bryan sherwood

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:: Saturday, December 10, 2005 ::
Remembering Thomas Merton

Today would have been Thomas Merton's 64th year at the Abbey of Gethsemani if he were still alive. Wow. That is hard to imagine. He entered Gethsemani on December 10, 1941. He died December 10, 1968 at 53 years of age.

One of the things Merton and I have in common is the love of nature. Many times in his writings, especially in his journals, he will describe the beauty that surrounded him at Gethsemani.

As I prayed today's Morning Prayer, I couldn't help but to pick up on those verses from Psalm 8:

When I see the heavens, the work of your hands,
the moon and the stars which you arranged,
what is man that you should keep him in mind,
mortal man that you care for him?

When I see the unsurpassing beauty of God's creation, I can't help but to think about the Creator--especially His love for His creation. His love is evident in every sunset. In every rainfall. When I walk the hills of Kentucky, I can't help but be reminded of God. I think Merton was like that too. It was in this solitude, surrounded by the natural beauty of Gethsemani, that he could pray and be at peace.

In one of his journal entries in A Sign of Jonas, Merton writes on Sunday, October 12, 1947:

All the hills and woods are red and brown and copper, and the sky is clear, with one or two very small clouds. A buzzard comes by and investigates me, but I am not dead yet. This whole landscape of woods and hills is getting to be saturated with my prayers and with the Psalms and with the books I read out here under the trees, looking over the wall, not at the world but at our forest, our solitude. Everything I see has become incomparably rich for me, in the years since I made my simple vows and emerged from the novitiate.

Merton was quite aware of nature and it seemed to influence his thinking and prayer. In a Vow of Conversation, he writes "A good, fruitful, though slightly anguished meditation in the wood by St. Malachy's field. The paradise smell under the pines."

May we make the time to walk in the woods, sit in quiet places, all the while observing the work of His hands.

For more Merton reflections, check out Dan Phillips Blog, Monastic Skete.
Also, check out Alan Creech and A Hanson's Merton reflections.

:: Bryan :: 8:00 AM ::
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