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go here to buy my stock photography Alan Creech
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aaron klinefelter
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 Today is the anniversary of Thomas Merton's death, as well as the anniversary of the day he entered Gethsemani. A few of us are posting about him today with a reading, a reflection and a quote from him. I'm adding this photo I found too, which I like. It seems a very "him" kind of photo. For others today, Go to Dan Phillips, Bryan Sherwood and Arlen Hanson. I'll begin with the Scripture reading from this morning's office..."A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be fear of the Lord." -Isaiah 11:1-3a A quote from Tom > "The New Adam is not only Christ, the Head of the Mystical Body, but also all those who, having the likeness of God restored in their souls, are His Mystical Body... There is here 'not merely a vague relation of dignity or authority' but of union which 'forms on single and same organism.'... So it is that we ourselves are 'the Second Adam' because we ourselves are Christ... The first Adam, 'who is one man in all of us,' is saved and transformed by the action of Christ and becomes, in us, the second Adam... This, then, gives us a beginning of awareness of who we are. It is an awareness that is necessary for us to play our full part in the plan of God." - Thomas Merton; The New Man My reflection > I realize that first scripture was a prophetic thing pointing to Jesus, but in the context of today, as I read it, I thought of Merton - "a spirit of wisdom and understanding," etc. I saw it as relating to him, having been given the Life of God in certain ways, as he allowed them to be placed within him for the good of all. I have certainly gained greatly from those gifts that God gave him to work with. I found this quote from The New Man very appropriate for all this. That although this original prophecy was about Jesus the God-Man, it can and should also be about us who have been taken up into His Mystical Identity. This is the whole point after all, of the Incarnation to begin with - for Him to become us so that we could become Him. And if you understand that to be some sort of blasphemy, you're not understanding it. The point being, that those things should be said of all of us, that God wants that to be true of you and me. I think it is to whatever extent it is as we go along. Today, I see it referring to Fr. Louis - and that can be hope for us - that that Life can flow in and through us as well, to light the world with the Light of Life. Labels: merton :::
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