Daily Reader for Contemplative Living
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
This work brings together for each day of the year three prayer practices for contemplative living: first, a brief “active prayer”; second, spiritual reading; and, third, Lectio Divina. The brief introductory prayer sentences are from various sources—the Bible and traditional prayers of the church or of well-known spiritual writers. The spiritual readings come from 11 of Father Keating’s books and one audiotape, with a month’s worth of readings derived from each work. Each day’s entry concludes with a brief selection from the Bible, for Lectio Divina.
Save more when you purchase this book as part of the Thomas Keating Collection.
Key Features
- Provides instructional guidebooks, workbooks, and daily devotionals to ease you into silent worship
- Combines contemporary psychological wisdom with time-tested spiritual strategies
- Presents valuable insights and practical application
Top Highlights
“This passing of Jesus from human to divine subjectivity is called in Christian tradition the Paschal Mystery. Our participation in this Mystery is the passing over of the transformed self into the loss of self as a fixed point of reference; of who God is into all that God is. The dismantling of the false self and the inward journey to the true self is the first phase of this transition or passing over. The loss of the true self as a fixed point of reference is the second phase. The first phase results in the consciousness of personal union with the Trinity. The second phase consists in being emptied of this union and identifying with the absolute nothingness from which all things emerge, to which all things return, and which manifests Itself as That-Which-Is.” (Page 76)
“Interior silence is one of the most strengthening and affirming of human experiences. There is nothing more affirming, in fact, than the experience of God’s presence. That revelation says as nothing else can, ‘You are a good person. I created you and I love you.’ Divine love brings us into being in the fullest sense of the word. It heals the negative feelings we have about ourselves.” (Page 11)
“Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come fearlessly into God’s presence, assured of his glad welcome.” (Page 16)
“Then we are free to relate to God as he is and to use the immense energy that this freedom releases to relate to other people with respect and love. One way God deals with the limited ways we have of relating to him is by reducing our concepts of him to silence. As resting in God in contemplative prayer becomes habitual, we spontaneously disidentify with our emotional programs for happiness and our cultural conditioning. Already we are meeting God at a deeper level. In time we will grow from a reflective relationship with God to one of communion. The latter is a being-to-being, presence-to-presence relationship, which is the knowledge of God in pure faith.” (Page 141)
Praise for the Print Edition
The author has many inspiring things to say about repentance, fighting the false self, faith, silence, reverence, and the fundamental goodness of human nature.
—Spirituality & Health Magazine
The writings of Thomas Keating are one of the most profound, popular, and appropriate introductions to Christian contemplative prayer and practice today. . . . this book is a beautiful introduction to both Keating’s thinking and his methodologies. I would recommend it either to a person wanting to begin a prayer practice of to a person who wants to spend a year reflecting upon the works of Keating.
—Bulletin of Monastic Interreligious Dialogues, October 2004
Some books, like some people, can be pronounced ‘wonderful’ after only a brief encounter; more meetings simply reinforce our initial judgment. This is that sort of book, an ideal vade mecum for those who desire to retrieve the wonderfulness so often obscured by the distracting demands of our ordinary routines, the sheer dailiness of our daily lives that dulls our spiritual sensitivities. Here then is a wake-up call we need to ‘seize the day’ once again by attending to the promptings within our hearts and allowing the most gentle of companions to accompany us through it.
—George W. Hunt, SJ, former editor-in-chief, America
About Thomas Keating
Thomas Keating is known throughout the world as an exponent, teacher, and writer on contemplative prayer. A Cistercian (Trappist) monk of St. Benedict’s Monastery, Snowmass, Colorado, he is a founder of the Centering Prayer Movement and of Contemplative Outreach. He is the author of numerous books, particularly of the trilogy Open Mind, Open Heart; Invitation to Love; and The Mystery of Christ. Among his most recent books is The Daily Reader for Contemplative Living, compiled by S. Stephanie Iachetta. He served as abbot at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Massachusetts for 20 years before retiring to Snowmass, where he now resides.
Reviews
2 ratings
Wallace Scaife
10/22/2023
Andrew Heckmaster
3/2/2019
