Be quiet and listen

"I told everyone to be quiet and listen.One of my friends said, 'I don't hear anything.'I said, 'Exactly'."

May 1993 (Vol. VI, No. 5)

May, the BLESSINGS OF PEACE be with you, friends!

Quiet, contemplative prayer happens

Quiet, contemplative prayer happens when we are still and open ourselves to the Spirit working secretly in us, when we heed the psalmist's plea: "be still and know that I am God." These are times when we trustingly sink into God's formless hands for cleansing, illumination, and communion. Sometimes spontaneous sounds and words come through us in such prayer, but more often we are in a state of quiet appreciation, simply hollowed out for God. At the gifted depth of this kind of prayer we pass beyond an image of God and beyond any image of self. We are left in a mutual raw presence. Here we realize that God and ourselves quite literally are more than we can imagine.

~ from LIVING IN THE PRESENCE by Tilden Edwards
Tilden Edwards Living In The Presence meditation Buy on Amazon

The silence of meditation is not the silence of a graveyard

The silence of meditation is not the silence of a graveyard; it is the silence of a garden growing. There is no deadness in a garden, but in that all-pervading silence an intense activity is going on in the ground which will later take form as buds, blossoms and fruit. So, too, in meditation there is not a blankness, but a rhythmic activity of the Spirit. As the mind exhausts itself the Spirit comes through, and we are in the realm of heaven. True, we are still on earth, our feet are solidly on the ground -- the holy ground of spiritual awareness.

~ from THE ALCHEMY OF AWARENESS by Lorraine Sinkler
Lorraine Sinkler The Alchemy Of Awareness meditation Buy on Amazon

Different turns on the same road

Self-awareness, compassion, and contemplation are different turns on the same road to finding and living the truth.

~ Robert J. Wicks
Robert J. Wicks meditation Buy on Amazon

God knows the way to us

What is it that we do when we come together on alternate Tuesday evenings? The word SILENCE is the key to answering this question. The first time we met we agreed that silence would be the container for our prayers as well as a form of prayer in itself. We sit in a circle on floor cushions with our eyes open or closed ... It makes no difference. What matters is that everything that emerges from this silence -- a word, an image, a line of scripture or poetry, a probing question -- is held by each of us as if it is our collective heart speaking. And it is this heart that we listen to and follow as we pray ... Although we do not always know the way to God, our collective heart reminds us again and again as we sit together in the silence that God knows the way to us.

~ from THE FEMININE FACE OF GOD by Sherry Ruth Anderson & Patricia Hopkins
Patricia Hopkins, Sherry Ruth Anderson The Feminine Face Of God meditation Buy on Amazon

Developing a deep quality of interest is one of the keys to the whole art of concentration

Developing a deep quality of interest is one of the keys to the whole art of concentration. Our steadiness is nourished by the degree of interest with which we focus our meditation ... Concentration combines full interest with a delicacy of attention. This attention should not be confused with being removed or detached. Awareness does not mean separating ourselves from experience; it means allowing it and sensing it fully ... As we learn to steady the quality of our attention, it is accompanied by a deeper and deeper sense of stillness -- poised, exquisite and subtle.

~ from A PATH WITH A HEART by Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield A Path With A Heart meditation Buy on Amazon

The Universe responds

I remember when I used to dismiss the bumper sticker "PRAY FOR PEACE". I realize now that I did not understand it, since I also did not understand prayer, which I now know to be the active affirmation in the physical world of our inseparableness from the divine; and everything, especially the physical world, is divine. War will stop when we no longer praise it, or give it any attention at all. Peace will come wherever it is sincerely invited. Love will overflow every sanctuary given it. Truth will grow where the fertilizer that nourishes it is also truth. Faith will be its own reward ... God answers prayers. Which is another way of saying, the Universe responds ... Only as we have reason to fear what is in our hearts need we fear for the planet. Teach yourself peace. Pass it on.

~ from THE UNIVERSE RESPONDS by Alice Walker
Alice Walker The Universe Responds meditation Buy on Amazon

One night as I was deep in meditation

One night as I was deep in meditation, I suddenly found myself in a very curious state. It was as if I were dead. Everything had been cut away. There was no longer any before and after. Self and object were gone. The only thing I felt was how the inside of my self was totally unified and filled with everything that was over, under and around me ... After a while I came back to myself like one risen from the dead. My seeing, hearing, speaking, my actions and thoughts were completely different from what they had been up to then. As I hesitantly attempted to reflect on the truths of the world and to grasp the meaning of the ungraspable, I understood everything.

