I got this quote in today’s mail from the Merton Institute and it really resonated for me. The second sentence here is right on target.
Paradoxically, I have found peace because I have always been dissatisfied. My moments of depression and despair turn out to be renewals, new beginnings. If I were [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Trappist’
Paradox of peace
Posted in Christian, Peace, Spiritual, Thomas Merton, Trappist, mindfulness, monastic, mystic, tagged contemplative, Thomas Merton, Trappist, Peace, Merton Institute on August 19, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Frappucino’s rock!
Posted in Trappist, gratitude, monastic, recreation, travel, tagged Abbey of the Genesee, frappucino, Starbucks, Trappist on July 21, 2008 | No Comments »
Today I found myself in a Starbucks and I decided to follow the suggestion of my nephew’s Navy chaplain. I ordered a double chocolate chip frappucino. The chaplain’s metaphor of God’s love and double chocolate frappucino’s is right on the money. I have to take my wife and daughter one of these soon. [...]
Illusion
Posted in Thomas Merton, mindfulness, monastic, mystic, prayer, tagged contemplation, contemplative, Thomas Merton, Trappist on June 16, 2008 | No Comments »
This came in today’s mail from the Merton Institute and there is a profound truth here. All we are with all our noise, war mongering, power struggles, ego drives are illusion.
Those who love their own noise are impatient of everything else. They constantly defile the silence of the forests and the mountains [...]
On the road
Posted in Christianity, Genesee Abbey, Marian, Peace, Thomas Merton, gratitude, monastic, mystic, prayer, travel, tagged Thomas Merton, Trappist, Jimmy Carter on April 18, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I’ve been on the road for four days and four nights. Each day has found me somewhere between Western New York and Southwestern Georgia. Each night I’ve retired in a different motel. I’ve seen some lovely sights. Lots of beautiful spring flowers. I’ve seen lovely azaleas, rhododendrons, dogwoods, apple blossoms, and flowers I can’t [...]
Website of Unknowing
Posted in Christianity, mindfulness, monastic, mystic, prayer, tagged contemplative, Trappist, mystic on April 13, 2008 | No Comments »
Last night following a search for more contemplative reading material I came across a truly lovely site that I’d like to draw your attention to. It’s author works in the bookstore at Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery in Conyers, GA. It’s title, Website of Unknowning, invited me to explore it in some detail. [...]
Silence is the only voice of God
Posted in Catholic, Christian, Genesee Abbey, Mt. Irenaeus, Trappist, mindfulness, monastic, mystic, prayer, tagged contemplative, Trappist, Abbey of the Genesee, solitude, silence, Herman Melville on February 11, 2008 | 2 Comments »
It’s 7 degrees Fahrenheit here right now and it’s been very wintry all day. I didn’t try to make it to Mt. Irenaeus this morning. I figured the weather might make it impossible to drive up Roberts Road. I opted instead for a challenging winter drive to Piffard, New York and the Abbey of [...]
True Solitude
Posted in Thomas Merton, Trappist, gratitude, mindfulness, monastic, tagged Epiphany, Genesee Abbey, solitude, Thomas Merton, Trappist on January 2, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I will give you what you desire. I will lead you into solitude…Everything that touches you shall burn you, and you will draw your hand in pain, until you have withdrawn yourself from all things…Do not ask when it will be or where it will be or how it will be: On a mountain or [...]
The new man
Posted in Spiritual, Thomas Merton, Trappist, mindfulness, monastic, mystic, tagged contemplative, Thomas Merton, Trappist on December 31, 2007 | No Comments »
For the “new man” everything is new. Even the old is transfigured in the Holy Spirit and is always new. There is nothing to cling to, there is nothing to be hoped for in what is already past-it is nothing. The new man is he who can find reality where it cannot be seen [...]
Beautiful Solitude
Posted in Catholic, Christian, Genesee Abbey, Mt. Irenaeus, Spiritual, Thomas Merton, Trappist, monastic, mystic, tagged Franciscan, contemplative, Trappist, compline, cistercian on December 3, 2007 | No Comments »
Today my usual was interrupted by mother nature. We awoke to a blanket of five inches of snow and then freezing rain on top of that. I was to travel to Mt. Irenaeus for Mass and then a meeting our Secular Franciscan fraternity. I called Fr. Lou and then a couple of our members and [...]
Happy is the man
Posted in Thomas Merton, Trappist, tagged contemplative, Thomas Merton, Trappist, Tao, Desert Fathers, Abbey of the Genesee on November 12, 2007 | 2 Comments »
I had the day off for Veterans Day. I drove some country roads I hadn’t been on in years. Eventually my driving brought me to a familiar stop. I arrived at Abbey of the Genesee and the first person to greet me was the familiar, Brother Christian. He said, “you haven’t been here in a [...]
