Tag: Thomas Merton
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We are all called to be saints
No, this isn’t a belated April Fool’s joke. Although when I first heard that we – all of us – can be saints…are called, in fact, to be saints, I had a similar reaction: ‘You must be kidding! Me?’ But, what I am slowly coming to appreciate more fully is that God’s most important call…
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Thomas Merton’s continuing relevance for today’s youth
Daniel P. Horan, O.F.M. writes recently of the continuing relevance of Trappist monk and prolific spiritual writer, Thomas Merton, in America, a Catholic magazine. I’d recommend the entire article to you, here, but was particularly struck by this paragraph mid-way through: There is much that can be said about the still timely insights Merton presents…
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If God is everywhere equally present, then…
He can be found, felt…perceived in any place. Henri Nouwen, Thomas Merton, Brother Lawrence, St Ignasius, and countless others, past and present, tell us how and where to find God, to hear His directions and desires for our lives. This morning I was reading Nouwen’s book Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life. In today’s…
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Compassion
For years, I’ve awakened at 3 and 4 and 5 in the morning, no matter when I go to sleep. I often struggle to get back to sleep. In recent months I find that this is a most precious time in my day. It’s a time of quiet and an almost holy darkness. For even…
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Losing ourselves in God’s plan
In today’s world of blatant self-promotion and scrum to have one’s qualifications stand out from the rest of the crowd, Thomas Merton’s writing resonates. Critiquing his own early fervor, he said he unconsciously sought to have it ‘become spectacular’ and ‘draw attention to itself.’ In much of my world outside this virtual space, where with…
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How’s your Lent going?
So, how is your Lent going? As you’ve probably been able to tell, if you’ve been reading my posts each day, I’ve been using Thomas Merton’s meditations for Lent from Seeking God In All Things. Today’s meditation is beyond me…or maybe I’m just a bit weary of producing a blog post each day. I feel…
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Be a FROG – Fully Rely On God
Merton speaks today of “paradox”…of wisdom manifest and yet hidden. He says The words God utters are words full of silence, and they are bait to draw us into silence…If we hide the precepts of God’s wisdom in our heart — precepts of humility, meekness, charity, renunciation, faith, prayer — they themselves will hide us…
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Peace Within, Peace Without
Finding our own selves — the unique and perfect selves that Our Father intended us to be — is necessary before we can participate successfully in community or in relationship with others. Merton says, in his meditation for Wednesday of the first week of Lent, that: A man who is not at peace with himself…
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No matter where I am, He is with me
Merton’s meditation for this first Tuesday in Lent discusses books and how we can be blessed by others’ words and experiences…or not. It struck home for me. I am just finishing my first mystery novel, since reading Fr. James Martin’s, Jesuit Guide last year. I wrote about the effect the Jesuit Guide had on me…
Walking With My Brother 