The austerity of these Lenten days makes space for deeper
prayer and a move to the inner
room of the heart where we
can seek the Lord in secret,
a move to the quiet and
emptiness of the interior desert.
We are reminded of the words
of Thomas Merton:
Contemplative prayer is,
Contemplative prayer is,
in a way, simply the
preference for the desert,
for emptiness,
for poverty.
One has begun to know
the meaning of contemplation
when he intuitively
and spontaneously
and spontaneously
seeks the dark
and unknown path
of aridity
in preference
to every other way.
from The Climate of Monastic Prayer
