Merton grew and developed over the years, in an
interior sense, more deeply than anyone I know, and came to be recognized as
the leading mystical writer in the English-speaking world. Robert
Giroux
I
September 18/Eagle River
Alaska-the Convent of the Precious
Blood-surrounded by woods, with a highway (too) near. The woods of
Alaska-marvelous-deep in wet grass, fern, rotten fallen trees, big leaved thorn
scrub, yellowing birch, stunted fir, aspens. Thick. Humid. Lush. Smelling of
life & of rot. Rich Undergrowth, full of mosses, berries-& probably (in
other seasons) flowers. The air is now here cool and sharp as late November in
the “outside” (ie. “the States”) (“lower 48”).
The Farmer cast His seed – Jesus and His Holy Spirit – upon all humanity. He gave His only Son to save the world – the entire eschatology of humanity.
God has birthed in all of us a portion of Nazareth – this everlasting seed of hope.
We, like the philosophers and farmers before us must behold this new birth in everyone that we meet. This seed of hope is present in every person who walks on this earth. This was God’s promise from the very beginning.
It takes faith to go on a path to be
completely alone with God. Faith, and a fair amount of courage. Faith,
because the outcome of a time of solitude is completely in God's hands
and courage because we are often afraid to face God on His own terms
and to face ourselves in the raw nakedness of our souls. Brennan Manning
makes the comment that it is better to stand naked in the truth than
to stand clothed in falsehood. In times of solitude and silence {the
two go together} we are naked before God and before ourselves. Ever
since we lost paradise in the garden of Eden mankind has preferred to
stay hidden and clothed. But the voice of our Creator recorded in Genesis
chapter 3 continues to echo down through the passages of time calling
out to us, "where are you?" Where are we indeed? Usually hiding
somewhere.
Jesus is our
guarantee of God's promise. What happened in his body is the pattern of
what must happen in all of the cosmos. We are making up in time, in our
body, what happened in thirty-three years in the body of Jesus. We are
optimistic because we look at him to see the final pattern.
To be a Christian
means to be an optimist because we know what happened on the third day. We
know that it worked, that Jesus' leap of faith was not in vain. His trust
was not in vain, and the Father raised him up. He trusted enough to
outstare the darkness, to outstare the void, to wait upon the resurrection of
the third day, not to try to create his own but to wait uon the resurrection of
God. The Scriptures and early Church seldom said Jesus "rose" from the
dead. They always said, "God raised him up!"
Great things are done when men and mountains meet. William Blake
He has not learned to think like a mountain Aldo Leopold A Sand County Almanac
Can Aldo Leopold’s ecological conscience become effective in America today? Thomas Merton ‘The Wild Places’
There is a long line and lineage of contemplatives in the West and East that have turned to the mountains, white peaks and ancient spires as places to slake a deeper thirst and find a site for the soul to know a more meaningful quies. This reality has been well tracked and traced in evocative and visual mountaineering classics such as The Mountaineering Spirit (1979) and Sacred Mountains of the World (1990). Poets on the Peaks: Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen & Jack Kerouac in the North Cascades (2002) makes these connections, also, and we know Merton had an affinity with the Beats. My missive, Thomas Merton and the Beats of the North Cascades (2005), connects the dots between Merton, the Beats and mountains. Even the most casual read through these books make it most clear that there is a connection between mountains and the contemplative quest for meaning and depth.
The time will come when the pursuit of contemplation will be a subversive activity. Daniel Berrigan - America is Hard to Find
1 Merton and the Contemplative Quest
Thomas Merton turned to the Roman Catholic Tradition, and to the monastic and Cistercian way within such a Tradition, in search of an older and forgotten contemplative path. The vita activa had come to dominate the modern world, and the vita contemplativa had been banished or subordinated to the active life. In short, Martha had trumped Mary, and there were serious consequences to be faced in both soul and society as a result of this inversion of the ancient and time tried way.
JURIDICAL VENGEANCE
OR CO-SUFFERING LOVE A More Positive
Exposition for the Moral Content of the Dogma Of
Redemption[i]
In order
to provide a completely Orthodox interpretation of the dogma of redemption for
people interested in theological questions, it is necessary to produce a
feasible work in which the interpretation of this dogma is the central thesis.
Therefore, we will present our treatise in the same order as we have presented
it in public lectures and class discussions, that is, by observing what
constantly occurs before our eyes in life.
That’s a great
question, and I’m going to answer it fairly clearly throughout the next twelve
pages. I wish I could just say, “You’ll know it when you hear it,” but I can’t,
because people hear God speaking all the time and don’t clue in. If I could
show you a computer log that recorded how many times God spoke to you – and how
– and when – I’m absolutely positive that your jaw would hit the floor.
We don’t often get to meet our heroes in the faith. But after twenty-five years, I did have the privilege of a face-to-face encounter with one of mine: Dr. J.I. Packer. He is much taller than I’d imagined, more energetic than I’d expected and every bit as charitable as I had hoped. And even knowing that I am on “the other side” (his phrase) of the atonement debates,1 he generously signed the presentation page of my new ESV Bible and later acknowledged me as a brother.
Thus began an evening of revelations (hosted by House of James2) that started with the topic of Christian unity and climaxed in a discussion of evangelicalism’s current hot button topic: penal substitutionary atonement. As he shared, Dr. Packer made it clear that on the core points of classic Reformed Puritan tradition, he has not budged. Yet when he tenderly presented his sense of the Father’s heart towards Jesus during the crucifixion, I think we all felt God’s presence in the moment. On this point, I believe that the good doctor moved beyond the Reformers so as to carry the discussion forward in important ways. As I take up Dr. Packer’s exhortation to test the truth of his words, I hope to suggest how this is so.3
The time
will come when the pursuit of contemplation will be a
subversive activity. Daniel
Berrigan,
America is Hard to Find
1. Merton and the Contemplative Quest
Thomas Merton turned to the Roman Catholic Tradition, and to
the monastic and Cistercian way within such a Tradition, in search of an older
and forgotten contemplative path. The vita
activa had come to dominate the modern world, and the vita contemplativa had been banished or subordinated to the active
life. In short, Martha had trumped Mary, and there were serious consequences to
be faced in both soul and society as a result of this inversion of the ancient
and time tried way.
Recent Comments