The Holy Spirit invites us into contemplative prayer. We enter with poverty of spirit and humility of heart, as sinners in absolute need of God s mercy. We enter as the vanquished, in surrender to the victor. We enter in silence as the beloved in search of the one who first loved us. But we do not enter passively, for the attentiveness needed in contemplative prayer is the obedience of faith.
Contemplation is the simplest expression of the mystery of prayer.
Contemplative prayer is a covenant relationship established by God within our hearts. Contemplative prayer is a communion in which the Holy Trinity conforms man, the image of God, to his likeness. Contemplative prayer is the prayer of simple esteem and respect, the prayer in stillness, the prayer in darkness, the prayer of complete union in which God bonds the soul to himself in such a way that the soul seems to stand outside itself. Contemplation is silent love.