Faith & Life Inspirational Message

For the past couple of days I have been working on a little paper on my favorite monk, Thomas Merton.   Even though Merton tragically died in 1968, there still is an amazing amount of interest in him and his spirituality.   Somehow this guy who took vows in 1941 in an obscure, rigorist monastery in the middle of nowhere Kentucky became relevant as a spiritual mentor and leader in his own time and still in our time.               Too often monks are seen as those folks who deny and despise the world.   The caricature is some grumpy guy running off to join a bunch of other strange folks to do their religious thing.   In some ways Merton was running away.   But what he was running away from was himself!   He wanted to transform his life.   He was unhappy with the life he was living, although in many respects, it was a successful life.   He was a college professor, had written and had a ...

Anyone who has lived a few years knows that there are times when life is not good.   There are times when things don’t go very well.   We are assaulted by things that are not to our liking.   We can be sick, disappointed, or denied.   We can watch others get what we thought was rightfully ours.   We can try so hard, get so close and still lose.   Some days life is just not much fun.   I also think this is true for the spiritual life.   Anyone who has been involved in the spiritual journey for any length of time knows all days are not equal.   It is not unusual for the early days of the spiritual pilgrimage to be pretty good.   Often there is that initial burst of enthusiasm.   Not surprisingly, God can seem to be right there in your corner.   The spiritual tradition calls these graces of God “consolations.”   Consolations are good.   In fact, there are a bit like spiritual goodies.   The truth of the matter...

Today is the saint day for medieval theologian, Thomas Aquinas.   St. Thomas, as he was known after being declared a saint, is arguably the most famous theologian in the Catholic Church and even the greater Christian community.   Although I don’t recall hearing about him until I bumped into his writings in college in a class on Christian history, I suspect that is not quite true.   I am sure many high school European history classes have some material about Thomas Aquinas.            Thomas lived during the period that often is called the “High Middle Ages.”   It was a time in which the Catholic Church played a huge role in medieval European society.   Thomas was born in a well-to-do family in 1225 in southern Italy.   His early education came at the hands of the Benedictines monks, who had already been around for more than six hundred years. With Thomas’ religious bent, it might have been expected th...

Sometimes my ideas for an inspirational reflection come in odd ways.   The idea for this piece originated in the classroom.   We were discussing a section from Kathleen Norris’ book, The Cloister Walk , which is one of my favorite books.   One of her paragraphs made reference to the French phrase, point vierge .   Because I have read her book a number of times, I am familiar with the term.   And I also know that Thomas Merton, my favorite monk used the phrase in a very significant way.             The French phrase is translated in various ways.   Literally it means the “virginal point.”   It suggests that time at dawn---the breaking of the new day---when the light is just beginning to appear.   It is the point where night meets day.   It was used by Merton to talk about “the still point.”   All this I knew, but I was still curious about the phrase.   So I chased my curiosity...

One of the books I use in a course on contemplative spirituality that I teach is by my friend and fellow Quaker, Parker Palmer.   Parker’s book, The Active Life , tries to describe what contemplative living looks like for the average person who will not join a monastery.   I like the subtitle of his book: A Spirituality of Work, Creativity, and Caring .     One of the chapters I like focuses on “action, failure, and suffering.”   It is a story about an angel who wants to alleviate suffering---an angel who tries to care.             Clearly all of us know there is suffering in our world.   No doubt many who read these inspirational pieces have known some personal suffering.   I don’t know whether suffering is necessary in life, but I am convinced it is inevitable.   Live long enough and you will suffer.   Something the angel needed to learn was sometimes suffering cannot be allevia...

In a reading for class I hit a line in Kathleen Norris’ book, The Cloister Walk , that struck a chord in me.   I know I had read the passage before, but somehow it never hit me like it did this time.   It is in a chapter Norris calls, “Generations.”   The chapter talks about how there are generations of monks within a monastery, just like there can be generations within a family.   I never thought about that, but it rings true.             Norris begins a paragraph with these words.   “Monastic storytelling is a form of gossip, and like the best gossip, it often serves a moral purpose.” I had to laugh at that thought.   Most people I know probably do gossip (as I confess to doing on occasion), but probably most of us would deny that we do it!   Norris then moves on to indicate there are some dangers in the monastic life.   And I don’t doubt that.   Then she writes the line that I very ...

