chris@mcdonnell83.freeserve.co.uk
Previous articles by Chris
December 11, 2012
Chris McDonnell, UK
A couple of days ago, on December 10th, we remembered the death
of Thomas Merton, a monk of Gethsemani Abbey in
Kentucky
. A
monk of the
Western church, he died 44 years ago on a journey to the East to speak at
a Conference of religious superiors in
Bangkok
, organised under the presidency of Dom Rembert Weakland,
primate of the Benedictine Order. It fell to Dom Rembert to administer the last
rites to Merton when he was discovered dead in the shower room of his
accommodation, his death
caused by electrocution.
It
was the 27th anniversary of his entry to the Cistercian Abbey, in
1941, the community that was to be his home.
Merton
was a man of imagination, an artist both with words and with a brush, a
reflective man of prayer whose many books, journals and letters have left us a
map of a truly significant life. That he did so much before an untimely death-he
was only 53-is yet further testament to his worth. And he achieved this within
the framework of the Monastic Office, snatching short periods to write here and
there, be it part of a book, a response to a letter, or a poem.
This
quote is taken from a letter he wrote to the Polish Nobel Prize winner, Czeslaw
Milosz
“Conservative
Catholics in
Louisville
are burning my books because I am opposed to the Vietnam
War. The whole thing is ridiculous. I do think however that some of the young
priests have a pathetic honesty and sincerity which is very moving. Beyond that,
I have nothing to say. And I have a thick skin. You can say absolutely nothing
about the Church that will shock me. If I stay with the Church it is out of a
disillusioned love, and with a realization that I myself could not be happy
outside, though I have no guarantee of being happy inside either. In effect, my
'happiness' does not depend on any institution or any establishment. As for you,
you are part of my 'Church' of friends who are in many ways more important to me
than the institution..."
And
that was written long before our present problems.
I
wrote the following piece back in ’97 , based on Psalm 39.
When, a couple of years later I met Bro. Patrick Hart, who had been
Merton’s secretary and has subsequently edited many of Merton’s writings, he
told me that Psalm 39 was sung by the community when the body of Thomas Merton
was received back into the Abbey church.
In
his own search for faith, he has helped many thousands in their own pilgrimage
with the Lord. May he rest in peace.
One
who passes by
That
you may become the brother of God
And
learn to know the Christ of the burnt men
-
SEVEN
STOREY
MOUNTAIN
One
who passes by
You
have given me
a
short span of days*
and
in the passing
of
that determined
time
I did not stand
still,
repeating last
year’s
experience.
My life is as nothing
in
your sight*
hidden
beyond a gateway
crossed
in a dark December
night,
I made my way
leaving
behind
the
time of wandering.
A
mere breath
the
one who stood so firm*
surety
of movement
as
my steps were taken
exploring
beyond the wall
into
the rose garden
each
patient year.
A
mere shadow
the
one who passes by*
stops
to speak
to
listen to words that
echo
in the mind long after
the
speaking stops
and
leave is taken.
A
mere breath
the
hoarded riches*
of
life, full lived
of
days and weeks
prayed
out with other
silent
men of prayer
or
faced in solitude.
And
who will take them
no
one knows*
I
did not write words
nor
speak to brothers
or
to friends of my pilgrimage knowing each one face to face.
Take
them as you choose.
*Psalm 39 Vs 6/7 Grail Translation
