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| Thomas Merton Photo by John Howard Griffin |
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Today is the 97th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Merton.
My Catholicism is not the religion of the bourgeoisie nor will it ever be. My Catholicism is of all the world and of all ages. It dates from the beginning of the world. The first man was the image of Christ and contained Christ, even as he was created, as savior in his heart. The first man was destined to be the ancestor of his Redeemer and the first woman was the mother of all life, in the image of the Immaculate Daughter who was full of grace, Mother of mercy, Mother of the saved.
-- Thomas Merton
Introductions East & West, 35-6
HT: Jim Forest
Happiest of birthdays to an exceptionally wonderful soul!
ReplyDeleteTo the person who spoke to me like no person ever did - truly a guide, mentor, & a source of inspiration: Happy Birthday, Tom!
ReplyDeleteI know exactly how you feel, Matt. I fall in love over and over again.
DeleteHappy birthday, Fr. Louis, and thanks to the owner of this blog who posted this today. I've got a post up at Sacred Ordinary--http://redondowriter.typepad.com
ReplyDeletelike others here, I don't know where I'd be without having known Merton. He showed me a way and I am following ...
ReplyDeletehappy b. day Mr. Tom wherever you are - we must get together for a drink in the afterlife....
ReplyDeletei remember reading in one of his prose that he felt he was in danger of becoming a sort of emasculated plaster saint for parochial schools
i like that he allied himself with the proletariat, even if that is a contraction in terms of "Catholic"
He said Marx was a good ol' Old Testament prophet
I like that he drank brandy in mason jars under trees and he thought he looked like Jean Genet - that's what spurred my interest years ago
years ago...oy, we are all getting older...
i don't think it's fair that guys can't be immaculate
I didn't know that Merton thought he looked like Jean Genet ... but I really think that Merton identified himself as French, even after so many years in America (and England).
ReplyDeleteDon't know why guys can't be immaculate, but I don't think much about the afterlife and wonder sometime if I even believe in it.
Hello Beth,
ReplyDeleteI share you sentiment. I probably would not be a Catholic deacon today if not for Thomas Merton. TM has guided many souls in their search for God. Your blog is certainly an extension of TM's effort.
Thanks, Brian. Glad to see you are still around! :-)
Deletehappy louie iouie
ReplyDeleteso this -------------
Wayfarrer
Installed
in this
shadow
life *
Between
fear and fancy
never far
always near
forever going
round and round -
Between
ritual and holding views
always near
never far
forever going
round and round-
yet
The
wayfarrer
cherishing nothing
crosses over
in this very now -
______________________________________
Great poem! A good portrait of Merton - "always near, never far" indeed. A wayfarer who has traveled extensively through the inner domains of the spirit, who cherishes nothing and crosses over, and yet remains with us to help us in our own personal journeys.
DeleteThanks, Bob, for sharing...
love the poem, Bob. Louie really is a kind of wild bird Elias ...
Deletethank you
ReplyDeleteblessings