Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home by Richard Foster
Week 6: Moving Upward — Contemplative Prayer & Prayer of Tears
Read Chapters 9–10 of Prayer by Richard Foster ("Contemplative Prayer" and "Prayer of Tears").
Previewing Week 6 of Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home
Read 3 of 8 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 14-week guide when you’re ready.
We move now into some of the most ancient and least familiar territory in the Christian tradition — the deep silence of contemplation and the surprising grace of tears. Approach these chapters with curiosity and openness.
Discussion Questions
8 questions1.Foster describes Contemplative Prayer as a form of resting in God — moving beyond words, thoughts, and even images into a loving, attentive silence. How does this form of prayer strike you? Does it feel accessible, suspicious, or simply foreign?
2.Foster draws heavily on the Desert Fathers and Mothers and on figures like Teresa of Ávila and The Cloud of Unknowing. What do you think they discovered in contemplative prayer that ordinary spoken prayer does not reach? What might they have to teach contemporary, activistic Western Christians?
3.Foster warns against both extremes: forcing contemplative experience (striving to produce spiritual feelings) and dismissing it (treating it as elitist or unnecessary). How do you personally tend to err — toward striving or toward dismissal?