Album Notes

A Book of Hours: At Prayer with Thomas Merton

Audio Divina: the practice of contemplative listening or hearing a sacred word

For over half a century spiritual master Thomas Merton has taught countless worldly contemplatives the art of lectio divina: the meditative reading of his sacred texts which have drawn our souls deep into silence and devotion. As the eye brought us to the depths of prayer, now the ear will do the same as it opens here to the sounding of Merton’s exquisite poems and psalms read by Jonathan Montaldo and Kathleen Deignan CND.

Enter into this aural oratory made of Merton’s word and Deignan’s song, and hear the resonance that will heal the dissonance of your soul. A bell will summon you each day at dawn and dusk to a brief sounding of prayer. Rest there. Linger. Sink in to the silence beneath the word, the echoing silence beneath the song. Hear the art of audio divina…

At Prayer with Thomas Merton is an audio breviary created by Kathleen Deignan, CND composed of the prayers, poems and psalms of the spiritual master who has taught the world to pray.

Drawn from her edited volume Thomas Merton: A Book of Hours (Sorin Books 2007), she has inter-laced his mystical word with her sacred song to weave a sound tapestry for prayer at dawn and dusk each day that will encompass you in stillness or in motion, in solitude or while moving through the busyness of your life.

With Jonathan Montaldo of the Merton Institute for Contemplative Living and Paul Avgerinos of Studio Unicorn, Kathleen invites you to be at prayer with Thomas Merton and savor the grace of contemplative presence.
To learn more about Kathleen Deignan’s music and ministry visit www.ScholaMinistries.org