~ Kosen Imakita
Kosen Imakita meditation

Spirituality is that quality of being

Spirituality is that quality of being that expresses the bonding of all living and non-living things into an evolutionary unity.

~ from MIND OF OUR MOTHER by Bob Samples
Bob Samples Mind Of Our Mothers meditation Buy on Amazon

I shall fall still

When challenged to explain the Absolute I shall fall still, I shall be silent as a mute.

~ from BOOK OF ANGELUS SILESIUS by Frederick Franck
Frederick Franck Book Of Angelus Silesius meditation Buy on Amazon

A day filled with noise and voices can be a day of silence

A day filled with noise and voices can be a day of silence, if the noises become for us the echo of the presence of God, if the voices are, for us, messages and solicitations of God.

~ Catherine de Hueck Doherty
Catherine de Hueck Doherty meditation Buy on Amazon

When the Life, Light and Love are as one within our soul

When the Life, Light and Love are as one within our soul, there power, silence, and speechlessness will rest, with the Radiant One in the center.

~ Tuela
Tuela meditation

True prayer

True prayer often surprises us!
~ Unknown
Unknown meditation

The magpie mind chatters

Somehow, I must sit to listen.
Standing implies a readiness for action, for the executing of the will.
To hear You I must sit down and calm down.

The magpie mind chatters.
It doesn't know about stopping.
How helpless I feel in its automatic firing, its busy babbling.
It is impossible to hear You as long as I am full of sound.
I turn this helpless prayer toward You.
... slowly unknowing everything, becoming dark,
becoming yielding ... just sitting.

What you ARE

When you know, without a shadow of doubt, that the spirit of God is within you, for you have actually experienced the Presence in the silence of your heart, then you have truly grown in being. In your daily life you become a proof of this knowledge -- a witness to others by what you are. A witness in a court testifies to what has been seen, and the strength of that evidence helps to clarify the truth of the case. So, as one who knows love, you convince those with whom you come into contact, of some indefinable quality which seems to give you the ability to flow with life with a glowing radiation. Others derive strength from your strength, and their fear is dispersed -- even if only momentarily -- by your peace, your understanding of what they are going through, and by your sincere concern. What you ARE, far more than what you say or do, will be the witness of your faith.

Gentle me, Holy One

Gentle me,
Holy One,
into an unclenched moment,
a deep breath,
a letting go
of heavy expectancies,
of shriveling anxieties,
of dead certainties,
that, softened by the silence,
surrounded by the light,
and open to the mystery.
I may be found by wholeness,
upheld by the unfathomable,
entranced by the simple,
and filled with the joy
that is You.

Secretly and quietly

God ... secretly and quietly ... inserts in the soul loving wisdom and knowledge.

Contemplation is the highest expression of man's intellectual and spiritual life

Contemplation is the highest expression of man's intellectual and spiritual life. It is that life itself, fully awake, fully active, fully aware, that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is gratitude for life, for awareness and for being. It is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent and infinitely abundant source. Contemplation is, above all, awareness of the reality of that source.

Do not look to another for your connection to God

Eternal life is a gift of God. It is through God's love that we have eternal life, through the great love that God has for creation. And through love, all individuals have the freedom to choose whether to seek or to separate themselves from love ... Do not look to another for your connection to God. This is available to you through your mind and heart. In the silence, you will be able to hear with your mind love's voice guide you; with your heart you will feel God's great love. It is the responsibility of each individual to seek their own connection to God ... When you find that you are truly connected to God from within, then you will eliminate fear, hostility and such. Not by power or might, but by the Word of God, by taking into your life the love of God and the word of God. By accepting the goodness of God, you move toward wholeness and holiness.

A quiet settles on the hills

A quiet settles on the hills
Augmented by the birds,
Everything is softer --
A time for fewer words.

A time best spent listening
To the voices of the land,
How softly winter guides us
With her wondrous hand.

