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Tag Archives: Thomas Merton

Tuesday of Holy Week

27 Tuesday Mar 2018

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blessing, Book of Hours, conscience, contradictions, Holy Week, light, Peace, sorrow, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, torment, will

alightHaving nothing of merit to say on this Tuesday of Holy Week, I search Thomas Merton for a worthy word. Although he never disappoints, I find myself looking unsuccessfully for something soothing to counteract the sorrow of what is to come as this week progresses. I settle for an admission of God’s greatness (the only safeguard for us in distress) and the necessity of surrender if we are to take up our role and responsibility in concert with God.

Almighty and merciful God, Father of all, Creator and Ruler of the Universe, Lord of History, whose designs are inscrutable, whose glory is without blemish, whose compassion for the errors of men is inexhaustible, in your will is our peace.

Resolve our inner contradictions, which now grow beyond belief and beyond bearing. They are at once a torment and a blessing: for if you had not left us the light of conscience, we would not have to endure them.

Grant us to seek peace where it is truly found! In your will, O God, is our peace! (Thomas Merton’s Book of Hours, p. 107-108)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Simple Things

16 Friday Feb 2018

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Book of Hours, expectations, hope, loss, renew, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

asunriseSitting here this morning taking inventory of my thoughts and feelings I found only loss. First, I was faced with a message from a friend about her mother’s passing. It was not an unexpected message but monumental, of course, especially for someone who has been a loving caretaker for a long time.  Then I read less serious news of dashed Olympic hopes in skiing and skating. Americans who seemed destined to win by the agreement of the entire world failed miserably and one wonders what role the expectations of everyone had in the results.

Wanting only to accept whatever this day holds, I was encouraged by Thomas Merton whose Book of Hours said it quite succinctly. It will suffice for my prayer on this first Friday of Lent.

Thank God for the hill, the sky, the morning sun, the manna on the ground which every morning renews our lives.

 

 

 

 

 

Living Love

13 Saturday Jan 2018

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Entering the Silence, forgive, kind, live, love, loved ones, patient, Paul, Peace, sorrow, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

ahugAs is often the case, I woke up today with song lyrics in my head. This time it was a familiar text from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, chosen by countless people for a wedding reading. You know it too, I’ll wager. Love is patient, love is kind, love is ready to forgive, sings Jeannie Cotter with David Haas ready to jump in as the lyrics veer off a bit from Paul. The last line of the chorus summarizes the message beautifully, however, when both sing that in love we choose to live.

I usually wait for a second sign if the song doesn’t go away by the time I sit down and root around inside and outside for a message. As I take stock of the previous day (or, as in this case, two days since I had no internet service yesterday) my theme often becomes perfectly clear. Yesterday was a day of communicating with loved ones – in person or on the phone – who are dealing with issues of deep sorrow. I carry them now and will continue to do so on this day where quiet and inaction is being enforced by the ice and snow outside. As I move through the hours I will take Thomas Merton with me as well to help me stay in the sphere of loving consciousness. Won’t you join me?

Every day love corners me somewhere and surrounds me with peace without having to look very far or very hard or do anything special. (Entering the Silence, p. 196)

 

Friends of God

09 Tuesday Jan 2018

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awareness, child, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, content, faith, friend, friendship, gratitude, humble, knowledge, light, poverty, praise, prayer plant, presence, simplicity, spirit, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

aprayerplantSometimes when life feels very complicated I like to find some simplicity somewhere. This morning, since light had already arrived at this task before I did, I looked up and saw that my prayer plant had found a way to untangle herself from the tight configuration her leaves had been living in since I transplanted her a few weeks ago. She seemed happy to spread her arms in praise. That moment was enough to call me to do the same.

The feeling was deepened when I opened to the words of Thomas Merton who offered me the following message from his book, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander:

You ask of me nothing else than to be content that I am your Child and your Friend, simply to accept your friendship because it is your friendship. This friendship is Spirit. You have called me to be repeatedly born in the Spirit, repeatedly born in light, in knowledge, in unknowing, in faith, in awareness, in gratitude, in poverty, in presence, and in praise.

