Contemplative Haven: What We Are. What We Desire to Be. 
What We Are. What We Desire to Be.
I do not have any precise plans for this blog; nothing delineated, nothing fixed. My hope is that we will explore subjects together, as they arise, and that I will be in tune with the Holy Spirit.
There will be a tension between this blog and my life. As Thomas Merton says, in Contemplation in a World of Action, "The true contemplative should not necessarily have much to say about his contemplative life. The business of articulating it can be a charism or it can be a delusion. But the fact remains that there is something to the articulation of this deep experience. One should be able to teach it to others, to make others understand what it is, and help them to attain it."
I do not know if the Lord has given me the charism in question, and so I will be relying heavily on the works of the great contemplative writers in many of my posts.
I am on this journey with you, in all my sin and weakness. So, who am I to speak of these things, when I have so many failings in real life? Something Henri Nouwen said often comes to mind. In his book, Reaching Out. The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life, Nouwen writes: "The act on the stage of our life will probably always look better than what goes on behind the curtains, but as long as we are willing to face the contrast and struggle to minimize it the tension can keep us humble by allowing us to offer our service to others, without being whole ourselves."
Facing the contrast, and struggling to minimize it. With His grace.
There will be a tension between this blog and my life. As Thomas Merton says, in Contemplation in a World of Action, "The true contemplative should not necessarily have much to say about his contemplative life. The business of articulating it can be a charism or it can be a delusion. But the fact remains that there is something to the articulation of this deep experience. One should be able to teach it to others, to make others understand what it is, and help them to attain it."
I do not know if the Lord has given me the charism in question, and so I will be relying heavily on the works of the great contemplative writers in many of my posts.
I am on this journey with you, in all my sin and weakness. So, who am I to speak of these things, when I have so many failings in real life? Something Henri Nouwen said often comes to mind. In his book, Reaching Out. The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life, Nouwen writes: "The act on the stage of our life will probably always look better than what goes on behind the curtains, but as long as we are willing to face the contrast and struggle to minimize it the tension can keep us humble by allowing us to offer our service to others, without being whole ourselves."
Facing the contrast, and struggling to minimize it. With His grace.
posted by Gabrielle at 1:03 PM
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