, pp. 12-14.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

rebirth through travail

“Solitude and silence are wonderful refreshment, a healthy alternative to the noise and chaos of this modern world. But anyone who as spent more than just a few hours or days practicing this knows that the process of rebirth from death to self is often found only through some experience of travail. Only then do we know the joys of the newborn child of the Spirit of God.”

Talbot, John Michael. The World is My Cloister: Living From the Hermit Within. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2010, page 23.

Comment: Talbot says that the suffering of the dark night will indeed hit us – he says sooner, rather than later – once we begin the disciplines of silence and solitude. But he also assures us that it’s a period we have to go through in order to reach the joy of new life in Christ.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

the true self and your vocation

"The discovery of our true self does not simply produce freedom. It also generates vocation. … First, we are called to be human beings. … A second level of calling is to be Christians. …

“But we can also think of our calling in terms of our mission in the world, the way of living out our uniqueness within the more general call to become fully human as we follow Jesus toward union with God. Gordon Smith notes that–much bigger than a career, job or occupation–our unique calling will be based on our gifts and abilities, will grow out of our deepest desires, and will always involve some response to the needs of the world.”

Benner, David G. The Gift of Being Yourself. Expanded ed. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2015, pp. 87-88.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

silence and solitude are linked

“Usually, silence and solitude are joined together. One is not possible, or at least fruitful, without the other. For instance, if we seek both external and interior silence, we must establish an environment where this deep silence can be developed and can grow. That environment is solitude. When solitude and silence are joined together, they produce a sacred stillness that permeates every aspect of our life.”

Talbot, John Michael. The World is My Cloister: Living From the Hermit Within. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2010, page 21.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

lectio’s depths

"Lectio is a practice in which you slow down, creating space in which you can gently learn to seek, and discern, God’s presence hidden in the sacred text and in the subtle stirrings of your heart and mind.

“By opening up to the divine presence through the written word, you simultaneously open yourself up to the deeply relational nature of the Christian contemplative life, which is indeed the heart of the mystical path.”

McColman, Carl. The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism: an Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2023, pp. 256-257.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

good news

“The good news of mystical Christianity offers a new way of thinking about God, and especially of experiencing God. It’s good news for everyone, especially for anyone who is seeking a spirituality that is anchored in love, compassion, community, justice, and higher consciousness.”

McColman, Carl. The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism: an Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2023, p. 116

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

benefit of Christ’s suffering

“We must give ourselves wholly to this matter, for the main benefit of Christ’s passion is that man sees into his own true self and that he be terrified and crushed by this. Unless we seek that knowledge, we do not derive much benefit from Christ’s passion.”

Luther, Martin. “A Meditation on Christ’s Passion” (1519) Luther’s Works Vol. 42. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969, page 10.

Comment: Here Luther says that the main benefit to us of Christ’s passion is the crushing of the Law. It comes down to the fact that if I had not sinned then Christ would not have had to suffer and die. The grace only benefits me after that.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

losing focus while in prayer

“In my day I have prayed many such canonical hours myself, regrettably, and in such a manner that the psalm or the allotted time came to an end before I even realized whether I was at the beginning or in the middle. … But, praise God, it is now clear to me that a person who forgets what he has said has not prayed well. In a good prayer one fully remembers every word and thought from the beginning to the end of the prayer.” 

Luther, Martin. “A Simple Way to Pray” (1535) Luther’s Works Vol. 43. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969, page 199.

Comment: Our minds wander all the time. Even when we are in prayer or at worship or during a sermon. (Try especially not to let that happen when you are leading prayers and worship, or preaching!) In prayer times, if you get to the end – however you are measuring that – and can’t really remember what you said, there is good reason to question just what you’ve been doing. This may well mean that you shouldn’t pray for too long a time. It could be like advice for study or exercise: repeated short periods of time are usually more helpful than long stretches.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

one Catholic theologian’s view

“Under the direction of Pius IX, an emotionally unstable man untroubled by intellectual doubt who evinced the symptoms of a psychopath, the medieval Counter-Reformation Catholic fortress was now built up against modernity with all available powers. The chill of religious indifference, hostility to the church, and a lack of faith might prevail outside in the modern world. But within, papalism and Marianism disseminated the warmth of home: emotional security through popular piety of every kind, from pilgrimages through devotions for the masses to the May prayers to Mary.”

Küng, Hans. The Catholic Church: a Short History. New York: The Modern Library, 2003, page 161.

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unmoored from the old

“Even where the contemplative is not expressly forbidden to follow what he believes to be the inspiration of God (and this not rarely happens), he may feel himself continually and completely at odds with the accepted ideals of those around him. Their spiritual exercises may seem to him to be a bore and waste of time. Their sermons and their conversation may leave him exhausted with a sense of futility: as if he had been pelted with words without meaning. Their choral offices, their excitement over liturgical ceremony and chant may rob him of the delicate taste of an interior manna that is not found in formulas of prayers and exterior rites. If only he could be alone and quiet, and remain in the emptiness, darkness, and purposelessness in which God speaks with such overwhelming effect! But no, spiritual lights and nosegays are forced upon his mind, he must think and say words, he must sing ‘Alleluias’ that somebody else wants him to feel. He must strive to smack his lips on a sweetness which seems to be unutterably coarse and foul: not because of what it aspires to say, but simply because it is secondhand.” (p. 77)

Merton, Thomas. The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation. Edited and with an Introduction by William H. Shannon. NY: HarperOne, 2003, page 77. (NOTE: Merton wrote this text in 1959)