Thomas Merton: Pilgrim Monk

THOMAS MERTON: THE PILGRIM MONK In The Confessions, St Augustine opens with a very profound statement: “You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in thee.” This observation is the very core of Thomas Merton (1915-1968) from his worldly early years to his untimely accidental death in Thailand. Merton was an eclectic person: contemplative monk, writer, poet, social activist. Books on Merton like Jon M. Sweeney’s Thomas Merton abound. For this article we will pluck one petal from the Merton flower: relevance for today’s pilgrims.

      Merton was constantly searching for wholeness i.e. holiness. Both latter words have the same Indo-European-the ancient mother of English- root. This search is still relevant for us today. For Thomas Merton the search for wholeness could only be a step to holiness. In this article we will trace this process especially in his first major publication (a best seller) The Seven Story Mountain, his autobiography (1948).

      We start first with the title. Merton is alluding to Dante’s Purgatorio of The Divine Comedy. In Purgatorio, as Jon M. Sweeney writes, souls must be cleansed of the seven deadly sins before entering Paradise. This allusion does not mean Merton committed deadly sins (though in his youth he fostered a child out of wedlock). Rather, the allusion is to prepare us for a deeply human journey that Merton made in his passage from atheism to faith. The Seven Story Mountain then is an archetype because humanity itself is on such a journey.

       Let us begin Merton’s search for wholeness. We shall perceive this journey to faith in the following steps: Early years, Columbia University, Conversion, Pré-Cistercian, Trappist, Thailand, Accidental death. Though Merton refers to the Holy Ghost (Spirit) briefly, we can only conclude the power behind his search is actual grace, the immanent hand of God leading Merton to wholeness and holiness.

      Thomas Merton was born in England in 1915 to Owen and Ruth Merton both Episcopalian, in name only for his parents stood on their art more than faith. The first emotional jolt to the fledging youth was the death of his mother which impacted deeply on Merton, yet to experience faith. Rootless he entered Cambridge, as a promising student immersed in a worldly life. Poets like William Blake became the first stepping stone to an encounter with the Devine: “…[T]hrough Blake I would one day come, in a round-about way, to the only true Church, and to the One Living God, through His Son, Jesus Chris” Blake became his M.A. thesis.

     Merton began to read the Gospel but was far from commitment. Desiring to become a Trappist monk, he journeyed to America. He came to New York and entered Columbia University where Professor Mark Van Doren steered him in literature and writing which Merton thrived on. One must affirm that Merton was a writer. But Merton realized that the Sacred was missing from his life. Again, through reading Etienne Gilson and Jacques Maritain, Catholic philosophers, Merton fanned the ambers of faith. While he was a student at Columbia, Merton’s grandfather Pop died. Merton was close to his only family. But this death became a turning point for Merton’s search: “… [I] closed my door and got on knees by the bed to pray.” The latter was Merton’s first intercessor prayer. This act was an early sign of Merton integration of contemplation and action. To Merton these attitudes were inseparable and the most profound manifestation of his newly discovered Catholic faith. Merton felt the call to be a cloistered monk.

     First, he tried the Franciscans, but then realized the call was to the Cistercians: In 1941 he entered the Trappist monastery in Gethsemani, Kentucky; he became in 1949 an ordained Trappist. But even here he was restless with the mechanistic monastic routine. With the abbot’s permission in 1965 he moved into a hermitage adjacent to the monastery; he experienced solitude, deep prayer and inspiration (AI Overview). Writing was to become integral with his vocation; now he focused on anti-war articles, and reaching out to Eastern religions. In his search for wholeness Merton always believed contemplation and action were connected. But this reality led him to an untimely accidental death in a Buddhist monastery; while drying his hair after a shower he was electrocuted.

    What then are we to conclude (learn) from this holy man’s search for wholeness, holiness? First is to acknowledge the deep humanity of Merton, including falling in love briefly and fostering a child. Merton had his failings, and weaknesses for which he repented and continued his monastic life. While the Vietnam War raged, polarizing America, he joined the anti-war movement and wrote protest articles that did not sit well with some of the American bishops who believed the War was just. So strong was Merton he believed the contemplative and the active are not opposites but integral. But his activity outside the monastery drew flak. Merton was also raising the resistance not only of some of the American hierarchy, but the Vatican, for he questioned the just war theory in the nuclear age. He wrote Confessions of a Guilty Bystander 1966, despite the flax because he believed peace was of the Lord.

     In sum, Thomas Merton’s search for wholeness, holiness was at times a rough journey. At the same time grace infused his life to make him a model for his colleagues. Jon Sweeney points out we too with the grace of the Holy Spirit can live a life of contemplation and action.

REFERENCES

Alighieri, Dante The Divine Comedy translated by Mark Musa, Penguin Books 2002

Merton, Thomas The Seven Storey Mountain Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1949, 1976 St. Augustine The Confessions New York: Image Books 1960

Sweeney, Jon M. Thomas Merton An Introduction to His Life, Teachings, and Practices New York: St Martins Publishing Group 2021 ps. 3, 25, 110

Bernard Callaghan bandscall@eastlink.ca