Merton mourns his brother as lost and dead, yet offers as well to take his place: Out of this human agony and grief, Merton makes the connection to Christs own Passion: The poems final stanza underscores the fact that Christs own passion, though it requires death, does not end in death. (Merton smiles, remembering a girl from his own past or perhaps his own romantic pen pal then looks upon Dad closer, seeing something written on his face, an inkling of a truer calling to something other than that of the silence and innerness of the monastery.) The first thirty days of my "sabbatical" were spent in the hills of Kentucky, in Thomas Merton's (1915-1968) hermitage about a mile away from the main monastery. . Mertons poetry, like his visual art, admittedly can be obscure and the work requires patience and discipline to appreciate fully. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. . And what about me? The poem appears in Mertons classic The Seven Storey Mountain, untitled, and was later published in Thomas P. McDonnells A Thomas Merton Reader under the title For My Brother: Reported Missing in Action, 1943.. To help celebrate the cluster of anniversaries that 1998 represents, the monastery has co-produced a beautifully illustrated history, "The Abbey of Gethsemani." . It is difficult to distill the essence of Thomas Merton: He and his works are complex. There had been a hold on them for 25 years. WebHowever, the fact is that he was and his writings made Gethsemini wealthy. . A young girl tries to explain to herself the logic of Yes, need for more of a life of prayer, greater fidelity, greater sincerity and simplicity in doing what God wants of me. It depends on getting rid of something very deep and very fundamental in myself. The Operation of Faith. (qtd. He was told he was behaving as if he were still in college or the Air Force and not in the monastery. He would begin discussing a religious subject and always seem to get off topic somehow. And found also the great compassion, mahakaruna . He laughs. Back in his hermitage, he is writing secret letters, he is going to rooms in the abbey to make furtive calls to her. The author chronicles the story of how a party of 44 French monks from a 12th-century monastery in the Loire Valley started out on foot and landed here after months of hardship. The British edition ofThe Seven Storey Mountainunder the titleElected Silencewas also published that year.. Merton became a western pilgrim to the Christian east. (Asian Journal, 4). Contemplation for Merton is the very heart of faith. I do not openly allow myselfnot consciouslyto sin in this regard. You might be interested: What Bus Goes To Greenwich Park? Fr. Webi regret breaking up with her years later. He's 36. It tells of a "Trappist monk, poet, social critic and spiritual writer" who had an epiphany on the spot on March 18, 1958. It is important to know that nearly the whole time he was a monk, Father Louis struggled terribly with Dom James over issues of obedience and control. I celebrated in April, as I always do, National Poetry Month, which has been observed in the United States since 1966. "Maybe the notion of popular spirituality fits in. A few weeks later, Merton received word that John Paul had in fact died, and that four days after the plane crash, they had buried John Paul in the sea.. WebMerton had transferred from Cambridge University in England, from which he was being expelled for lack of work. But along with his meteoric rise to fame, Mertons relationships with his superiors remained turbulent; indeed one of his most antagonistic relationships was with the staunchly traditional abbot, Dom James Fox. During the first Sunday of Lent in March 1942, he was accepted as a novice at the monastery.. He graduated from Columbia University in Manhattan with an English degree. (3). To be human is to do some sublime and stupid things -- sometimes simultaneously. I was dressed in a Buddhist monks habit, but with more black and red and gold, a Zen habit, in color more Tibetan than Zen . In his Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, he explained: I will be a better Catholic, not if I can refute every shade of Protestantism, but if I can affirm the truth in it and still go further. Inside those cloistered walls, Dad, forever the avid athlete, often found himself restless. Mertons encouragement gave Dad the inspiration to continue writing her throughout his next six months at Gethsemani and for three more years after he left, finally meeting her in the summer of 1966 and marrying a few months later. Some of those who've made pilgrimages to Kentucky this fall have probably stood at the corner of the busiest street corner in downtown Louisville to read a plaque. Merton became increasingly attracted to Eastern religion as his attachments to his own monastery grew more tenuous. So they can get up at 3 a.m. To glorify God again. 