January 1992 (Vol. V, No. 1)

BLESSINGS, dear friends, as we begin the fifth year of this monthly offering. Friends of Silence started as an inner-city contemplative community of individuals committed to pray in the Silence. Linked to a growing number of groups and individuals around the globe, we open our hearts to radiate love as one response to the violence, injustice and confusion in the world today. The outward, visible results of our silence are often difficult to discern or define. Yet, by faith, we continue to meet together in the solitude of our homes to pray in the Silence -- and, to experience the inward fruits of the Spirit at work in us ... love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, gratitude ... May your own Silence of the inner being offer blessing, harmony and balance to Love's Creation in this new year!

The magpie mind chatters

Somehow, I must sit to listen.
Standing implies a readiness for action, for the executing of the will.
To hear You I must sit down and calm down.

The magpie mind chatters.
It doesn't know about stopping.
How helpless I feel in its automatic firing, its busy babbling.
It is impossible to hear You as long as I am full of sound.
I turn this helpless prayer toward You.
... slowly unknowing everything, becoming dark,
becoming yielding ... just sitting.

~ from BEING HOME by Gunilla Norris with thanks to Marjorie Michael
Gunilla Norris Being Home contemplation Buy on Amazon

What you ARE

When you know, without a shadow of doubt, that the spirit of God is within you, for you have actually experienced the Presence in the silence of your heart, then you have truly grown in being. In your daily life you become a proof of this knowledge -- a witness to others by what you are. A witness in a court testifies to what has been seen, and the strength of that evidence helps to clarify the truth of the case. So, as one who knows love, you convince those with whom you come into contact, of some indefinable quality which seems to give you the ability to flow with life with a glowing radiation. Others derive strength from your strength, and their fear is dispersed -- even if only momentarily -- by your peace, your understanding of what they are going through, and by your sincere concern. What you ARE, far more than what you say or do, will be the witness of your faith.

~ from GROWTH INTO BEING by Margaret Holmes
Margaret Holmes Growth Into Being contemplation Buy on Amazon

Gentle me, Holy One

Gentle me,
Holy One,
into an unclenched moment,
a deep breath,
a letting go
of heavy expectancies,
of shriveling anxieties,
of dead certainties,
that, softened by the silence,
surrounded by the light,
and open to the mystery.
I may be found by wholeness,
upheld by the unfathomable,
entranced by the simple,
and filled with the joy
that is You.

~ from GUERRILLAS OF GRACE by Ted Loder with thanks to Marjorie Michael
Ted Loder Guerrillas Of Grace contemplation Buy on Amazon

Secretly and quietly

God ... secretly and quietly ... inserts in the soul loving wisdom and knowledge.

~ from THE LIVING FLAME OF LOVE by St. John of the Cross
St. John of the Cross The Living Flame Of Love contemplation Buy on Amazon

Contemplation is the highest expression of man's intellectual and spiritual life

Contemplation is the highest expression of man's intellectual and spiritual life. It is that life itself, fully awake, fully active, fully aware, that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is gratitude for life, for awareness and for being. It is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent and infinitely abundant source. Contemplation is, above all, awareness of the reality of that source.

~ from NEW SEEDS OF CONTEMPLATION by Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton New Seeds Of Contemplation contemplation Buy on Amazon

Do not look to another for your connection to God

Eternal life is a gift of God. It is through God's love that we have eternal life, through the great love that God has for creation. And through love, all individuals have the freedom to choose whether to seek or to separate themselves from love ... Do not look to another for your connection to God. This is available to you through your mind and heart. In the silence, you will be able to hear with your mind love's voice guide you; with your heart you will feel God's great love. It is the responsibility of each individual to seek their own connection to God ... When you find that you are truly connected to God from within, then you will eliminate fear, hostility and such. Not by power or might, but by the Word of God, by taking into your life the love of God and the word of God. By accepting the goodness of God, you move toward wholeness and holiness.

~ from MARY'S MESSAGE TO THE WORLD by Annie Kirkwood
Annie Kirkwood Mary's Message To The World contemplation Buy on Amazon

A quiet settles on the hills

A quiet settles on the hills
Augmented by the birds,
Everything is softer --
A time for fewer words.

A time best spent listening
To the voices of the land,
How softly winter guides us
With her wondrous hand.

~ Peter Rinehart
Peter Rinehart contemplation

May happiness surround you

May happiness, like the beauty of nature surround you in the coming year.

~ Unknown
Unknown contemplation

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