I first met Beverly Lanzetta a few years back when the opportunity arose for a couple of us to gather in a retreat house in the desert of New Mexico. At the time, I had just completed reading her book, The Monk Within: Embracing a Sacred Way of Life and was moved by its holistic contemplative invitation. The words that inspired me in the book translated perfectly to the presence of the author before me. What conspired in those brief hours together was special and ordinary in the contemplative blooming of life. Beverly Lanzetta is a profound teacher who invites her readers and students to engage in the fullness of Mystery each day through the cultivation of practice and rhythm. I was elated to get my mitts on her latest book A New Silence: Spiritual Practices and Formation for the Monk Within. Our conversation flows out of this work, we talk about contemplation rhythms, parenting, the archetype of the monk, the via feminia and so much more. Reflecting on A New Silence makes up the bulk of our conversation today, but I want to really emphasize how A New Silence provides many exercises and practical ways of moving into a monastic way of life. A New Silence is for any seeker who hears the call to a contemplative path in their own context. 

Now, for those of you new to Dr. Beverly Lanzetta let me share about her background. Dedicated to a vision of theological openness and spiritual nonviolence, her work has won praise for its wisdom, eloquence, and mystical insight and is considered to be a major contribution to what theologian Ursula King called “a feminine mystical way for the 21st century.”

Dr. Lanzetta is also a vowed monk of peace living in the world and an interfaith chaplain. She has formed a community of new monks—single, married, partnered, celibate, etc.—dedicated to the universal mystical heart and to the spirituality of nonviolence. She has devoted much of her life to mentoring people who seek a deeper contemplative commitment and who wish to take personal monastic vows. She has taught theology at Villanova University, Prescott College, and Grinnell College.

Check out Beverly Lanzetta’s work at beverlylanzetta.net.

I heartily recommend her books The Monk Within and A New Silence, they have greatly impacted my journey.

Listen on Contemplify: https://contemplify.com/2021/01/03/answering-the-monk-within-with-beverly-lanzetta/

Zoom Talks

A Mystical Life hosted by Paul Swanson Contemplify Podcast

A conversation with visionary contemplative author Dr. Beverly Lanzetta, author of "A New Silence." Dr. Beverly Lanzetta is a theologian, contemplative scholar, interfaith chaplain, and teacher of new traditions of contemplative wisdom.

She is the author of numerous books on emerging universal spirituality and new monasticism, including Radical Wisdom: A Feminist Mystical Theology, Emerging Heart: Global Spirituality and the Sacred,  Nine Jewels of Night: One Soul’s Journey into God, The Monk Within: Embracing a Sacred Way of Life, Foundations in Spiritual Direction: Sharing the Sacred Across Traditions, and most recently, A New Silence: Spiritual Practices and Formation for the Monk Within. Her work is dedicated to a vision of theological openness and spiritual nonviolence and has won praise for its wisdom, eloquence, and mystical insight. Her voice is a significant contribution to what theologian Ursula King has called “a feminine mystical way for the 21st century.”

    "My deepest experience of silence is interior. Silence is a state of being, a state of interior contemplation." — Dr. Beverly Lanzetta

Dr. Lanzetta is also a vowed monk of peace living in the world, who has formed a community of new monks—single, married, partnered, celibate, etc.—dedicated to the universal mystical heart and to the spirituality of nonviolence. She mentors  people who seek a deeper contemplative commitment and who wish to take personal monastic vows. She has taught theology at Villanova University, Prescott College, and Grinnell College.

Visit this interview on encountering silence: https://podcasts.bcast.fm/e/18pqy3pn

Encountering Silence with Dr. Beverly Lanzetta

An interview with Beverly Lanzetta at Spirit of Sophia: A Women's Spirituality Center.

An Interview with Dr. Lanzetta, hosted by Spirit of Sophia

I have recorded just the inner monastery meditation taken from the Inner Monastery Meditation Lecture.

Below is one of my favorite prose poems from Thomas Merton (I read in the original podcast).  May Merton’s poem and this meditation foster a return to the palace of quiet, alone with the Alone.  Amen.

“One might say I had decided to marry the silence of the forest. The sweet dark warmth of the whole world will have to be my wife. Out of the heart of that dark warmth comes the secret that is heard only in silence, but it is the root of all of the secrets that are whispered by all the lovers in their beds all over the world.  So perhaps I have an obligation to preserve the stillness, the silence, the poverty, the virginal point of pure nothingness which is at the center of all our other loves. I attempt to cultivate this plant without comment in the middle of the night and water it with psalms and prophecies in silence.  It becomes the most rare of all the trees in the garden, at once the primordial paradise tree, the axis mundi, the cosmic axle, the Cross.  There is only one such tree.”  ~Thomas Merton

Inner Monastery Meditation

"What we plant in the soil of contemplation, we shall reap in the harvest of action."
- Meister Eckhart

Our deep self longs for the silence and stillness that comes from contemplation. The Eleven Contemplations speak to this longing. May they help on your journey to reap the harvest of a contemplative heart.

