15 January 2013

Work—Rest. Service—Prayer. Action—Contemplation. Life offers us the challenge of holding these essential elements of what it means to be human in tension with one another. One without the other leads to either pompous piety or frantic fury. The one who closes herself off from the world under the guise of “prayer” is at risk of becoming out of touch, irrelevant and prone to self-righteousness. In her “prayerfulness” she may succumb to judgment and superiority since she is not connected with the real lives of people around her. True prayer connects us with the compassionate Christ who connects us to all humanity and inspires us toward compassionate service.

Pilgrimage of a Soul: Contemplative Spirituality for the Active Life, Ch 5. p 88-89

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