December 10th couldn’t be a better day for us to have an author presentation from Fr. Richard Rohr, who is here recording his May 2010 audio “The Art of Letting Go: Living the Wisdom of St. Francis.” Richard told us that Thomas Merton is one of the great influences on his life and that today is considered Merton’s feast day.
“I believe Thomas Merton will be considered one of the most influential American Catholics of the twenty-first century,” Rohr told us.
Here is a quote from the Louie Louie blog which tells the story of Thomas Merton’s life and teachings (with great photos and quotations):
“If there is a feast day for Father Louie [aka Thomas Merton], December 10th is it. This is the day, in 1941, that he arrived at the Abby of Our Lady of Gethsemane to begin his life as a Trappist monk. Twenty seven years later, on this day, he died in Bangkok Thailand while participating in a monastic conference.”
For more wisdom from Thomas Merton, read Choosing to Love the World: On Contemplation (Sounds True, 2008).
I will send this book to the first 5 people who respond — send email to publicity@soundstrue.com.
Contemplation is life itself, fully awake, fully active, fully aware that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is gratitude for life, for awareness, and for being. It is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent, and infinitely abundant Source. Contemplation is, above all, awareness of the reality of that Source. It knows the Source, obscurely, inexplicably, but with a certitude that goes beyond reason and beyond simple faith . . . It is a more profound depth of faith, a knowledge too deep to be grasped in images, in
words, or even in clear concepts.
Learn More About Contemplative Wisdom
in January 2010 with Live Online Course:
Centering Prayer
A Training Course for Opening to the Presence of God
with Father Thomas Keating, Father Carl Arico and Gail Fitzpatrick-Hopler
Course begins January 20, 2010 (Mentoring option also available)
Learn more at http://bit.ly/7Uo4V5
Centering Prayer is a silent prayer practice that can move you toward profound relationship with the Spirit of God within. It is a way of praying that opens the door to the Divine Indwelling—the ground of our being. With Centering Prayer, Father Thomas Keating and his colleagues Gail Fitzpatrick-Hopler and Father Carl Arico present the first online course in this method for deepening your intimacy with God and ultimately consenting to the presence and action of the Divine in all aspects of your life.
Answering a life calling, Father Thomas Keating sought to renew a prayer practice that goes beyond asking for aid or offering praise—one that invites you to enter into a deeper relationship with God. Based on the wisdom sayings of Jesus and inspired by teachings from the classic 14th-century text The Cloud of Unknowing, Saint John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Thomas Merton, and others, Centering Prayer is a method that has sparked the modern renewal of contemplative Christianity. “Centering Prayer does not replace other types of prayer,” teaches Keating. “Rather, the practice gives a new depth of meaning to all forms of prayer.” An interactive eight-week intensive learning and practice program highlighted by four live teaching sessions, the course also includes private journaling, along with online discussions and more than nine hours of audio and video instruction, plus a rich selection of written exercises and information.
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