660 :
28 May 2008

"How central to the spiritual quest is contemplation?" In the last commentary of Dr Patrick Collins looking at The Spirituality of Thomas Merton which we have been basing this first series of Wednesday Forums on, the discussion is on the place of contemplation in the overall life of the Church, perhaps even the overall life of the individual Christian. (For the specific commentary see HERE ). That's the theme Brian Coyne takes up today. If we are serious about our religious beliefs, we are called to a diversity of responses: for example we are called to be charitable; we are called to participation in public prayer or Eucharist; we are called to a certain standard in our moral conduct; we are called to private prayer. The question Brian poses, is how important is the simple act of contemplation or meditation in that whole mix? [Link to Forum Discussion Thread] | [Link to Original Commentary by Dr Patrick Collins]

646 :
14 May 2008

"What are the three most important aspects of prayer for you?"This series of forum discussions on Wednesdays is attempting to shadow a series of commentaries by Dr Patrick Collins we published last year looking at the Spirituality of Thomas Merton (For the specific commentary see HERE ). I hardly need to "kick off" any discussion today as both the commentary yesterday from Andrew Kania and the excerpt from Paul Collins' book has already been generating much discussion in our forum. Nevertheless, here goes … and I just want to take one small aspect of the Collins'/Merton' reflection and throw it into the ring for discussion: Prayer as a place of sanctuary and freedom. [Link to Forum Discussion Thread] | [Link to Original Com