Fr. Louis
I’m reading some early Thomas Merton stuff - just bits and drabs. I like Merton, but I never really got into him as many people did. Some people think he’s a saint, I wouldn’t know.
After my conversion, now decades ago, I was guided to read him, but he scared me. I thought his ideas of the contemplative life were too “active” - too peace and justice, and he didn’t come off as “pious” enough for my taste.
Now that I am older, much of what he wrote before his Asian adventures makes so much sense to me. Yet, even back then, though it made sense to me, I preferred the holy card version of monastic life - ecstasies and transports, etc. I just wanted to pray all day and didn’t really want to work. I didn’t like living “in the world” and I liked to pray, so I wanted to be a monk. I imagined I could just pray for people, but otherwise I didn’t want to be bothered by them. I wanted to be a contemplative.
Sometimes we say we are seeking God, but we are really just seeking ourselves.
Anyway, I find Merton’s practicality helpful. I honestly do not care what people like Dr. Alice Von Hilderandt say about him, although I really don’t understand the way his monastic life unfolded, or that he fell in love with a nurse; despite his humanness, I’m convinced his early work remains very good. Carmelites have no problem reading Peter Thomas Rohrbach’s “Conversation With Christ” even though he left the priesthood and married. But a lot of folks practically make the sign of the cross out of fear, whenever Merton is even mentioned.
His influence was tremendous however - both for the good, and maybe for the bad. I wouldn’t be surprised if the post-Conciliar dissolution of monasteries and convents could be traced - in some small part - to the influence of his thought and later writings. The openness to Oriental mysticism, leading to New Age spiritualities, may have emanated from the Mertonian ‘revolution’. I’m not a scholar however, so I can’t be sure.
In an introduction of prayers compiled for his novices, Fr. Louis writes well of the practice of prayer, which accords with my own notion of it, as I’ve come to understand it:
“Prayer is an expression of our complete dependence on a hidden and mysterious God. It is therefore nourished by humility…We should never seek to reach some supposed “summit of prayer” out of spiritual ambition. We should seek to enter deep into the life of prayer, not in order that we may glory in it as an “acheivement,” but because in this way we can come close to the Lord Who seeks to do us good, who seeks to give us His mercy, and to surround us with His love. To love prayer is, then, to love our own poverty and His mercy.” - Fr. Louis
May 9th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
“Sometimes we say we are seeking God, but we are really just seeking ourselves.”
Profound! Thanks for that!
May 10th, 2007 at 6:02 am
Seven Story Montain is a wonderful book, and believe it or not, very “trad” friendly (imho). However, like you said,later in his life he fell into indifferentism, and generic “spirituality”. Also,the idea of a Trappist monk traveling the world, and becoming a literary celebrity sounds kind of inimical to a monastic vocation.
May 10th, 2007 at 6:13 am
I agree wholeheartedly with that last paragraph.
May 10th, 2007 at 6:35 am
Ken, I agree, it is so interesting to me how Merton later was as if embarrassed about Seven and yet so many vocations were actually inspired by the book. He was a curious fellow.
May 10th, 2007 at 7:11 am
From what I understand of his life, Merton didn’t want to write *Seven Storey Mountain.* His Abbot at the time commanded him to; Merton was under obligation to do so. When Merton entered Gethsemani, he did so with the idea that he was leaving his old, “false” self behind … including the “writer-Merton.” I think he found it just as odd as everyone else that here he was, a Trappist, and continuing to be a writer. I think the Church is profoundly enriched by the gift of his writings, however. I’m speaking principally of his earlier work, because I haven’t read his Asian Journals yet. And I don’t think it’s odd that he fell in love with a nurse who cared for him while in Louisville. It shows how human we all are, monks and nuns, lay and clerics. In the end, he remained steadfast to his vows. Merton said he reserved the right to renounce the person he was when he wrote *Seven Story Mountain,* and not be held up as an idol for parochial school children. He was embarrassed by the simple, overly-pious version of himself (in his mind) that wrote that wonderful work. His understanding of what and who a monk really is, I think, was not the stuff of holy cards but rather a person joined in prayer with and for the rest of the world. His notion of contemplation included action and social justice. Genuine monks don’t shutter themselves away in a cloister to escape from the world. As I see it (and please correct me if I’m wrong), they withdraw from the world in order to enter deeper into Christ and solidarity with the world’s sufferings. And joys.
May 10th, 2007 at 8:33 am
Huge moose-lick to you Jeron! Thanks for your insights into Merton - very good.
I don’t care about his falling in love either - he kept his vows - and I appreciate his vulnerability.
My point in the post overall is that he’s okay.
I think you are correct on what monastic life is, I was incorrect when I was younger.
May 10th, 2007 at 9:11 am
I was a big Fr. Merton fan in my dissident days. I should re-read his work now that I’ve reverted and see if my opinion of him has changed.
May 10th, 2007 at 11:13 am
I was always more Marmionian than Mertonian.