“I believe that a life of contemplation is like the life of a tree. It’s the journey in and down … first. Contemplation is deepening of one’s root system into the soil and further yet into the inner-wellsprings before the fruit emerges on a branch. This journey in and down is a hidden and silent journey, often with a great deal of solitude of the heart. It can be confusing like a labyrinth and disorienting at times. The places of our formation may be dark and obscure to our sight.  However, the darkness of our inner soil is not dark to Love; it shines as the daylight.

In this place, as we are held and nurtured in Love, we are meant, like a seed in the ground, to let go of the form we’ve known. We are invited to surrender into the process of yielding our shell to the earth, opening and expanding into the darkness. A seed needs to be in the darkness before it can spring into the light. A seed needs to go down before it goes up. And so, must we.”

Excerpt from Cathy’s new book, Walk With Me, Transformation through the Pathway of Spiritual Direction