Saturday, November 23, 2013

Study Guide: The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapter 20

As you read Chapter 20, “How the all-powerful God well defends those who won’t stop loving him through contemplative prayer to stick up for themselves” (52-53), notice that at the end of the first paragraph, Anonymous reminds us again that both Mary Magdalene and Mary (sister of Martha) show us how to enter into union deep union with God.  We need only the desire to be fully in his Presence.

Anonymous also wants to realize Martha’s difficulty; she simply is “too worried” about things, too “distracted by many things.”  Her to-do list, filled with “merciful deeds” to be done, is long and good, but it doesn’t include “the best work of all,” that is, a deeply intimate love for God expressed within contemplative practice.
 

Read the final paragraph of this chapter carefully and explain in a sentence or two why Anonymous agrees with Jesus when he says, “Mary has chosen the best part, which will not be taken away from her” (53).

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