Bridges to Contemplative Living with Thomas Merton
The Bridges to Contemplative Living series offers a tool to encourage a more contemplative lifestyle. Each booklet has eight sessions for small group dialogue. Developed around a key theme for integrating contemplative living into our everyday lives, each session follows this format:
- Begins with a Psalm passage for reflection
- Provides an introduction that offers continuity, context and connections between the theme of the session and the readings.
- A reading from Thomas Merton, the heart of each session, leads us to deep places within ourselves and offers insights into the paradoxes of life
- A second reading from another spiritual writer complements Merton’s writing. This “voice” often represents insights from another religious tradition
- Contemplative dialogue, non-threatening, a “safe place” for open sharing and discussion, follows. The focus is on listening rather than thinking about how to respond to what we hear.
- Ends with a prayer.
Bridges offers opportunities to experience solitude and silence. During the time between sessions the content from the readings and dialogue becomes part of everyday living.
Through
taking time to reflect
finding places in our daily routines for silence and solitude
seeing the significance, and appreciating the beauty of ordinary experiences
we become contemplatives.
Bridges is easy to facilitate
• Includes guidelines for facilitating Contemplative Dialogue sessions
• Online support for facilitators and participants
Small group resource ideal for:
• Parish/Congregation Adult Education
Programs
• Christian Community Groups
• Faith sharing groups
• Retreats
• Special ministries, such as, college campus ministry and prison ministry
