Last night I was walking back to my car from Friedsam Library at St. Bonaventure University and I as I looked into the night I could barely make out the familiar lines of Merton’s Heart. It’s a clearing on the mountainside just south of the campus of St. Bonaventure University. As I looked up [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Thomas Merton’
Grateful
Posted in St. Bonaventure University, Thomas Merton, gratitude, tagged Franciscan, Franklinville, gratitude, St. Bonaventure University, Thomas Merton on October 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Growth
Posted in Education, Mt. Irenaeus, St. Bonaventure University, Thomas Merton, gratitude, mindfulness, tagged contemplative, gratitude, Mt. Irenaeus, St. Bonaventure University, summer, Thomas Merton on September 1, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Summer is a time of growth and my summer has certainly been that this year for me. This spring or at least early June didn’t start out that way. I thought it was the end and that I’d be leaving and going elsewhere to begin a retirement and whatever that may have held. I even [...]
Victory is certain
Posted in Thomas Merton, mystic, tagged Christ, contemplative, solitude, Thomas Merton on August 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This letter that came from the Merton Institute is timely today. Sometimes I feel an overwhelming sense of despair and lately it has been tugging at my shoulder from time to time. This letter Czeslaw Milosz though fifty years ago rings true for me today.
[Letter to Czeslaw Milosz, Feb, 1959] Milosz, life is on our [...]
No escape
Posted in Thomas Merton, monastic, tagged monastic, Thomas Merton on August 17, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I couldn’t agree more with what Thomas Merton says here.
“The monastery is not an “escape” from the world. On the contrary, by being in the monastery, I take my true part in all the struggles and sufferings of the world. To adopt a life that is essentially nonassertive, nonviolent, a life of humility and [...]
Merton on solitude
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged contemplative, mindfulness, prayer, solitude, Thomas Merton on August 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Earlier today I took a canoe onto the lake where we are staying and maybe it’s because I had ridden in motorized craft a lot this trip, but it was very refreshing to be paddling along in a still cove. I think there is a lot more to solitude than prayer or maybe it’s that [...]
Going home
Posted in St. Bonaventure University, Western New York, tagged Franciscan, Hilbert College, St. Bonaventure University, Thomas Merton on July 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Today I applied to St. Bonaventure University Graduate School. Though I’ve never been a Bona student before, I’ve been connected to St. Bonaventure and Franciscans most of my life. Last night I attended an informational session about graduate programs at St. Bonaventure at Hilbert College, another nearby Franciscan college. I spoke with a representative of [...]
Invisible God
Posted in Mt. Irenaeus, Thomas Merton, Trappist, mystic, tagged contemplative, God, Thomas Merton, theology, mount irenaeus on June 23, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Just yesterday I was having a conversation with one of the summer interns at Mt. Irenaeus when I said to him that the God of the theologians was not God as I had experienced him. Too often I/we let theologians limit our concept of God. God becomes pigeon-holed and limited by what the God scholars [...]
Where to begin
Posted in Thomas Merton, gratitude, mindfulness, mystic, tagged contemplative, Fredonia State, rain, SUNY Fredonia, Thomas Merton on May 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I haven’t been doing much if any blogging lately. I’ve been too busy and mostly without words or the willingness to write anything down. Yesterday, Dara Maria graduated from State University of New York at Fredonia. I am so proud of her, she finished Summa Cum Laude. She’s a very bright, classy young lady with [...]
God’s will
Posted in Spiritual, Thomas Merton, Trappist, tagged God's will, love, Thomas Merton on April 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
What is God’s will for me is a thought I’ve often entertained. Today in the mail I got an answer that has the ring of truthfulness to it.
If you want to know what is meant by “God’s will”, this is one way to get a good idea of it. “God’s will” is certainly found in [...]
Radical Mercy and Forgiveness
Posted in Christian, Christianity, Jesus, Thomas Merton, forgiveness, mystic, tagged contemplative, forgiveness, Franciscan, Gospel, Jesus, mercy, Richard Rohr, Thomas Merton on April 6, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Today a friend called to tell that another friend had died and suddenly at that. The fellow who died was a very good friend and I’ll miss him a lot. He was a good friend. We’d spent quite a bit of time together this winter. We’re both fathers and Navy veterans and both drove PT [...]
