Guidance on Praying
from Contemplative Prayer
by Thomas Merton
©1969 The Merton Legacy Trust

"What am I? I am myself a word spoken by God. Can God speak a word that does not have meaning?"

"The first monks looked upon the Psalter not only as a kind of compendium of all the other books of the Bible, but as a book of special efficacy for the ascetic life, in that it revealed the secret movements of the heart in its struggle against the forces of darkness." (p. 20)

"But we must not imagine the early monks applying themselves to a very intellectual and analytical ‘interpretation’ of the Bible. Meditation for them consisted of making the words of the Bible their own by memorizing them and repeating them, with deep and sincere concentration ‘from the heart.’" (p. 21)

The sequence of having the Bible, the Psalms especially, shape our praying is this:

" psalmodia, lectio, oratio and contemplatio" a continuous whole; the "conversatio monastica'" encompassing the unified life of the monk."  (p. 29)

"Conceptual knowledge of religious truth has a definite place in our life, and that place is an important one. Study plays an essential part in the life of prayer. The spiritual life needs strong intellectual foundations. The study of theology is a necessary accompaniment to a life of meditation. But meditation itself is not "study" and it is not a
purely intellectual activity." (p. 79)

”The function of image, symbol, poetry, music, chant, and of ritual... is to open up the inner self of the contemplative ..." (p. 85)

Merton points out that there are commonly three facets of meditation, as exemplified by these biblical characters - Lazarus the penitent, Martha the active and devoted servant and Mary the contemplative. He adds that it is not unknown for Mary to envy Martha  (p. 54)