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Zkušenosti, které Jan nazývá »temnou nocí«, jsou zkušenostmi vyplývajícími ze vztahu, zkušenostmi kontemplativními, tedy takovými, které působí v člověku Bůh. Temnota a noc jsou obrazy, které jsou v Janových spisech velmi nápadné.

Teresa Benedict of the Cross (Edith Stein)

Love is life in its highest perfection: being that endlessly surrenders itself, without feeling any loss, infinite fertility.

The innermost essence of love is surrender, devotion. God, who is love, gives Himself to His creatures, whom He created for love.

The heart is the true center of life. By the word "heart," we denote the physical organ on whose activity bodily life depends. Similarly, we commonly understand it as the inner self of the soul, presumably because the heart participates most in what happens within the soul, as nowhere else do we feel the connection of body and soul so strongly.
Within it, the essence of the soul is opened inward. If our "self" lives here - at the foundation of its being, where its true home is, and to which it belongs - it feels something of the meaning of its being and senses its concentrated strength even before it divides into individual partial strengths. And if the life of this "self" originates from here, the "self" lives a full life and reaches the zenith of its being. The contents that are caught from outside and penetrate here do not remain merely as possessions of memory, but can transition "into body and blood," and thus become a life-giving source of strength in the soul. It is also possible, however, that something alien in its essence penetrates here, which consumes the life of the soul. That becomes a mortal danger for the soul if it does not gather all its forces and expel it from itself.

"If you are looking for some elevated place, some holy place, provide your inner self as the temple of God. 'For the temple of God is holy, and that temple you are.' (1) Do you want to pray in a temple? Pray within yourself. But first, you must be God's temple, for in your temple, God listens to those who ask Him." (2) "Lead me out of my wandering: be my guide and I will return to myself and to you." (3) Mystical grace provides personal experience of what faith teaches: the indwelling of God in the soul. A person who seeks God, led by the truth of faith, will freely set out precisely where mystical grace draws him: away from the senses and "images" of memory, even from the natural activity of reason and will, he withdraws into the empty solitude of his inner self, to remain there in dark faith - in a simple loving gaze of the spirit towards the hidden God, who is present in a veiled manner. Here - at the place of his rest - he will abide in profound peace until it pleases the Lord to transform faith into blessed contemplation of Him.

Faith is "dark light." It allows us to understand something, but only so that it points to what remains unknowable to us. Since the very foundation of all that exists is unfathomable, everything that is seen from it comes into the "dark light" of faith and mystery... Faith is a kind of "grasping" of God. This grasping, however, presupposes that we ourselves are also "grasped": we cannot believe without grace. And grace is a partaking in God’s life. If we open ourselves to grace and accept faith, we have within us the beginning of eternal life.

Faith is closer to God’s wisdom than all philosophical and even theological knowledge. Since it is difficult for us to walk in the darkness, every beam of light that falls as a harbinger of future brightness into our night is an invaluable aid to prevent us from getting lost on our path.

(1) 1 Cor 3:17.
(2) Augustine: In the Gospel of John, Tractate 15,25.
(3) Augustine: Soliloquia II 6,9.

Excerpted from the book: Edith Stein, Thoughts and Meditations
Published by: Trinitas, 2000
Selected and edited by: Norbert Žuška, OCarm.

Wilfrid Stinissen (1927–2013)

Living in the present moment means a radical way of dying to oneself. It is a natural form of asceticism that is always available, as it is an intrinsic dimension of life.

If we do not take the moment and the task it brings seriously, we protect our selfish “self.” This selfishness thinks of future outcomes: money, status, success, and fame, revealing a fear that something from the past will have unpleasant consequences in the future. However, such selfishness cannot arise at all if we live in the present.

If we live in the present, we live in a mysterious yet very real way in meditation. We notice this when, after work, we return to meditation and remain in the present moment: we do not return to something we abandoned during work, for meditation has been ongoing the whole time; we simply consciously immerse ourselves back into it. Those who embark on the path of life in the present moment sense that this moment begins to gradually open up, and it reveals that it is filled with God.

"Pray without ceasing," writes St. Paul (1 Thes 5:17). A Russian pilgrim who heard the apostle's call set out to seek a holy elder. When he found him, the elder taught him to pray the Jesus Prayer. The pilgrim could afford this because he had nothing else to do but wander throughout the land. But even the Jesus Prayer does not fully solve the problem of someone called to work. It is impossible to continuously repeat the Jesus Prayer when, for example, one is teaching children in school. There is, after all, an easier way to deepen prayer, which is available to everyone and does not hinder us in our work.

It is a complete openness to the present moment, being aware that we accept it as a gift from God's hands. The moment we wholly surrender ourselves to the Father like Jesus, our life becomes a prayer. Prayer is a state of total surrender to God. Too often we think that praying means thinking about God. In reality, this surrender is based on a deeper foundation – the desire to do exactly what God wants, to become His instrument, and nothing more. Perhaps God does not wish me to think of Him at this moment; perhaps He wants me to work hard now. Therefore, I will work. At first, it may seem to me that I am leaving God because of work, but in reality, I am deeper united with Him through work than if I were to leave it and run to church.

Those who one day discover the beauty of prayer begin to lament that they do not have even more time for it. They wish to pray without ceasing, which for them means constantly thinking only of God. However, they place an exaggerated emphasis on thinking, searching for a state of consciousness. But the state of consciousness is not as important as it may seem. We can understand this if we remember the ultimate union with God, which St. Teresa of Jesus calls a spiritual marriage. In this state, a person is always united with Him, day and night, but this union does not have to be consciously realized all the time. It may happen that demanding work absorbs all their thoughts; however, a brief pause in work is enough for the union in thought to spontaneously reappear.

We can recognize progress in meditation, among other things, by the fact that we cease to complain about a lack of time. We become increasingly adaptable, flexible instruments in God's hands, because we say our "yes" to God in every moment... If we wish to experience our entire life as meditation, we must live in the present. In it, in ordinary everyday matters, we can discover the presence of God. In the present moment, there exists a certain "real presence" (1). God is truly present in it, and it is there that we can touch Him.

(1) The author uses the term "real presence" analogously to the Eucharistic real presence of Christ's body and blood in the forms of bread and wine.

Taken from the book: Christian Deep Meditation
Author: Wilfrid Stinissen OCD
Published by: KNA