Meditation is not a way of escaping the problems

This is not safe religion. If you go to church as a way of escaping the problems that we confront in our lives or in society in order to create sort of an alternative fantasy world, then this cannot be really identified with the new way that Jesus opened up. It doesn’t mean that the work of contemplation is less important. It means it is more important. It’s more central. Jesus spent the night before the Sermon in prayer, all night in prayer. These times of silence, stillness, simplicity and solitude, are never more important than in times of social crisis, where we have to live the new vision of reality.

The Art of Waiting, Laurence Freeman