Such a wide-ranging invitation offered to all who consent simply to accept humble friendship with God!

 

 

 

 

 

O King of All Nations, Come!

22 Friday Dec 2017

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contemplative prayer, Dalai Lama, deepest center, heart, hope, joy, king, King of All the Nations, O Antiphons, Peace, Pope Francis, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Keating, Thomas Merton, unity

akingIt seems beyond human capacity that a world of several billion persons could come together under one ruler. There are so many countervailing factors. Just think about the diversity of languages or food choices, religious beliefs and so much more. That said, I think of efforts being made in spiritual circles to appreciate the values and practices of others that are birthing new hope for finding commonality that will lead at least to peaceful co-existence.

I think of Thomas Merton who, in addition to his correspondence with many spiritual writers and thinkers, traveled 50 years ago to Asia to address a conference of religious leaders on issues of peace. Had his untimely death not ended his brilliant and enthusiastic work, who knows what understanding might have come from it. Even now, Merton scholars continue to plumb the depths of his work, although lacking the essential quality of his person as inspiration.

Benedictine monk, Thomas Keating, tells of his experience as abbot in the Spencer, Massachusetts monastery in the early 1970s when many young people began to knock on the door asking, “Is this the Buddhist place?” Keating directed them to a building not far away on the same road. Finally, he and his colleagues, Fathers William Meninger and Basil Pennington, asked themselves: “What have they got that we haven’t got?” and went to visit the temple. There they found prayer not dissimilar to the monastic practice described by Thomas Merton in his book Contemplative Prayer as “a return to the heart…finding one’s deepest center, awakening the profound depths of our being.” From that beginning was born the Christian movement called Contemplative Outreach which now boasts hundreds of thousands of practitioners the world over.

So this “King of All the Nations” clearly cannot rule in a political sphere but only in the hearts of each person who longs for justice and the peace that comes from loving acceptance of diversity. Will we ever get there? The intimations are present in people like Pope Francis, for example, and the Dalai Lama. It remains for us to find the will to follow. I saved a column I found as the millennium was turning that spoke of possibility in the following words. Let us heed their message today.

“Some may not like the image of king but kingship evokes deep-felt longing. The antiphon points to a world better than any government we have known up till now, an order that recognizes no differences except to exalt the lowliest. And who knows? This millennium might bring that stunning reversal. So we pray: Come, one who draws us beyond our disputes, who silences our complaints in your great good order. Bring us the vital joy of diversity, the secure peace of unity. In you our plea is not contradictory, our hope is not disappointed.”

 

 

 

 

 

A Tiny Step Forward

13 Wednesday Dec 2017

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change of heart, Doug Jones, election, metanoia, peaceful world, The Hidden Ground of Love, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

Alabama SenateI am relieved this morning at the news that Doug Jones has prevailed in the special election over Roy Moore in Alabama. It is not about Republican and Democrat for me but about the persons themselves and their beliefs. Although Moore continues to contest the results I feel confident that the outcome will show a better result for the country.

After the sense of relief in that message, I turned to Thomas Merton who, over 50 years ago said the following in the book The Hidden Ground of Love:

The real job is to lay the groundwork for a deep change of heart on the part of the whole nation so that one day it can really go through the metanoia* we need for a peaceful world. (* “a transformative change of heart”)

May it be so in our time!

 

 

 

 

 

Engaging Advent

09 Saturday Dec 2017

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24-hour retreat, Advent, Christ, Contemplation in a World of Action, silence, stillness, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

astillnessI’m sitting in the dark quiet of the Sophia House, our satellite “office” of the Sophia Center, where I am the only one up and moving. (Somebody has to make the coffee and start the water for tea!) We are here – 5 of us – for 24 hours of consideration of Advent. The questions we will consider today constellate around the idea of the Christ coming into the earthly realm for the benefit of the world. We have all been convinced of this since we were very young, as most Christians are. The lens through which we will look, however, is one of our responsibility to participate in the mission of Jesus as he is present and active in our lives today. Two questions will guide us:

  1. How can my longing for Christ to be born into my heart affect my awareness of responsibility for change in my life and/or in the lives of others?
  2. Might I more easily or frequently pay attention to God in stillness? Where might I find more silence in my life?

