Contemplative Prayer...

...is a deep and simplified spiritual activity in which the mind and will rest in a unified and simple concentration upon God, turned to God, intent upon God and absorbed in God's own light, with a simple gaze which is perfect adoration because it silently tells God that we have left everything else and desire even to leave our own selves for God's sake, and that God alone is important to us, God alone is our desire and our life, and nothing else can give us joy.

- Thomas Merton (alt.)