REALISING THE SACRED The Ways of a Contemplative Synodal Church. Flyer attached – available from Franciscan Publications – details on the flyer.
It has taken me 87 years to come to the very unoriginal conviction shared by increasing number of gurus, that unless the synodal process hinges on the recovery of the Church’s mystical tradition and genius and on the practice of some form of silent contemplative prayer (the birthright of all the baptised – all potential ‘mystics’) leading to the gift of the contemplative gaze, mind and action – it will falter and risk death. The book teases this theme out from its origins in the life of Christ, and then applies it to the possible synodal shape of the Church’s worship, community life and mission. I am convinced that unless we marinate and reconstellate all our ‘thinking’ in the sea of some form of contemplative practice – the synodal method of ‘conversations in the spirit’ will remain just that – a method – insufficiently grounded to solve the present tensions, polarities and divisions in the Church – and act as the salve to heal all ecumenical, interreligious and even society’s divisions and hostilities. (eg Open Eucharistic tables tomorrow)
Flyer: Realising the Sacred