tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37251208.post1010447868249638556..comments2023-06-30T08:20:03.067-07:00Comments on Infused Knowledge: Thomas Merton, and how the devil holds you backRachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06624317806947588259noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37251208.post-86049654821950157432010-07-18T19:03:22.593-07:002010-07-18T19:03:22.593-07:00Thanks Christine!Thanks Christine!Rachelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06624317806947588259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37251208.post-52407284712071920382010-07-10T05:06:58.889-07:002010-07-10T05:06:58.889-07:00Rachel, great post on Thomas Merton! Keep up the ...Rachel, great post on Thomas Merton! Keep up the good work.<br /><br />Lee, thank you for the info about his post-Seven-Story-Mountain life. I'd been curious about how he got involved in discourse with Eastern religions. Do you recommend any particular books of/about him during this time?Christine Pennacchiohttp://lettersfromchristine.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37251208.post-56605455610069167802010-07-03T23:17:12.051-07:002010-07-03T23:17:12.051-07:00Thanks Lee. Athanasius, that's good... I thin...Thanks Lee. Athanasius, that's good... I think St. Teresa of Avila said what you need to become a saint is "a determined determination" to become one. Actually wanting it is the first step. Another time I heard in a sermon that a man was praying for his family to make it into Heaven, and he was asked, "Is that all you want for them? Why not pray that they become saints in this life?" Talk about asking for big things!Rachelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06624317806947588259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37251208.post-47209273187098787432010-07-01T16:00:33.830-07:002010-07-01T16:00:33.830-07:00Seven Storey Mountain was a great book. My favorit...Seven Storey Mountain was a great book. My favorite part was he was having a conversation with his friend about what he wanted in regards to his faith. He said, "I want to be a good Catholic." His friend told him he should "want to be a saint" and that God's grace would do the hard work. If I remember nothing else, I will remember that to the day I die. I have to want it and to submit to God's will, He will do the heavy lifting. After all, I cannot hope to do it on my own anyways.Athanasis Contra Mundumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02809651586349621296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37251208.post-16692998659879430752010-06-29T13:32:51.463-07:002010-06-29T13:32:51.463-07:00As you know from reading the Seven Story Mountain,...As you know from reading the Seven Story Mountain, Merton wanted to disappear into religious life and never be thought of again. However, religious life can be full of surprises. Out of obedience to his superiors he wrote...and became world famous. <br /><br />Again, out of obedience to his superiors he pursued an interest in eastern monasticism and in fact was at a conference between western monks and Bhuddist monks in Bangkok when he died. This interest of his superiors was in response to a declaration of Vatican II, the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, which wrote (after a long preamble), "The Church, therefore, urges her sons to enter with prudence and charity into discussion and collaboration with members of other religions." The Cistercians, primarily through Merton, did that.<br /><br />This legitimate interest is the source of the unfounded assertions that he left the faith or became heterodox.<br /><br />There was one major glitch in his religious life that has set tongues wagging- never to cease. He was in a hospital in Louisville- for major surgery as I recall. He was sleeping. When he opened his eyes a nurse was looking at him. They fell in love there and then. He became known as the monk with a girlfriend, and realized at some point he was in trouble with his vow of chastity. As he said later, "I must have been crazy." Such is Eros. The difference between him and about 40,000 other priests that left the priesthood in the wake of VII is that he repented and resumed his vowed life. When he resumed rationality he was faithful, for he had been caught at a vulnerable moment. Anyone can fall in love- there is no commanding the heart. The moral question comes in with the choice to be faithful or unfaithful to ones vows. Under the context of circumstance and the times, he was a hero of chastity in my book.<br /><br />When I was at Holy Cross Monastery in Berryville, VA for six weeks seeking to enter, I ran across mimeographed copies of his writings on the Viet Nam War that were circulating within the order. They should have been written on asbestos. There was some notation on the folders that these were strictly for circulation within the order. For obvious reasons his superiors would not permit publication, probably at the instance of bishops, because believe me, if those writings had seen print Catholics would have been fiercely against the war in 1966, and the Church would have been very much in the political spotlight. But we wanted above all to blend in, to be good Americans. <br /><br />Here again, it is like our Lord's temptations in the desert, the temptation to power and influence. He could have struck a prophetic stance, left the order, published his anti-war writings and been both a hero and a wealthy man. He remained quietly in his monastery.<br /><br />On the 10th of December 1968 in Bangkok he steped out of the shower and grabbed a large fan for balance. They found him some time later lying on the floor dead with the fan on top of him and burn marks on his chest.<br /><br />When a friend of mine and I heard of the manner of his death we looked at one another with amazement and awe, as did everyone familiar with his writings, for we recalled immediately the passage where he expresses his wish "to know the Christ of the burnt men."<br /><br />Thomas Merton, pray for us.Lee Gilbertnoreply@blogger.com