Reflect
The Trappist monk Thomas Merton practiced and wrote about the contemplative life of interior solitude, which, he believed, was not cultivated by isolating ourselves from the world. To the contrary, Merton recognized solitude as an expansive interior awareness that doesn’t separate us from, but integrates us with, others.
Pray
O Lord,
Within the silence of solitude, help us hear—
and heed—the joys and sufferings of others who
reveal the face of the risen Christ in this world.
Amen.
Act
Find time to pray apart from others so that you might be a part of others. In so doing, solitude is grounded in relationship to a marvelous and interconnected community of sojourners.
