chris@mcdonnell83.freeserve.co.uk           Previous articles by Chris

   October 3, 2012                              Chris McDonnell, UK   

There is a stillness and solitude in the hour before dawn. In that darkness there is a time when we can open ourselves to listening to the Lord. No words, but the space between words where our confusion and weakness can experience a gentle healing. Prayer is about being there, it is about patiently listening and waiting. It is never easy. In a journal entry for December 5^th 1964 , Thomas Merton wrote of his early days in the hermitage. “In the hermitage, one must pray or go to seed. The pretence of prayer will not suffice. Just sitting will not suffice. It has to be real. Yet, what can one do? Solitude puts you with your back to the wall, or your face to it, and this is good. So you pray to learn how to pray”  

The piece below was written in 1995 and published in Spirituality No 21  Volume 4  November-December 1998

 Edgeland

Morning darkness
the other side of night

the monk by his fire

reading the Word

watching the wandering flame

morning stillness
the other side of movement  

the monk by his door

praying the psalms

greeting the day of the Lord

morning silence
the other side of sound  

the monk by his pond

still and silent

in the darkness before dawn