70 views, 1 likes, 3 loves, 6 comments, 0 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Otis Road Church of God: Sister Susan Thomas A 20th-century prophet and mystic. . In one passage in his Mystics and Zen Masters, Merton quotes Buddhas comments to Ananda, wherein he says, . Mertons encouragement gave Dad the inspiration to continue writing her throughout his next six months at Gethsemani and for three more years after he left, We're talking together as I read this. He spent a year teaching at St. Bonaventure University in New York but wasnt happy there. His later writings (see Read with Caution, page 9) are more confusing than helpful, for they conflate and confuse Buddhist and Christian teachings. They did it yesterday. The phrase is pure Zen. I do not openly allow myself -- not consciously -- to sin in this regard. WebHowever, the fact is that he was and his writings made Gethsemini wealthy. Until last June, when he died, there was a monk here who was 98. Sign up for weekly updates from Busted Halo! The abbot is also known to be a sound businessman who has his institution in very good financial shape. The two brothers met in July and shared details about each others lives. That this is not just some selfish self-absorbed kind of thing.". ", One of the primary things Thomas Merton taught us with his millions of words: You bring it all with you into religious life, your whole history. ec CAPTION: A morning fog and sunrise offer a contemplative setting for two Trappist monks at prayer in the Gethsemani graveyard after their 5:45 a.m. Lauds service. On Dec. 10, Merton gave one of the principal addresses, although he didn't give it especially well, nor did it go over so pleasingly. He writes that we have now reached a stage (long overdue) of religious maturity at which it may be possible for someone to remain perfectly faithful to Christian and Western monastic commitment, and yet to learn in depth from, say, a Buddhist discipline and experience (Asian Journal, xxiii). But as you get older, if you can keep with it, there's also a wisdom. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. The abbot wears penny loafers. . He was also influenced by Daniel Walsh, a part-time philosophy instructor.. "We have all the human needs. You can think of that as misguided. He and "Tom" had been classmates in the '30s at Columbia University. . One might doubt whether a cloistered White man who lived in Kentucky in the middle part of the last century would have anything useful to offer, but His life was full of purpose, But we must to the world confide: His words had no more meaning Than the things for which he died. In fact he predicted that Buddhism, with its autoerotic type of spirituality, would replace Marxism as the principle antagonist of the Catholic faith, for the very non-dualist ideas it espouses deny the Christian belief in a Creator who is separate from His creation. . (Thomas Merton: Preview of the Asian Journey, 33). If, as Daoism and Zen Buddhism suggests, there are no distinctions between beings or things, then there would be no need for Christs Passion, for there would be no us for him to save. (133). Thomas Merton reminds us what we risk losing if we do not remember the song of our faith. His parents, They'll be silent for most of this day, speaking when it's necessary. It is DEEP. . (Mystics and Zen Masters, 14, emphasis in original). It is not known whether their relationship was ever consummated. After reading these books, Thomas Merton was inspired to explore Catholicism further. They're looking around for something to grab in these weird times. The profile of the Merton family at this time was one of rather poor, impractical . On one day alone, 10,000 orders came into the New York offices of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Mertons poem is for his brother, but when utilized as a prayer, it can be a gift for all our brothers who suffer, who grieve, yet who hope always in the promise of Easter. All these men are part of a chain of prayer and community and steadfastness that stretches back nine centuries, which is when their Catholic penitential order -- the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance -- came into being, at a place called Citeaux, in the French wilderness, in 1098. There's more light in it. Ruth became ill with stomach cancer and died in 1921 when Thomas was six years old and his brother wasnt yet three. "I don't know much about pop music. So, too, with the Muslims, the Hindus, the Buddhists, etc. Merton (ProperNoun) Any of several placenames in England from words meaning lake and settlement. He primarily wrote on topics pertaining to spirituality, pacifism, and social justice and published more than 50 books within a period of 27 years. We're trying to live the spirit of a desert existence -- maybe you could say that. 