Pope Francis on Thomas Merton

 Photo by Thomas Merton

"A century ago, at the beginning of the Great War, which Pope Benedict XV termed a "pointless slaughter", another notable American was born: the Cistercian monk Thomas Merton. He remains a source of spiritual inspiration and a guide for many people. In his autobiography he wrote: 'I came into the world. Free by nature, in the image of God, I was nevertheless the prisoner of my own violence and my own selfishness, in the image of the world into which I was born. That world was the picture of Hell, full of men like myself, loving God, and yet hating him; born to love him, living instead in fear of hopeless self-contradictory hungers.' Merton was above all a man of prayer, a thinker who challenged the certitudes of his time and opened new horizons for souls and for the Church. He was also a man of dialogue, a promoter of peace between peoples and religions." 

Pope Francis on Thomas Merton (quote from The Seven Storey Mountain), address to United States Congress, September 24, 2015

Nagasaki: the Sufferings of Christ

http://brianzahnd.com/2015/08/nagasaki-the-sufferings-of-christ/

Nagasaki Mary

The photo is of the charred statue of the virgin Mary in the Catholic cathedral that was close to ground zero 9 August 1945.

Nagasaki: The Forgotten City
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/08/opinion/nagasaki-the-forgotten-city.html?emc=edit_th_20150808&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=805989

Hiroshima: An Anti-Transfiguration

http://brianzahnd.com/2015/08/hiroshima-an-anti-transfiguration/

More louie commentary of the bombing of Hiroshima:

The Bombing of Hiroshima and the Feast of the Transfiguration (August 6, 2009)

Hiroshima (August 6, 2013)

the bomb (August 9, 2011)

White Light, Black Rain

Hiroshima - 69th Anniversary (August 6, 2014)

hope

The Columbia Jester

The Columbia Jester, 1934. Issue of the school magazine from Columbia University, this issue from the golden age when Reinhardt edited with Robert Lax also on the board. This issue features a striking cover by Reinhardt.

The good Fr. Louis

Photo by Jim Forest

I finished the Lipsey book ("Make Peace Before the Sun Goes Down") last night. I had been reading it almost non-stop since it arrived. I knew that Lipsey could do this. He  could honestly delve into the muddle of confused emotion that characterized Merton’s relationship with his abbot, Dom James Fox, and come out with something authentic and believable. Even more than Merton’s own journal writing, Lipsey’s accounting of what was happening between Merton and his abbot makes Merton more believable. More human and relatable. Here is a popular monk, the 20th Century’s most prominent spiritual writer, and he is embroiled in the same complicated and painful relationship patterns that afflict most every family. Resentments, deceit, dysfunction, self-doubt, distrust, projection, exasperation. Arm wrestling indeed, and under the cover of politeness and piety. Merton’s own writing about the struggle is one sided, not giving the full context. Lipsey gives Dom James’ side of the story. He looks for ways to understand and explain Dom James and gives him the benefit of the doubt whenever possible. In the end, it is what it is and one is left seeing more clearly the role of providence in this particular relationship and all relationships.

While Merton was writing exquisite poetry and funny letters, THIS was going on. This is encouraging.

Thank you Roger Lipsey. It all had to be said. The next time I visit Gethsemane I will be sure to bring some flowers to the grave of Dom James Fox.