Byrnesys Blabberings

Any one who knows me whill know in one sense the idea of my name being linked to the word contemplative may be somewhat of a joke. But at the same time, much of the things I read from that stream certainly resonate with me:

"Contemplation…is a gradual interiorizing of consciousness, a going inside to quiet our minds, calm our hearts, and move toward deeper levels of our own nature. It is aided by regular intervals of silence and solitude, stillness and serenity that allows our lives to be listening to the ever-speaking mystery of God. Merton reminds us that while our existence is noisy, our essential being is silent: beneath the clamor of our chaotic lives there is a resonant ground of silence…. Merton encourages us to take every opportunity to feed on this silence, soak it into our bones so that we might hear the divine One say in us: "I am." The contemplative discovers that the secret of our identity is hidden in the love and mercy of God." ~Kathleen Deignan, in the introduction to Thomas Merton: A Book of Hours.

Props to A, Northwoods for this