Prayer in the Cave of the Heart: The Universal Call to Contemplation

by Cyprian Consiglio

Overview

Prayer is an art that cannot just be taught. It must be experienced, lived, and practiced. In Prayer in the Cave of the Heart, Cyprian Consiglio draws on his experience as a Camaldolese monk to give readers an accessible reflection on prayer that is based on Bede Griffith's universal call to contemplation." In this text, the contemplative traditions of East and West intersect to invite readers into prayer that makes them "present to the Spirit who is already present to us."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814632765
Publisher:	Liturgical Press
Publication date:	01/01/2010
Pages:	136
Sales rank:	970,388
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam, was a monk at the New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, California, where he served as prior of the community until January 2024. An internationally known performer, recording artist, and composer, he has numerous collections of original sacred, world, and liturgical music to his credit. A student of the world’s spiritual traditions, Consiglio has offered retreats and conferences around the world and authored articles for several books and periodicals. He is the author of Prayer in the Cave of the Heart: The Universal Call to Contemplation, published by Liturgical Press.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

1 The Universal Call to Contemplation 1

2 Jesus on Prayer 19

3 St. Paul on Prayer 30

4 Continual Prayer-The Desert 43

5 Pure Prayer 55

6 The Soul's Ascent to God 69

7 Put Your Mind in Your Heart 83

8 Lectio Divina and the Beautiful Names of God 94

Postscript 105

Glossary 108

Bibliography 110

Notes 115

Editorial Reviews

Prayer in the Cave of the Heart is a resource of tremendous potential for spiritual directors of various traditions, people interested in contemplative prayer, and anyone who seeks to grasp deep truths about prayer. I have read from it as I facilitate a centering prayer group and have recommended it to several people with whom I meet as a spiritual director.
Greg Richardson, Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction


An accomplished musician who writes, performs, and records music using texts drawn from various sacred traditions, Fr. Cyprian has a conversational writing style that makes his book extremely accessible for those who want to deepen their understanding of contemplative prayer but tend to shy away from more scholarly approaches. ‘I like to think of myself as someone who took really good notes in class and is sharing them with all his friends,’ he says in the preface to his book (vii). Readers who want to bone up on how other traditions can help strengthen the contemplative dimension of their own faith are fortunate to have such a classmate.
Trish Day, Cistercian Studies Quarterly


This book is a veritable education in the Christian tradition of contemplative prayer. Readers with a more conventional background in Christianity will find both a refreshing perspective on their tradition along with meaty excerpts from the eastern religions to enrich their journey to the cave of the heart.
Pastoral Music


Cyprian Consiglio is a very contemporary monk, who believes that the call to contemplation is universal and sees the current interest in Eastern spirituality as an incentive to seek the way of interiority within the Christian tradition. This approach must be greeted with delight, particularly as he brings with him the words of such as Origen, Bede Griffiths, Sri Aurobindo, Swami Abhishiktananda, and Simone Weil, and supports his arguments with wisdom from the Fourth Gospel, the Upanishads, Buddhism, and Taoism. A cornucopia of richness and delight and a fitting book for our time.
Shirley du Boulay
Author of Beyond the Darkness: A Biography of Bede Griffiths and The Cave of the Heart: The Life of Swami Abhishiktananda

From the Publisher