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Spiritual Disciplines

A Primer on Contemplative Prayer

The Importance of Silence

Be quiet. 

It’s one of the strong admonitions of the Psalms:

  • Psalm 4:4 – Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.
  • Psalm 23:2 – He makes me lie down in green pastures.  He leads me beside still waters.
  • Psalm 37:7 – Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!
  • Psalm 46:10 – “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
  • Psalm 62:1,5 – For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation..For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.
  • Psalm 131:1, 2 – O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.  But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.

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