These are the two sides of what Thomas Merton spoke of long ago in his book, Contemplation in a World of Action, and might prove helpful for us as we journey through this season of Advent toward a new arising of Christ consciousness in our world and in our own hearts.

 

 

 

 

 

Finding the Words

07 Thursday Dec 2017

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Advent, Christ, everlasting glory, lightning, make ready, prepare ye the way of the Lord, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, wake up call

aheartlightningYesterday I finally put pen to paper (well, actually, it was cursor to document) in an attempt to find words to share with the Church congregation I will address on Sunday. It’s always a challenge to find something novel to say in Advent. “The Lord is coming soon” sounds flat and “Prepare the way of the Lord!” is also over-used. It isn’t as if I hadn’t been thinking about it for weeks but I’m still not satisfied with my efforts. Advent is such a meaningful time for me that I would like to say something stirring, something to wake up the desire, the yearning that lives deep in the hearts of all of us. I wonder if using the “wake-up call” that Thomas Merton gave me this morning would work. I’d probably have to pass out the words for further reflection or repeat it a few times so those only listening with their normal ears would get the image, but maybe it would be just the thing to make the light dawn. Just maybe…

Make ready for the Face that speaks like lightning, uttering the new name of your exultation deep in the vitals of your soul. Make ready for the Christ, whose smile, like lightning, sets free the song of everlasting glory that now sleeps, in your paper flesh, like dynamite. (“The Victory” from The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton, p.171-172)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to Business

27 Monday Nov 2017

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Advent, Christmas, consciously, happiness, Holiday, love, love of Christ, One God, slowing down, Thanksgiving, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, travel

atrafficToday I sit staring at a blank page, feeling a bit empty, as happens sometimes on the Monday after an important holiday. While I was not counted in the millions of people who took to the road or the sky over the weekend to be with faraway relatives or friends (the return trip perhaps not concluded yet), the Thanksgiving holiday just concluded seemed to me to hold more energy than usual in the wishes of “Happy Thanksgiving!” shared sincerely among friends and strangers alike. Maybe we needed some distraction from all the distress of our country and the world that made us try harder to find the joy of sharing. Maybe it was just the slowing down and relaxing together that pervaded our household. Whatever the source, I feel the need to regroup today so that I will live consciously throughout the wonderful season of Advent leading to Christmas. As the world turns from another beginning to a conclusion marked by the calendar of feasting and celebrations, I am heartened and challenged by Thomas Merton’s words to wake up and get about this new day.

Let us live in this love and this happiness, you and I and all of us, in the love of Christ and in contemplation, for this is where we find ourselves and one another as we truly are. It is only in this love that we at last become real, for it is here that we most truly share the life of the One God…

 

 

 

 

 

Monday, Monday…

13 Monday Nov 2017

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active work, Book of Hours, calendar, collaborative effort, contemplative, cultural, Job, Peace, renewal, schedule, society, spiritual, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, virtue, work week

8:27AM EDT: As we come round again to the beginning of the traditional work week (if such a concept even exists any more) I think of people who have already arrived at their offices or factories – or those who are just climbing into bed after finishing the night shift. I remember what it was like to wait outside every morning for my ride to school where teachers were expected by 8:00AM and how cold it was in January or how hurried I was on the rare mornings that I overslept. Now my schedule is so diverse that my most precious possession has become my calendar! Keeping track of what day it is and where I need to be at what time can become a tricky task some days! Mostly I just think of how lucky I am to have work that is usually of my own choosing which feeds my spiritual self and is also in service to others.

Here’s something from Thomas Merton’s Book of Hours that gave rise to the above considerations:

All Christian life is meant to be at the same time profoundly contemplative and rich in active work…Christian holiness can no longer be considered a matter purely of individual  and isolated acts of virtue. It must be seen as part of a great collaborative effort for spiritual and cultural renewal in society, to produce conditions in which all can work and enjoy the just fruits of their labor in peace.

May all of our work be a blessing in our own lives and for the good of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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