The single greatest threat to religion in the world isnโt secularism or atheism.
It is religious people contradicting their religion by justifying evil, moral depravity, greed, selfishness, arrogance, hatred, and even the use of violence to preserve their religion.
VOCATION:
To meditate daily is to have chosen, accepted, and surrendered to a vocation. We are as Merton wrote:
"Planted like sentinels upon the world's frontier."
Sentinels in the sand
The contemplative tradition in Christianity is not a luxuryโit is a necessity for the kind of moment we are living in.
To be still before the Lord is to place ourselves in the posture of receptivity.
And in stillness, we learn to live beyond reactivity.
Silence is not absence. Silence is presence without noise. In Scripture, Elijah meets God not in wind or fire but in a โsound of sheer silence.โ The heart learns God there. Words explain. Silence lets us receive.