Preferring the Desert

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,

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

seeks the dark

and unknown path

of aridity

in preference

to every other way.

from The Climate of Monastic Prayer