Eleven Contemplations

In today’s world we desperately need a mysticism that speaks to our human condition. A new mysticism that is rooted in the depth of our wisdom traditions, but is also wildly open to the diversity of our earth and human needs.

This podcast is lecture number 10 from “The Longing Heart” series. I address how this vision of unity was actualized in the lives and thought of the social mystics, including Thomas Merton, Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and others.

Beverly Lanzetta, “The Longing Heart” series, lecture 10 “Communion That Surpasses Words”. Series conducted at St. Benedict’s Monastery, June 2003.

Communion That Surpasses Words

This podcast is from a lecture I presented in March 2009 on “The Emerging Heart of Faith in a Multi-Religious World,” sponsored by the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, World Mission Institute, and Chicago Center for Global Ministries.

The lecture speaks about the importance of reimagining our world to hold all religions and spiritual traditions as part of our collective inheritance, and to honor the dignity of all species and life forms. The talk is divided into four areas: 1. What is Global Spirituality and why it is important today; 2. Global Spirituality as an Emerging Faith; 3. The contemplative heart of Global Spirituality;  4. In what ways Global Spirituality transforms the spiritual journey. 

The Emerging Heart Of Faith In A Multi - Religious World

In September, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by my dear friend and colleague, Adam Bucko.  This month's podcast is that interview titled "The Way of Spiritual Nonviolence".

Below is the description from Unity Radio's Radical Spirituality and Sacred Activism with Adam Bucko.


The Way of Spiritual Nonviolence
Monday, September 15, 2014
 
Description:
A conversation with theologian and spiritual teacher Beverly Lanzetta about the essence of her spirituality, which takes one beyond the exclusive boundaries of religion and into a spirituality that combines the solitary depth and commitment of mothers and fathers of the desert with the justice-oriented way of spiritual nonviolence, exemplified by pioneers like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. For more information about Beverly Lanzetta's work, please visit www.beverlylanzetta.net.

The Way Of Spiritual Nonviolence, Hosted by Adam Bucko

The depth and scope of Christian mysticism is so vast that it is not possible to cover its history and development, or the many mystic scholars and practitioners in any systematic way in a short period. Instead, my intention in this lecture is to speak about the implications Christian mysticism has for our individual lives and longing to know God.  My hope is that by enlisting the spiritual foundation that gave rise to Christian mysticism, you will find in your own life something of the passion the mystics had to grow closer and more intimate with the divine nature. 

The Christian mystics had a vision that compelled them, that drove them from the cities out into the desert to be in silence and solitude.  This vision of oneness was that each one of us was in some way participating in God’s incarnation in this world.  The efficacy of the mystic notion that the mystical dwells within us, that the very things we do every day are a reflection of divinity, is paramount in reuniting with God. Even though we may not know it, even though we fear the divine is not within us, or have given up hope, or lost faith, the Christian mystics are one voice in the wilderness saying, “Come with me, come with us.”

Beverly Lanzetta, “The Longing Heart” series, lecture 1 “Christian Mysticism”. Series conducted at St. Benedict’s Monastery, June 2003. 

Christian Mysticism

This podcast is the fifth lecture in a series of ten talks I offered on “The Longing Heart”. Here I share a spiritual practice I call an “inner monastery meditation.” This talk to designed to help you break down the barriers that prevent you from claiming silence and solitude.

The talk ends with a guided meditation that moves you away from the activity of the day and into the center of your being. I hope this month’s podcast helps you to fulfill your heart’s longing to be fully present in and passionate about your spiritual life. 

Beverly Lanzetta, “The Longing Heart” series, lecture 5 "Inner Monastery and Meditation". Series conducted at St. Benedict’s Monastery, June 2003. 

Inhabiting Your Inner Monastery

"We are in an emerging spiritual situation, in our inner lives, the world at large and our social institutions...[This] new emerging consciousness has a global foundation...and is a way of looking into the spiritual life [that] delves deeply into principles of consciousness." -Beverly Lanzetta

A conversation with Beverly hosted by Roger Housden from the Contemplative Journal.

What are the primary principles of a global spirituality? What is the contemplative life? What does it mean to be beloved or to show mercy? What is it dwell in Silence? Listen to Beverly's thoughts on the deeper questions of the spiritual life.





A Conversation with Beverly, hosted by Roger Housden

"It is our sacred duty to forge a global spirituality that is socially responsible and profoundly merciful."  --Beverly Lanzetta

Listen to Kate Sheehan Roach's insightful questions about Beverly's work, her theology and her latest book, Nine Jewels of Night. They discuss Beverly's writing, her experience of God breaking into her life, her incredible revelation and reaction to that revelation by living a life of solitude and contemplation, despite having a prolific career and four children, which co-participates with God and aspires to reach the highest good. 

