{"id":943,"date":"2008-12-12T14:49:41","date_gmt":"2008-12-12T14:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2008\/12\/conjectures-of-a-guilty-bystander.html"},"modified":"2008-12-12T14:49:41","modified_gmt":"2008-12-12T14:49:41","slug":"conjectures-of-a-guilty-bystander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/12\/conjectures-of-a-guilty-bystander.html","title":{"rendered":"Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week marked the 40th anniversary of the sudden death of Thomas Merton.<\/p>\n

A few appreciations have appeared here and there, with some tut-tutting that Merton is still “controversial” in some Catholic circles.be <\/p>\n

Well,one person’s “controversial” is another’s “just not canonized yet, okay?”<\/p>\n

I have a deep appreciation forMerton. I have taught and passed on his books. He was a brilliant writer, and I think that, more than anything else, is what draws me to him. Not just that I appreciate fine writing, but that so many of his struggles are the struggle of an artist (or, to be humble, would-be artist.)<\/p>\n

Reading the first couple of volumes in the journals really brought that home to me, since the questions of vocatio – not simply monastic, but also artistic – loomed so large in them.<\/p>\n

But Merton was human and like any of us, not beyond criticism.<\/p>\n

Nor is Merton everyone’s cup of tea.<\/p>\n

For me, as interesting as  find him, and as helpful it is for me to see things with him and through his eyes, I am often left a bit dissatisfied by Merton, as if I need to move on and out. Yes, he was a contemplative, and perhaps that is part of the problem, for me, at least. Knowing myself, the existential quest, even if it is God-centered, can only take me so far. The goal of my life is not to know myself perfectly. It is to serve and love as Jesus did.  <\/p>\n

I am not suggesting this last point is absent from Merton. It just does not seem to be the center of inquiry, exploration and energy.  Which is fine. It is all a piece of the puzzle, but it does not define the entire puzzle, at least for me. Sometimes reading Merton can inspire me and answer questions, but sometimes it can tempt me to self-absorption. It all depends.<\/p>\n

So talk about Merton.  Promote him, thank him, question him. It’s all okay. You get the idea from some quarters that it is far more permissible to critique the Pope (any pope) than it is to say “hmmm” about aspects of the thought of certain other figures.  I’ve never quite understood that. Even as far as actually canonized saints go – “canonization” does not equal “perfect” or “beyond critique” or “a perfect fit for everyone’s spirituality.” <\/p>\n

Oh, and in this week so well-marked by Marian feasts – check out Merton’s Marian poetry.  It is lovely, and might surprise you.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nWhy do you fly from the drowned shores of Galilee,
\nFrom the sands and the lavender water?
\nWhy do you leave the ordinary world, Virgin of Nazareth,
\nThe yellow fishing boats, the farms,
\nThe winesmelling yards and low cellars
\nOr the oilpress, and the women by the well?
\nWhy do you fly those markets,
\nThose suburban gardens,
\nThe trumpets of the jealous lilies,
\nLeaving them all, lovely among the lemon trees?<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nYou have trusted no town
\nWith the news behind your eyes.
\nYou have drowned Gabriel’s word in thoughts like seas
\nAnd turned toward the stone mountain
\nTo the treeless places.
\nVirgin of God, why are your clothes like sails?<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nThe day Our Lady, full of Christ,
\nEntered the dooryard of her relative
\nDid not her steps, light steps, lay on the paving leaves
\nlike gold?
\nDid not her eyes as grey as doves
\nAlight like the peace of a new world upon that house, upon
\nmiraculous Elizabeth?<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nHer salutation
\nSings in the stone valley like a Charterhouse bell:
\nAnd the unborn saint John
\nWakes in his mother’s body,
\nBounds with the echoes of discovery.<\/font> <\/p>\n

\n
\nSing in your cell, small anchorite!
\nHow did you see her in the eyeless dark?
\nWhat secret syllable
\nWoke your young faith to the mad truth
\nThat an unborn baby could be washed in the Spirit of God?
\nOh burning joy!<\/font> <\/p>\n

\n
\nWhat seas of life were planted by that voice!
\nWith what new sense
\nDid your wise heart receive her Sacrament,
\nAnd know her cloistered Christ?<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nYou need no eloquence, wild bairn,
\nExulting in your hermitage.
\nYour ecstasy is your apostolate,
\nFor whom to kick is contemplata tradere<\/i>.
\nYour joy is the vocation of Mother Church’s hidden children –
\nThose who by vow lie buried in the cloister or the hermitage;
\nThe speechless Trappist, or the grey, granite Carthusian,
\nThe quiet Carmelite, the barefoot Clare, Planted in the night of
\ncontemplation, Sealed in the dark and waiting to be born.<\/font> <\/p>\n

\n
\nNight is our diocese and silence is our ministry
\nPoverty our charity and helplessness our tongue-tied
\nsermon.
\nBeyond the scope of sight or sound we dwell upon the air
\nSeeking the world’s gain in an unthinkable experience.
\nWe are exiles in the far end of solitude, living as listeners
\nWith hearts attending to the skies we cannot understand:
\nWaiting upon the first far drums of Christ the Conqueror,
\nPlanted like sentinels upon the world’s frontier.<\/font> <\/p>\n

\n
\nBut in the days, rare days, when our Theotokos
\nFlying the prosperous world
\nAppears upon our mountain with her clothes like sails,
\nThen, like the wise, wild baby,
\nThe unborn John who could not see a thing
\nWe wake and know the Virgin Presence
\nReceive her Christ into our night
\nWith stabs of an intelligence as white as lightning.<\/font> <\/p>\n

\n
\nCooled in the flame of God’s dark fire
\nWashed in His gladness like a vesture of new flame
\nWe burn like eagles in His invincible awareness
\nAnd bound and bounce with happiness,
\nLeap in the womb, our cloud, our faith, our element,
\nOur contemplation, our anticipated heaven
\nTill Mother Church sings like an Evangelist.<\/font> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week marked the 40th anniversary of the sudden death of Thomas Merton. A few appreciations have appeared here and there, with some tut-tutting that Merton is still “controversial” in some Catholic circles.be Well,one person’s “controversial” is another’s “just not canonized yet, okay?” I have a deep appreciation forMerton. I have taught and passed on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nConjectures of a Guilty Bystander - Via Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/12\/conjectures-of-a-guilty-bystander.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander - Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week marked the 40th anniversary of the sudden death of Thomas Merton. A few appreciations have appeared here and there, with some tut-tutting that Merton is still “controversial” in some Catholic circles.be Well,one person’s “controversial” is another’s “just not canonized yet, okay?” I have a deep appreciation forMerton. I have taught and passed on…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/12\/conjectures-of-a-guilty-bystander.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-12-12T14:49:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"awelborn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander - Via Media","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/12\/conjectures-of-a-guilty-bystander.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander - Via Media","og_description":"This week marked the 40th anniversary of the sudden death of Thomas Merton. 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The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/author\/awelborn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}