Merton

Forty years ago yesterday Thomas Merton passed from this life. He lived and died prophetically, and his voice still carries across the years and continues to encourage and speak to the modern mind. From two sources I received important reflections on his contribution to the spiritual world we now inhabit, and I would like to share these. The first are two quotes:

"...Like his formal writing, his correspondence -- with leaders of every major religion, with atheist philosophers, with nuns and poets and Joan Baez -- reveals two facets of the man that captivate many of us: a soul too large to build walls against other faiths and a heart on 24-hour alert for human suffering.... He wrote ferociously against racism, colonialism, nuclear weapons and the Vietnam War. The irresistible question: What would he offer about today's strife?

"I think we could safely say Merton would not be a person who would stereotype the religious other," Cunningham said. "If he were alive today, he would be trying to understand Islam more deeply." He would warn, Cunningham surmised, against the disastrous consequences of cultural ignorance that America brought on itself in Iraq.

That's what prophets do. What governments tend to do is to ignore prophets and then proceed to prove them right."

Here is the link to that article: link

Here is another link is through this address: http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/2820. Copy it into your address window. It was sent me by Sister Miriam Cecile Ross.