Saturday, September 27, 2008

Community and the Contemplative Life


COMMUNITY - ONENESS IN CONEMPLATION

On Friday afternoon, Pamela Begeman provided a stunning glimpse of the lastest topic in the Contemplative Living series--Community and the Contemplative Life. She approached the topic in the manner of Lectio Divina, by inviting us to ponder scripture, graphic images, and quotes from Fr. Thomas. Each spoke to underlying unity of the Body of Christ.

I have included a few of the quotes and images below.

INTENTION OF COMMUNITY PRAXIS
•Based on
–the third theological principle of Centering Prayer - it is ecclesial in its effects, building communities of faith
–25 years experience of an evolving global community


•Flow of booklet:
–Begin from one’s experience of Oneness arising out of daily practice
–Moves to the experience of Oneness through Communion,
–… to the experience of the mystical Body of Christ,
–… to the Communion of Saints,
–…. to Oneness with All That Is – a manifestation of the Trinitarian experience.

I urge you to live in a manner worth of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love,

striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit

through the bond of peace:

One Body and one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith,

… and one God and Father of all,
who is over all and through all and in all.
--Ephesians 4:1-6












"How to become infinitely diverse and infinitely unified is the goal of Contemplative Outreach.”
– Thomas Keating, Sept 25, 2008

More to follow...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not at the conference, but given the theme of unity and the daily communications, I still have a sense of participating. Thanks for this site and your concern for the broader community.

Bruce Gardiner said...

This has been and still is a thoroughly delightful conference; though activities flow one after another, it's been peaceful. Frs. Keating and Freeman are delightful to listen to individually and in dialogue.

Perhaps we'll see you next year...