Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Merton & Mystery


The Advent mystery
is the beginning
of the end
of all in us
that is not yet Christ.

- Thomas Merton


Today is the 40th anniversary of Thomas Merton's death. His writings (over 60 books) have had a profound influence on millions, including myself. This Trappist monk embodied simplicity in all areas of his life and his focus on peace and social justice has had a profound impact on the world. This icon is from here where you can find a couple of his poems on Advent.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Roberta! I found this one interesting but just can't go along with large parts of it. I followed the link and found two prose quotes from Merton on the other guy's blog. That other guy is a gifted photographer and"icon" simply means "image," although
styling Merton a saint when he has not been canonized may upset some
folks who put stock in canonization. My hangup is that, however God chose to work, and we will never really know in this life, Mary's consent was not necessary to God's love and to salvation, which comes through God being with us for sure. If indeed the Bible stories about Mary, absent from the earliest gospel versions, are literally
true, then how wonderful that this girl said "yes" to an amazing
proposition (no pun intended). But we'll never know if God asked
others, who said "no way." God could become truly man in many
different ways. So anyway, I wish I'd met Merton - he sounds like a
cool guy and I respect his views, but my own (ever-developing) take
on advent is a bit different. - Brad

Anonymous said...

Roberta I am so grateful for you! Thank you so much for giving me a moment to think about the truly important things each day. Stumbling around without a church right now, your messages are more important to me all the time. My mother loved Thomas Merton. One of the truly great mystics. And I love this definition of advent.

Jan said...

Thanks.