The Apophatic Way

Recently I've been rediscovering the apophatic way. I don't have much time to describe it now, but suuffice it to say that apophaticism is an acknowledgement that God is mystery, beyond our full comprehension, beyond the captivity of our limited language. I have been taking this journeying with some old friends: St. John of the Cross, Bernard of Clairvaux, Julian of Norwich, Thomas Merton. I've also been journeying with a new friend, Belden Lane. Lane wrote a wonderful book the subject entitled, The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality. I hope to write some reflections on this book more in the future, but that will have to wait for another time. Today, I want to sahre with you a prayer from Merton that caught my rekindled apophatic attention....

"Teach me to go to the country beyond words and beyond names. Teach me to pray on this side of the frontier, here where these woods are.

I need to be led by you. I need my heart to be moved by you. I need my soul to be made clean by your prayer. I need my will to be made strong by you. I need the world to be saved and changed by you. I need you for all those who suffer, who are in prison, in danger, in sorrow. I need you for all the crazy people. I need your healing hand to work always in my life. I need you to make me, as you made your Son, a healer, a comforter, a savior. I need you to name the dead. I need you to help the dying cross their particular rivers. I need you for myself whether I live or die. I need to be your monk and your son. It is necessary. Amen."

Thomas Merton. A Search for Solitude. Journals, volume 4. Lawrence S. Cunningham, editor. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996: 46-47