THOUGHTS ON MERTON

I AM listening to some of Fr. Thomas Merton's recorded lectures, talks he gave to the novices at the Trappist Monastery at Gethsemane.

HE SAYS that we make a big mistake when we reach out for some "thing" and hold on to it believing we have the answer to what we are seeking, or to confirm our ideas about reality, or to solve our problems. The "things" we reach for do not work, and we let go of them only to grab onto others and still others. It is an attempt to define truth in terms of ourselves. The word "attempt" is significant because any effort to define truth primarily in terms of ourselves is stillborn. We must give ourselves to Truth, and the only way we can do it is to let go of all things.

MERTON SAYS we are devoured by our cares. This is the surest sign of the world which cannot confront the inevitability of death. Although death is built into the world, the world denies it, for to accept the finality of death is to confess sin. This was the monstrous heresy of the Docetae who denied Christ in the flesh and therefore Christ's crucifixion. They denied the incarnation of sin in the world and the resurrection victory over death by the Word Incarnate. St. Ignatius of Antioch in his Epistle to the Smyrnaeans condemned the Docetists as walking "corpses".

TWENTY-FIVE years ago Merton spoke of modernism. Man in the twentieth century believes he has sufficient knowledge and power to deify himself. The modern gnostic advances his own divinity with each "secret" he unlocks through technology, media, science and medicine. The modernist manifesto denies the actuality of sin, the reality of suffering and five thousand years of recorded human mortality. Modernist man will stop at nothing to insulate or distance himself at whatever cost from these encumbrances. Stopping at nothing means prolonging, terminating and genetically altering human life at will.

THE GREATEST cost for the modernist is the destruction of his own sanctity. He condemns himself by being a profligate steward of his own spiritual well-being, a "new age" prodigal who dissipates his inherited wealth on pleasures, narcotics and distractions.

MERTON SAYS it is a grave error for modern Christians to believe that the fullness of their Christianity is achieved by simply being "good," getting involved in charitable endeavors, having a pleasant personality, helping others to ease their anxieties and simply existing in a rather congenial world until heaven takes over. This is not the fullness of Christianity. This is not even a reasonable facsimile of the life of Christ.

THE MEANING of our existence can only be revealed by the cross of Jesus. Only when we stand at the foot of the cross and contemplate the evil in the world which caused an innocent man to be tortured on a cross, the evil in the whole of humanity which necessitated the Son of God Himself to die that we might have life, the kind of love the Father has for us that He would give His only Son for our redemption, and the power the Father has in resurrecting His Son as the first fruits of our salvation. Of this wisdom it is written: Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as dawned on man what God has prepared for those who love him.

MERTON SAYS that not even the monastery (I think of the Basilians) can afford to be seduced by conformity. A congregation is not a convoy of ships which can only proceed at the pace of the slowest vessel. A religous' slow pace can be deliberate or not deliberate. It can refer to slowness at work, nominal community spirit, a static personality, or just about anything. There must be room in a community for individuals. Although rules are to be followed, schedules kept and vows lived, religious are still individuals in the eyes of God and also among themselves. There must be a certain flexibility. There must be room for creativity.

MERTON COMPARES the faithful disciple to a clean, transparent pane of glass through which the light of God must shine. Anything that gets in the way between me and others is a smudge or blemish on the glass. As the glass becomes more and more opaque, the light of God shines less and less through it. To the extent that God's light cannot shine through it, then I myself am not illumined. My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.

THE SAME can be said for things and the world itself. To the extent that I am attached to created things, they also cease to be transparent. If God's light cannot shine through His creation because of my attachments, I deprive myself of the glory which He wishes to reveal to me.

WHAT GETS in the way between me and my brother? Failing to fully forgive him or fully love him. Using falsehoods against him. Using the truth against him. Trying to control him. Placing on him cares and burdens he has no right to carry. Becoming attached to him in any way. Doing these same things to myself. I am the one who darkens my brother's glass even as I tarnish my own. One glass cannot remain clean and the other one foul.

IT IS a difficult enough endeavor to clean the glass which is myself, a task I can never assume to be finished in this fallen world even seeking the help of God. As (Saul) traveled along and was approaching Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed about. He fell to the ground and at the same time heard a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"....Saul got up from the ground unable to see, even though his eyes were open. This is the reason for purgatory. A place to prepare the soul for the blaze of glory which is the Full Presence and the Beatitude of the Father. A blaze of glory shining through our purified hearts and through the purity of our love for our neighbor.         

[Sugar Land Novitiate, Thursday, May 12^th, 1988]