As we begin the second year of this little newsletter, please know of the joy and gratitude received and given through our mutual sharing and prayer. That our "membership" almost quadrupled is perhaps an indication of how many hidden contemplatives live and work in our busy and noisy world. How crucial our Silence is for the balance and transformation of our planet!
In the November issue, having asked if anyone knew of THE ROLL, what a delight to discover a complementary group offering an in-depth, quarterly newsletter. Schola Contemplationis, dedicated to global spirituality, is a networking community for contemplatives in the world, at home and in monasteries.
"This is a new, yet genuine, way of 'living together', appropriate to the twentieth century, in which communication and interdependence enable us to dwell in the 'global village.' Schola (like Friends of Silence) seeks to provide a medium through which contemplatives who find themselves in need of support and companionship can minister to one another."
Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer utters itself. So, a woman will lift her head from the sieve of her hands and stare at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift. Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth enters our hearts, that small familiar pain; then a man will stand stack- still, hearing his youth in the distant Latin chanting of a train. Pray for us now.
A small seed sowed in the field. I am back to the part of darkness in
my prayer. As the seed opens in the ground, so the soul opens in the
ground, in the dark. Over the last decade, with each faltering step I
took into this darkness, my prayer — a prayer of no words — found
deeper roots. This way of prayer is the dark way of silence. This way
takes leave of discourse, of the mind, and turns to the heart, the
dwelling place of God.
~ from CIRCLING TO THE CENTER by Susan M. Tiberghien
Praying is not necessarily best described always as
looking towards God; sometimes and especially in
intercession, it is equally a learning to look at the
world as if with God's eyes.
In the life of the Indian there was only one inevitable duty — the duty of prayer — the daily recognition of the Unseen and Eternal. Daily devotions were more important than daily food. Each soul must meet the morning sun, the new sweet Earth, and the Great Silence alone.
Blessed be, dear friends! We will never know how the quality of life has been enhanced in the world through our silence and prayer. Yet, may we continue to offer our silent prayer as seeds of healing and peace sown with radical trust. When the prayer energy of silence is united with Love, the soul consciousness of the world awakens in equal measure.
A BLESSED NEW YEAR, dear friends, as we enter our sixteenth year of radiating SILENCE out to the world. In these troubling times, may the depth of our silence be a PRAYER FOR PEACE over all the Earth. Each prayer is a seed planted with hope.
I think that prayer is participation; it is the spirit of life praying in you, and when you connect with that, your deepest longing connects with the longings of the universe unfolding. You know, prayer can come out in a form of deep longing or concern for a person or for a situation in the world, or for someone who has died, or for my own health. Yet, it is a deeper longing than anything the ego wants.
~ by Danny Martin in "Sacred Journey" -- April 1998
Prayer is a response to God and to live coming from a heart that has been touched. How does a heart touched by God pray? Sometimes in pure gratitude it simply stands in awe rejoicing. And that is prayer! Sometimes it weeps. Sometimes it sings. At times it talks tenderly to God. At other times it might scream out in anger and pain. Sometimes it looks on the world with love, or rushes out to do good deeds. Sometimes it kneels without-stretched arms. Sometimes it merely yearns for God in deep, holy silence. All this is prayer.
