Because the late mystic Trappist monk Thomas Merton has played such an important role in my life in earlier times, I write about him periodically here. When I sat down to post to Rebecca's Postcards from Paradise Sunday, Merton was on my mind. This is my favorite quote of his from "Love of Solitude, Part II, 'Thoughts in Solitude.'"
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”
This is a favorite photo of him in the fields at Gethsemane Abbey where he lived in community until his death at the age of 57. (Credit: Sybille Akers)
His autobiography "The Seven Storey Mountain" was my introduction to Merton decades back. I own all the books he wrote and periodically watch the fine documentaries that have been produced about him. PBS’s Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton is one of the best; I highly recommend it. I did my M.A. thesis on Merton: Dialogues With Thomas Merton. Once, when I was traveling with students to Columbia University for a summer journalism program, I was given access to the materials about him in Columbia’s archives—and I made a mini pilgrimage that week to the places he had lived and frequented.
So, out of sight is definitely not out of mind where Thomas Merton is concerned. Monk, mystic, artist, author, poet, photographer. His all-too-human life has long been inspirational to me personally.
Thomas Merton in the fields near the Abbey of Gethsemani.
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