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars. This is why Zen refers to enlightenment as an awakening, experienced like a thunderclap. Zen Buddhism, as Fr. WebThomas Merton. When they rose 15 minutes ago, it wasn't from straw pallets in unheated dormitories. There is nothing to complain about from the point of view of geography. He describes his life there as one of indulgence, drinking excessively, frequenting local pubs, and womanizing. It was mid-1942 and John Paul was supposed to leave for the World War II. That's what they want us to swallow. He traveled to Rome in 1933 and visited several of the citys beautiful churches: the Lateran Baptistery, Basilica di San Clemente, Santa Costanza, Santa Pudenziana, and Tre Fontane, a Trappist monastery. Just as the contemplative life helped Merton find the peace he searched for, contemplative prayer and the Lay Cistercian lifestyle have changed everything for Dad. Police say the body of a 2-year-old Florida boy who had been the subject of a frantic search after his mother was slain has been found in a lake in the jaws of an alligator. And thank you Dad, for not only being the greatest of fathers these past 43 years, but for listening to that little voice that called you to the lay life of marriage and fatherhood, as Fr. ", He'll also say: "There've been moments here when I've almost lost my faith. I am a confirmed jazzman, but I need to know more about pop also. Cosmos and Damian, across the Forum, where he meditated on a great mosaic in the apse, of Christ coming in judgment in dark blue sky, with the suggestion of fire in the small clouds beneath his feet (Seven Storey Mountain, 108). The family moved to USA during the First World War. ruth benjamin paris; spanish pottery makers; where is les gray buried; how to cook golden wonder potatoes In oblique and direct ways, this must bear on the life of Father Louis. But this was long before he'd met the student nurse at St. Joseph's Hospital in Louisville with the coils of coal-dark hair whose name was Margie. Real poetry must transcend the individual to become universal; to paraphrase James Dickey, a good poet can tell you how things are with him, but a great poet can tell you how things are with you. He calls his reader to enter deeply into Zen in order to discover a certain reality. "Well, there was that fabulous mind of his, always with insights," says Kelly. Zen and the Birds of Appetite, 1968 These are difficult questions to answer concisely, but it is clear in his writings that Thomas Merton was more of a spiritual seeker rather than a spiritual settler. Besides, with the sort of madness we've had in the country, maybe a Trappist monastery in the semi-wilds of Kentucky isn't a bad place to hide for a few days at the close of 1998. In a corner of the sanctuary, there's a lighted candle, and its glow is making a wavery pinpoint. I wonderand we shall never know in this life the answerwhat home Merton was headed for that day in October. That kind of girlfriend turned out to be our mother. 2401 Lake Park Drive SE Smyrna, GA 30080 404-920-7430 | editor@georgiabulletin.org webmaster@archatl.com. Does he stray from Catholic orthodoxy? Not all of his readers agree with his views. After meeting the Japanese Buddhist scholar Daisetz T. Suzuki (18701966), Merton began a zealous interest in Zen, keeping an active correspondence with Suzuki, eventually producing a collection of essays called Zen and the Birds of Appetite (1968). The walls in here are brick and painted white and rise straight up, so unadorned. Ive always found it appropriate that a commemoration of poetry falls within the same month in which we most often celebrate Easter because to me poetry is perfectly suited to themes of renewal and redemption. He has huge ears, with bristles of white hair on his nearly bald pate. His name was Brother Kevin. Yes, it must have been a kind of window on all that was roiling inside. We've always had people knocking at the door who want to come and live the life, not as visitors, as postulants. In May that year, he was ordained to the Catholic priesthood. I make one movement to think about it and everything clogs and I remain helpless and thoughtless and open my hands and sit with my tongue-tied existence hanging on the inscrutable will of God. Mystics and Zen Masters, 1967 World War II was underway, and Mertons younger brother John Paul came to visit the monastery before he shipped to England for military service. Among his combinations of contradictions was this essential one: "public monk.". Dad remembers him as a good man: fair, smart, open, and sociable. When "Mountain" came out and began to stagger booksellers with its sales, the New York Times refused to put it on its bestseller list. "A Revelation" is the heading. The final installment has just come out. WebThomas Merton fell in love with a student nurse assigned to his care after he underwent surgery in 1966. He received, with the help of his brother, a rapid series of instructions and was baptized on July 26, 1942 in a Kentucky parish. To say I will remain in this monastery, no, I can't say that. March 11, 2021. For a Daoist and Zen Buddhist, any one thing necessitates the existence of its opposite, and thus an ultimate truth must co-exist with ultimate untruth, and ultimate good must co-exist with ultimate evil. There's a process. Thanks, your message has been sent successfully. March 11, 2021. Its strength is its mostly cogent description of Chinese Daoism and Zen Buddhism, but one begins to discern Mertons attitude shifting toward his later developed notion that Eastern religion is a necessary supplement to Catholicism. He graduated with a bachelors degree in English in January 1938. A pretty sophisticated one, too, on which you can do shopping for Gethsemani Farms cheese, fruitcake, bourbon fudge. We left the groundI with Christian mantras and a great sense of destiny, of being at last on my true way after years of waiting and wondering and fooling around. 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