Contemplative Prayer Book

Every time I read this book I glean new information from it and am less intimidated by it. five or so more readings and I might even say I actually 'get' most of it. As I'm also reading other things by/about Merton right now, it's all of a piece, with plenty of overlapping coverage.

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I am so glad that I just read Pope Benedict's book, The Fathers. It is giving confidence and a general familiarity with these great men and their writings as Thomas Merton hurries through centuries of monastic contemplative life. It's easy to see how some would find this book difficult, foreign or of absolutely no use. Merton assumes a high level of expertise in his reader. His writing reminds me of university lectures where I used to kick myself for not having done all the requisite homework beforehand. Would that I had read all the authors he cites in the original myself! How much better I might appreciate his meaning and benefit from this book... As it is, I know I am deriving more from this reading than from my previous encounters with it.

And yet, reading aside, how many today even have much experience with the terminology, the rituals and practices Merton describes? For example in the chapter I just finished, he writes about the debate between meditation and liturgy. This assumes the reader has attended a formal liturgical service, which given the current state of entertainment-style-worship and 'popcorn churches' is something which cannot be taken for granted anymore.