Matins is composed of selections from the classic, Cloud of Unknowing, and its sequel, The Book of Privy Counseling. Both masterpieces were written,         anonymously / by the same Author, in the 14th Century.  The Author is recognized, universally, as offering bedrock wisdom concerning contemplative labor. His basic theme: “Only love, wrapped in contemplation’s fire of silence and stillness, can pierce the Cloud of Unknowing, wherein God dwells.”

 

Note: The Author of "Cloud" is a veritable Taskmaster.

Repetitive reflection (i.e. per the 31 Day cycle)

of those portions printed in either Bold or Color*

will never morph into a barren (fruitless) exercise.

 * on average, some 30 words or  five phrases per Chapter.

 

Lauds is composed primarily of Writings and Sayings * / ** of the legendary 4th Century “Desert Fathers”. (These “Fathers” lived in contemplative solitude in the deserts of the Near East.) Syriac-Christianity is expressed in a manner charac- teristic of the Semitic, Biblical  World. Selections have been drawn from some 353 pages that document the most prominent Writings* of the Fathers.     

 

Note: Elsewhere, the Editor, as one - to speak in metaphor - whose nose is pressed against a window on the other side of the Fathers' Desert, has attempted to gather important themes** into a present-day, fresh and incisive, vernacular. 

 

* "Writings" which would otherwise have been set-aside due to a problem with an Authors' rambling style.  

 

** “Sayings” of the Fathers have been translated from Latin and Greek texts by Yushi Nomura and published in Desert Wisdom (2001, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY 10545)

 

 

"We cannot completely trust any of The Fathers. Each is conditioned by his times and culture in some degree. ... 

 

"We have to know how to read The Fathers and to bring them into critical relationship with later writers and with modern psychology, exercising some caution in regard to the recommendations of Writers who did not have that knowledge. …

 

"What the Desert Fathers did was to practice continuous prayer long enough to realize that to persevere required a method. The method that they followed to get to the inner chamber  was the repetition of a particular verse like, ‘O God, come to my assistance.’ The original monks intuited … that a structured life was not enough for growth in prayer. There had to be added an interior practice."

Thomas Keating