Category Archives: Merton

Another Look: Go forth to meet him?

Another Look: Go forth to meet him? Here we are again, in the early days of December. We are not far away from welcoming the Christ-child at his birth. As we face this season and event, here are some words from Brother Thomas Merton that make me think. For Christmas will come this year, just asContinue reading “Another Look: Go forth to meet him?”

Another Look: A spirituality “not pressed through the pores”

Another Look: A spirituality “not pressed through the pores” A saint is capable of loving created things and enjoying the use of them and dealing with them in a perfectly simple, natural manner, making no formal references to God, drawing no attention to his own piety, and acting without any artificial rigidity at all. HisContinue reading “Another Look: A spirituality “not pressed through the pores””

Another Look: Merton – Before We Can Become Gods We Must Be Human

Thomas Merton contended that human beings have lost a great deal in modern, technological society. What we have gained in efficiency and productivity has, in many ways, sucked the humanity and spirituality from our inner beings. In this meditation from Seasons of Celebration, the monk laments that we have separated ourselves from intimacy with theContinue reading “Another Look: Merton – Before We Can Become Gods We Must Be Human”

iMonk Classic: Thoughts on Merton’s “Walnut Street Epiphany”

iMonk Classic: Thoughts on Merton’s “Walnut Street Epiphany” From a 2005 post by Michael Spencer “Yesterday, in Louisville, at the corner of 4th and Walnut, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another evenContinue reading “iMonk Classic: Thoughts on Merton’s “Walnut Street Epiphany””

Merton on Advent: Christ in our world as it is

  Note from CM: This past Sunday was recognized in many Anglican churches as the Feast of Thomas Merton. Today we present an excerpt from something he wrote about the season of Advent. • • • Merton on Advent Christ in our world as it is St Gregory the Great said that all Christians shouldContinue reading “Merton on Advent: Christ in our world as it is”

A spirituality “not pressed through the pores”

❧ A saint is capable of loving created things and enjoying the use of them and dealing with them in a perfectly simple, natural manner, making no formal references to God, drawing no attention to his own piety, and acting without any artificial rigidity at all. His gentleness and his sweetness are not pressed throughContinue reading “A spirituality “not pressed through the pores””

Merton: “Every other man is a piece of myself”

It is therefore of supreme importance that we consent to live not for ourselves but for others. When we do this we will be able first of all to face and accept our own limitations. As long as we secretly adore ourselves, our own deficiencies will remain to torture us with an apparent defilement. ButContinue reading “Merton: “Every other man is a piece of myself””

Fridays with Michael Spencer: February 10, 2017

⍎ Yesterday, in Louisville, at the corner of 4th and Walnut, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness,Continue reading “Fridays with Michael Spencer: February 10, 2017”