Saturday, March 2, 2019

Trust Your Inner Life


Brother Patrick Hart, O.S.C.O, died (Feb. 21) and was buried last week. Brother Patrick was appointed Merton's secretary just before he died, and guided the publications and voluminous correspondence surrounding Merton's work in the 50 years following his death.

Brother Patrick is said to have been a very kind man who did not engage in gossip.

From an article in the Angelus - https://angelusnews.com/news/robert-inchausti/remembering-brother-patrick-hart-the-monk-who-saw-all-sides-of-thomas-merton

In a 2004 interview with Sister Mary Margaret (Meg) Funk OSB — then Executive Director of the North American Commission of Monastic Inter-religious Dialogue — asked Brother Patrick “a broad but basic question.”
“In a nutshell, what do you think is Merton’s legacy for monasticism?” 
Brother Patrick answered: “Maybe, that you have to trust your inner life, your innermost self, as you appear before God. Merton was always very strong on this idea of living from the deepest self, the true self, rather than the empirical ego or the external self, the social self. This means that you live as you stand naked before God. I think that’s what he would say. He would tell us to listen from the heart and to live a simple, honest life, united to God and one another.” ...
In the sometimes topsy-turvy world of theological controversies and Merton scholarship, Brother Patrick Hart was a rock of clarity, compassion, and common sense — protecting Merton’s writings and the integrity of contemplative Catholicism from the would-be usurpers, slanderers, and uninformed. His was the delicate vocation of a literary apostle and humble monk. May he rest in peace
Thank you, Brother Patrick. 

Here are some other links on this blog about Brother Patrick:

3 comments:

  1. thankyou thankyou

    blessingblessings ------------------------

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So good to hear from you and get your 2 cents, bob.

      I was running low.

      Delete
    2. an a appropriate statement ...

      funny and strange !

      Life is funny
      life is strange
      ring the bell
      ding in the new
      dong out the old
      pay the toller
      getting older -

      I once had a puppy
      he got run over
      now that's all over
      getting older -

      All my friends have died
      at least there buried outside
      there is no odor
      getting older -

      When i die
      will i know it ???
      may be i will git a bill
      funny and strange
      looks like rain -

      With each new life death is born
      thanks for the invitation
      some vacation
      getting older
      but
      not for long -

      Funny and strange
      it's begging to rain ________ boK



      Delete

Amounting to Nothing, Brother Paul

  Brother Paul Quenon, Photo by Rhonda J. Miller .  Sorry monk that I am, I never amounted to nothing. Somebody must have laid a curse on me...