This guide to monastic prayer, written in 1968 and thus turning out to be Thomas Merton’s final testament to us, is now available in a new edition commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of his death. While he wrote it for other monastics, all seekers drawn to explore the full dimensions of prayer will be enriched by his words, especially as they take on added meaning in today’s dizzying world. The climate in which monastic prayer flowers is that of the desert, where human comfort is absent, where the secure routines of the “earthly city” offer no support, and where prayer must be sustained by God in the purity of faith.

The Benedictine monk and writer, Laurence Freeman, took over the mantle of John Main after his death in 1982 and continues the work that he began, teaching Christians from all traditions the simplest way of prayer - meditation. It is simple in that it requires no words, yet encountering God without the safety barrier of our own thoughts and ideas is to open ourselves to total transformation. This collection of talks on Christian meditation is full of practical advice and great spiritual insights in equal measure. It shows how discovering the presence of Christ within through meditative prayer can give shape and purpose to everything we do and are: our actions, emotions, fears, longings, failings and dreams. As John Main taught, the point of this kind of prayer is to allow God's presence to become not just a reality, but the reality of our lives.

"We do not create prayer,” writes Kenneth Leech, “but merely prepare the ground and clear away obstacles. Prayer is always a gift, a grace, the flame which ignites wood; the Holy Spirit gives prayer.”

This collection of talks on Christian meditation is full of practical advice and great spiritual insights in equal measure. It shows how discovering the presence of Christ within through meditative prayer can give shape and purpose to everything we do and are: our actions, emotions, fears, longings, failings and dreams. As John Main taught, the point of this kind of prayer is to allow God's presence to become not just a reality, but the reality of our lives.

This collection offers inspirational daily readings drawn from the writings of monastics in all the major spiritual traditions of the Eastern and Western churches. Covering a year's time, the readings link the qualities of everyday monastic life to the practical in all human life.