An Interview with Beverly, hosted by Kate Sheehan Roach from the Contemplative Journal

Religious Harmony (Shana)

Latin text:

Da pacem, Domine, in diebus nostris
Quia non est alius
Qui pugnet pro nobis
Nisi tu Deus noster.

English translation:

Give peace, O Lord, in our time
Because there is no one else
Who fights for us
If not You, our God.

German translation:

Gib Frieden, Herr, in unseren Tagen
Denn es ist kein anderer
Der für uns kämpfen würde
Wenn nicht du, unser Gott.
 
French translation:

Donne nous la paix Seigneur en ce jour
Car il n'y a personne d'autre que Toi notre Dieu
Qui combatte pour nous
si ce n'est toi notre Dieu.

Da Pacem in Chorus (arr. S. Lanzetta)

This recording is only part of the full prayer. See the English translation below. 

O Viridissima Virga by Hildegard of Bingen

Hail, O greenest branch,
sprung forth in the airy breezes
of the prayers of the saints.

So the time has come
that your sprays have flourished:
hail, hail to you,
because the heat of the sun has exuded from you
like the aroma of balm.

For the beautiful flower sprung from you
which gave all parched perfumes
their aroma.

And they have radiated anew
in their full freshness.

Whence the skies bestowed dew upon the pasture,
and all the earth was made joyful
because her womb
brought forth corn,
and because the birds of the firmament
built their nests in her.

Then there was harvest ready for Man
and a great rejoicing of banqueters,
whence, O sweet Virgin,
no joy is lacking in you.

Eve rejected all these things.

Now let there be praise to the Highest.

Hildegard of Bingen: O Viridissima Virga

"Bede Griffiths—Benedictine monk and Hindu-Christian sannyasin—once remarked that the monk of the future would be in the world. Monasticism is a way of articulating the depth and intention of a spiritual life. The traditional monk devotes his or her life to God, the Ultimate, and gives up many things. He or she takes vows to live a life of moderation, love, equanimity, obedience, chastity, etc. But there is a movement around the world of new monasticism, especially in Europe, Australia and the United States, which is based on the idea of taking the monk’s deep contemplative commitment and transposing it in the world. It is a way of affirming to yourself and also to your community that this—the Divine, Holy, Absolute—is the center of your life.

What initiates or sustains, and allows passion for life to come forth? One powerful act is making a commitment or vow. We can have a private encounter with the divine or a private moment of awe in nature, but when we say to the world, “I am taking a monastic vow,” it has a different efficacy. The idea of the monk in the world is that the deep contemplative life is not only for those who live in monasteries. It is an archetype that is intrinsic to all people and all of us have a monastic dimension."

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"The Mystical Positivist," is dedicated to the application of reason in the pursuit of spiritual practice and development. I look to this format to be challenging and a bit controversial in that the New Age community tends to have an overly romantic picture of the gritty pursuit of spiritual transformation. My thesis is that rationality is in no way the antithesis of deep mystical experience, in fact, I assert that it is a necessary ally - hence the blog name "Mystical Positivist."

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.

The Mystical Positivist

The Mystical Positivist, an interview with Beverly Lanzetta, PART II

Prayer written by Beverly Lanzetta.

Lanzetta, Beverly. Daily Prayers to Holy Mystery. San Diego: Blue Sapphire Books, 2015.

Prayers

Morning Vigil: Canticle of Dawn

Prayer written and read by Beverly Lanzetta.

Lanzetta, Beverly. Daily Prayers to Holy Mystery. San Diego: Blue Sapphire Books, 2015.

Morning Prayer 1: Canticle of Praise

Night Vigil: Canticle of Silence

A talk and Q & A at Many Rivers Bookstore about Beverly Lanzetta's newest work, The Monk Within: Embracing a Sacred Way of Life. 2019.

Bookstore Talk

The Monk Within at Many Rivers Bookstore

Prayer to Holy Sophia

Christian Sannyasa

Christian Sannyasa (part 6): Embracing the Spirit of Communion

Christian Sannyasa (part 5): A Mystical Way of Knowing, The Cave of the Heart

Christian Sannyasa (part 4): Monastic Renunciation as Mystical Practice

Christian Sannyasa (part 3): Benedictine-Sannyasic Path to Liberation

Christian Sannyasa (part 2): Saccidananda, The Ashram of the Holy Trinity

Christian Sannyasa (part 1): The Distinctive Spiritual Journey of our Time

Beverly Lanzetta is a theologian, contemplative scholar, and teacher of new traditions of contemplative wisdom.

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