This book is the conclusion and fruit of many years of personal search. It is both a scholarly study and an accessible introduction to a tradition both ancient and new. ‘Prayer’, Larkin says, ‘is the science of love’. It is a science he knows well. Ernest Larkin draws from a deep well of silence and shares what he learnt with an open heart.  

Contemplative Prayer for Today: Christian Meditation gathers some of Ernest Larkin’s earlier scholarship and relates it to his own journey into Centering Prayer and Christian Meditation. He dialogues the spiritual heritage of Mount Carmel with these other contemporary ‘wisdoms of the Desert’. He has helpful advice for those new to contemplation and reveals hidden depths for those on the way. 

This work is the swansong of a life dedicated to God. Fr Larkin died soon after its completion but before it was published. He felt that there was no greater service one could do than lead people to an encounter with God in their own hearts. This book is his legacy to us and shows the wisdom and love to which he is now fully united. He leaves us a rich inheritance.  

Ernest Larkin’s book on meditation reflects not only his own deep exploration of the world of prayer but also his broad knowledge of the Christian tradition and his intelligence both of mind and heart. (Laurence Freeman)