As we sit around watching days go by
Afraid to ask the questions ’cause the answers we might find
COMFORT BREEDS CONTENTMENT
Confrontation fosters resentment and slowly we grow cold
As we watch ourselves implode

YOUR CYNICISM IS NOT A SIGN OF INTELLIGENCE
DENY THE SPIRIT, A CRIME OF NEGLIGENCE
Pushing back what has been given
Come to terms with the way we’re living

Observing the light’s dying glow
As we watch ourselves implode

Mocking what we don’t understand
Biting off the giving hand
Our poorest questions answered in fact
Never think of offering back

WE MUST BE SCARED OF CONTEMPLATION
Our will to search, lost in isolation
Work!
And so it goes
And so we go
And so it goes along and so we move along

Cut the nose
Spite the face
On this road without a trace
Without a trace

–Stretch Arm Strong, “Kill the Light”–

—

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
    for my hope is from him.
–Psalm 62:5 (ESV)–

Be still, and know that I am God.
–Psalm 46:10 (ESV)–

Be not rash with your mouth,
nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God,
for God is in heaven and you are on earth.
Therefore let your words be few.
–Ecclesiastes 5:2 (ESV)–

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from evil.”
–Matthew 6:9-13 (ESV)–

And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping.
And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?”
–Matthew 26:40 (ESV)–

Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.
–Hebrews 3:15 (ESV)–

Seek the Lord while he may be found.
–Isaiah 55:6 (ESV)–

—

St. Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection (Image Books, 1964), chs. 27-42.

St. Athanasius, The Life of Antony (Paulist Press, 1979).

Savinien Louismet, Mysticism: True and False (Burns & Oates, 1918), chs. 8-9.

—. Divine Contemplation for All (Burns & Oates, 1921).

Augustin Poulain, The Graces of Interior Prayer (Kegan Paul, 1910).

Richard J. Foster, Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home, ch. 14: “Contemplative Prayer.” (HarperCollins, 1992).

—. Streams of Living Water, ch. 2: “The Contemplative Tradition: Discovering the Prayer-Filled Life.” (HarperCollins, 1998).

Thomas C. Oden, Classic Christianity: A Systematic Theology (HarperCollins, 2009).

A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God (Christian Publications, 1948).

Robert Tuttle, Mysticism in the Wesleyan Tradition (Zondervan, 1989).

The Cloud of Unknowing (Paulist Press, 1981).

Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God (Whitaker House, 1982).

Thomas Dubay, Fire Within (Ignatius Press, 1989).