“Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence and nothing too much.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson This is the third jaunt of the Life of the Day series here on Contemplify. So for those just jumping in, there is this contemplative rhythm in some monasteries of the Christian tradition called the Divine Office…or the Liturgy of the Hours. Today’s episode is the third of a series I’ll be doing on the reimagining of the Liturgy of the Hours into my …
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Terce (Life of a Day #2)
‘[Contemplation] can be suggested by words, by symbols, but in the very moment of trying to indicate what it knows the contemplative mind takes back what it has said, and denies what it has affirmed.’ – Thomas Merton My old pal Thomas Merton wrote, ‘[Contemplation] can be suggested by words, by symbols, but in the very moment of trying to indicate what it knows the contemplative mind takes back what it has said, and denies what it has affirmed.’ So…how do I talk about contemplation then? Briefly. My intention here is to grasp at words that give shape to the …
Matins & Lauds (Life of a Day #1)
‘What I wear is pants. What I do is live. How I pray is breathe.’ – Thomas Merton ‘What I wear is pants. What I do is live. How I pray is breathe.’ these 3 sentences come from my self-adopted contemplative grandfather, Thomas Merton.They ring so true for me that they were the basis for my thesis paper in graduate school. Why? Well, for me, they represent an embodied response to one of my essential life questions – how does contemplation intersect with day-to-day life? My intention here is to kick off the Life of a Day series in grand …