Friday, July 17, 2009


Now I'm not normally a fan of Thomas Merton, but in the current edition of First Things there appears a letter that Thomas Merton wrote to an sixth grader in 1967. It's rather delightful and worthy of sharing, so here it is:

Thanks for your nice letter. You want "any information whatsoever" to help the sixth grade in the study of monasticism. Well, I'll see if I can get the brothers down in the store to send you a little book about the monastery here. That ought to help.


The monastic life goes back a long way. Monks are people who seek to devote all their time to knowing God better and loving Him more. For that reason they leave the cities and go out into lonely places where it is quiet and they can think. As they go on in life they want to find lonelier and lonelier places so they can think even more. In the end people think these monks are really crazy going off by themselves and of course sometimes they are. On the other hand when you are quiet and when you are free from a lot of cares, then you don't make enough money to pay taxes, and don't have a wife to fight with, and when your heart is quiet, you suddenly realize that everything is extremely beautiful and that just by being quiet you can almost sense that God is right there not only with you but even in you. Then you realize that it is worth the trouble of going away where you don't have to talk and mess around and make a darn fool of yourself in the middle of a lot of people who are running around in circles to no purpose. I suppose that is why monks go off and live in lonely places. Like me now I live alone in the woods with squirrels and rabbits and deer and foxes and a huge owl that comes down by my cabin and makes a spooky noise in the night, but we are friends and it is all ok. A monk who lives all by himself in the woods is called a hermit. There is a Rock 'n' Roll outfit called Herman and his Hermits but they are no the same thing.


I do not suppose for a moment that you wish to become a hermit (thought now I understand there are some girl hermits in England and they are sort of friends of mine because they are hermits, so I send them stuff about how to be a hermit). But anyway, I suggest that you sometimes be quiet and think about how good a thing it is that you are loved by God is is infinite and who wants you to be supremely happy. Isn't that something? It is, my dear, and let us keep praying that it will work out like that fore everybody. Good bye now.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed reading the letter.

I didn't know about Thomas Merton and your post moved me to research and find out just who he was and his journey to Catholicism.

Blessings to you Father.

Liz

Father S said...

I really like this letter. It is a joy to read.

Susan said...

Dana, why don't you like Merton?

Father Christensen said...

I generally don't like Merton because of his (I believe unhealthy) fascination with Eastern Religions. Delvinging into Eastern Religions is dangerous for us who believe in Christ, because their (false) mysticism can easily lead us astray.

His dialogue with Eastern Religions was certainly laudable, but his writings on Eastern Religions seem to verge upon syncretism.

That, in a nutshell, is why I generally am not a fan of Thomas Merton. I did, however, enjoy his autobiography.