A Doorway to Silence: The Contemplative Use of the Rosary

by Robert Llewelyn

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809129000
• ISBN13: 9780809129003
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Paulist Press
• Length: 84 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Pagan look at prayer and the rosary

If you aren't Catholic you aren't going to heaven anyway so why pray? I know, I know, but that's what they teach each other. As a Protestant I'll be happy to welcome everyone to our corner of heaven and to that aid, this is a lovely little book, bringing me new insight to prayer period, all religion aside. I deal with the dying as part of my life path, and at some point most seek comfort in a form of prayer whether they believe or not. This book is compact enough to carry in my purse which I did for many months, pulling it out at the odd moment and pondering a page or two. Except from page 51: God Will Give Us What Is Best "So easily do we pray for the wrong things... and having received nothing that we have asked for, but all things we have genuinely hoped for, our prayer has been answered and we have been genuinely blessed". Living a life in prayer is a decent goal, and in aid of that this book is a valuable tool. I would like to have known Mr. Llewelyn.

The Contemplative use of the Rosary

The author Robert Llewelyn is a Lutheran minister that is Chaplin of the Julian Shrine at Norwich, England. In this book he shares what he has learned about how the Holy Rosary is more important than any particular use to which it may be put. He feels that many people beyond the Roman Catholic Church may benefit by a way of prayer, which in principle goes back to the early days of the Church. He shares many methods on how to pray the Rosary and believes that it is a great tool for those aspiring to contemplative prayer.

For Episcopalians & Anglicans

An excellent "How to" book for Episcopalians on the use of the Rosary. For Anglo-Catholics this is a known quantity but for many Episcopalians, the Rosary has entirely Roman implications. This book provides methods, prayers, and theology for the use of this wonderful prayer tool by Episcopalians allowing them the opportunity of understanding the place of contemplation in their spiritual life. I would highly recommend this book and will suggest that our church book shop carry it.

The Contemplative use of the Rosary

Author Robert Llewelyn is the Chaplain of the Julian Shrine at Norwich, England and explains that he wrote this book because of the response he'd received in a previous book in which he devoted a few pages to the saying of the rosary. He " believes that in this practice and in the silence which must inevitably lie beyond it, a surge of new spiritual life affecting Church and nation may be generated." Llewelyn notes that the rosary has been in use in the Western Church for almost a thousand years, but although the prayers and structure of the rosary are unique to the Christian Church, the principle is common, if not universal beyond the Christian faith. As a Lutheran, I have come to the rosary on my own, as the tradition was discarded as a prayer tool in our denomination. He suggests employing the beads in a way compatible with one's background. Praying the psalms, repetitive bible verses, a specific prayer word, or a litany of thanksgiving in place of the traditional mysteries remove the rigidity and allow a novice the freedom to begin very simply. Having been a contemplative for only a few years, I maintain my chosen phrase, "Gracious Lord, I surrender to your care", whether merely closing my eyes, contemplating an icon, or, of late, fingering the beads of my rosary. The best news of the book is Julian of Norwich quoted as stating that there is no wrath in God. `God is the goodness that can know no anger, for he is nothing but goodness.' (10 times in her writings, she assures us of this) Llewellyn says that Julian's truth is that the wrath is in us and not in God.....this wrath is quenched in the power of God's wrath-free love. I'm sorry this book is out of print, and encourage a search for an existing copy.