Category: Merton
Kingdom Watching with Thom
“We are exiles in the far end of solitude, living as listeners,
With hearts attending to the skies we cannot understand:
Waiting upon the first far drums of Christ the Conqueror,
Planted like sentinels upon the world’s frontier.” – Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton’s poem illustrates the joy and anticipation of life in God’s Kingdom. We live in an already but not yet world where the Kingdom is manifest here and yet to be manifested there. It is seen in the smallest of events and the largest but remains unrecognized most often when it is right under our nose.
“The Fruit of Unanswered Questions”
“Now anxiety is the mark of spiritual insecurity. It is the fruit of unanswered questions. But questions cannot go unanswered unless they first be asked. And there is a far worse anxiety, a far worse insecurity, which comes from being afraid to ask the right questions–because they might turn out to have no answer. One of the moral diseases we communicate to one another in society comes from huddling together in the pale light of an insufficient answer to a question we are afraid to ask.” – Thomas Merton, No Man Is An Island
St. Thom on Watching the Kingdom Come
I sometimes wonder if we shouldn’t pray for better eyes. Eyes that catch a vision of what God’s Kingdom is and how it is already present. From one of his poems, Thomas Merton reminds us that we are in a position to see the Kingdom come if we only pay attention.
“We are exiles in the far end of solitude, living as listeners,
With hearts attending to the skies we cannot understand:
Waiting upon the first far drums of Christ the Conqueror,
Planted like sentinels upon the world’s frontier.” – Thomas Merton
Consecrated Suffering from Thom
“Suffering, therefore, can only be consecrated to God by one who believes that Jesus is not dead. And it is of the very essence of Christianity to face suffering and death not because they are good, not because they have meaning but because the Resurrection of Jesus as robbed them of their meaning.” – Thomas Merton, No Man Is An Island
Canticle of Thomas Merton
The following is a prayer of Thomas Merton that I consider one worth making my own. It comes from his book, 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 that 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 will I 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.