I have had the occasion to be back at Gethsemani, the monastery where my favorite monk, Thomas Merton, lived until his untimely death in 1968.   I like going to monasteries, which may be a bit strange for a guy who grew up a Quaker.   As a kid, if you had asked me what a monastery was, I am sure there would only have been a blank stare.   I am confident I did not meet a monk until I was in graduate school.   Of course, in school most of us read about monks.   Many of them were involved in making history, especially during the medieval period.   Meeting a monk or two helped me begin to develop an appreciation for not only them as people, but for their way of life.   It really is foreign to the way I grew up and from the way of life of the people who taught me about religion.   In my early formative days it was still pre-Vatican II, so the Catholic Church was off limits.   Then I began to develop a fascination with the monastic tradi...

A regular reader of this inspirational reflection series knows that one of my spiritual disciplines is to spend a little daily time with the lectionary.   A lectionary simply is a group of readings.   Lectio in Latin means to “read.”   The lectionary I follow comes from the world of Benedictine monks.   The traditional Benedictine monastery used to have seven periods during the day when the monks would gather for worship.   Most monasteries today have reduced this to four or five daily gatherings.      The lectionary readings have been chosen by representatives of the group.   Hence for the Benedictines they know every monastery across the land is reading the same set of readings at the same appointed gathering.   The Psalms play a central role in the lectionary.   Every Benedictine monastery would read from the Psalms at every gathering.   For one who grew up as a Quaker, this was a totally new experience.   As I have...

Last night I turned to the last prayers of the day, which are focused around a couple readings from the Psalms and a Biblical passage.   The night prayer in the monastery is called Compline.   When I visit a monastery, I think it may be my favorite part of the day.   It “finishes” off the day of worship and work and the monks head to their rooms and a night’s sleep.   When I visit one of my favorite monasteries, Gethsemani in Kentucky, Compline comes at 7:30pm.   It is not a long service.   This is understandable when you realize the monks will be up again and in the sanctuary at 3:15am!   What’s interesting is that for much of the year, the monks begin in the darkness and conclude in the darkness.   I like Compline during those months when the sun has already gone down and the monks and the visitors gather in the soft lights for the last service.   As the service is ending, the lights are turned out and only one or two lights make the exi...

Recently I spoke to a group of people who are interested in Thomas Merton, the late 20 th century Trappist monk.   I have referenced Merton a number of times, so it is obvious that I like to read his writings.   As noted before, Merton lived in a monastery, Gethsemani, in the rolling hills of Kentucky.   When I teach an upper level seminar, it is usually on Merton’s spirituality.   Although Merton died tragically in 1968, interest in him and his spirituality continues in remarkable ways.   It is always easy to speak to a group that is inherently interested in the topic you address.   They give you the benefit of the doubt.   Typically, they assume you were much better than you probably were!   But that’s ok; I would rather be told good things than bad things!   Most people would, I assume.   So when the evening was finished, the Catholic nun who had invited me and had served as the host for the event handed me a little bag. ...

Yesterday I mentioned how many times daily I said the Doxology while on my recent trip to the Tappist monastery in Kentucky.   I guessed it was thirty or forty times.   Of course, that seems like a big number and, truly, I may be exaggerating.   But it was many times. Of course, I lived a great deal of life before I really knew what a “doxology” was.   I knew it was something most people knew.   But why it was important was beyond me.   It was simple…a kind of spiritual no-brainer.   And then I learned Greek.   I learned the Greek word, doxa , means “praise” or “glory.”   So when I say the doxology, I am literally praising or giving God the glory.   That made it important to me. The Doxology we shared at the monastery at Gethsemani was a little different than the version I grew up saying. The opening line was praising the three persons of the Christian trinity: in traditional language, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.   T...