December 10, 2007> 12:32 PM
thomas merton day > advent reflections My brother, Dan Phillips, has reminded me that today is the anniversary (memorial to me and many - feast day?) of both the death (1968) of Thomas Merton as well as his entry into the Monastery at Gethsemani (1941). A couple of years ago I took an image I like of him and made an icon out of it - you see it there. It spread around the internet a little bit. Feel free to snag it and put it on your blog if you have any kind of "devotion" to Merton. That pose, with the hat on, in his habit is classic.
Yes, I'm aware that he hasn't been canonized. I'm not even aware of any cause for such a thing. It's not necessary for a Saint to be canonized in order for them to be - a Saint - or to be venerated (looked up to with honor as an example). As I've said likely many times before, this man, even dead, has affected my spiritual development more than any other one person. That may actually be a bit sad, but so it is. I know other for whom this is also true.
So, today I honor him, remember him, and ask him to pray for me and my family on this journey that we still travel. I'll leave you with two Merton quotes, chosen from the Advent devotional our family is using nightly. The first is today's quote, the other is one I skipped ahead and found because I like it. Happy Advent - Thomas Merton, ora pro nobis.
God willed that the Blessed Virgin Mary play a central part in the Mystery of the Incarnation and of our Redemption. He willed that the salvation of the world should depend on her consent. Mary is the "royal way" by which the King of Glory descended into the world in order to restore fallen mankind to its destined place in heaven... If we leave her out of the Sacrament of Advent we shall never fully penetrate its mystery, since we need to go forth to meet our Savior on the same Road by which He came to us. –Thomas Merton, Seasons of Celebration
You realize that prayer takes us beyond the law. When you are praying you are, in a certain sense, an outlaw. There is no law between the heart and God. The law is outside our intimate relationship with God and if you bring a law into the intimate relationship with God, you mess things up. Between the soul and God there are no laws. But that is not a natural situation; it is the result of redemption, the result of Christ. –Thomas Merton in Alaska
December 10, 2007
> 12:32 PM
My brother, Dan Phillips, has reminded me that today is the anniversary (memorial to me and many - feast day?) of both the death (1968) of Thomas Merton as well as his entry into the Monastery at Gethsemani (1941). A couple of years ago I took an image I like of him and made an icon out of it - you see it there. It spread around the internet a little bit. Feel free to snag it and put it on your blog if you have any kind of "devotion" to Merton. That pose, with the hat on, in his habit is classic.
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