Calvin’s Heidelberg Catechism: What is the chief end of man? To know God and enjoy him forever. How much more effective could my witness be if I could first believe and then start with this in my attempts to show others Christ? I’ll keep referring to the subculture by which I was surrounded, the Canadian [...]
Posts from ‘November, 2007’
Thomas Merton and the Search for True Self (Part 3)
THOUGHTS IN SOLITUDE Merton’s Thoughts in Solitude was written in 1953 and 1954 during an intense time of solitude and meditation afforded to him, as he puts it, “by the grace of God and the favor of his Superiors.”1 There was no intention for the book to address advanced or sensational adventures in these disciplines, [...]
How You Got Here
I’ll make this a semi-regular feature. WordPress shows me which search terms bring traffic to my blog. Here’s the first installment. Highlights for this week include: “rob bell crackpot” (never said that) “solutions to desert survival simulation ” (no idea) Search Terms for 7 days ending 2007-11-29 Today Mcmanus, Spiritual Activism Yesterday “ezra furman” “andy [...]
I AM THE PROBLEM
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:14 Last spring I read Donald Miller’s book Blue Like Jazz. Miller is a wonderful storyteller who weaves humorous, and sometimes sad, personal stories with the insight he gains along the way. One such insight had to [...]
Thomas Merton and the Search for True Self (Part 2)
LIFE AS A TRAPPIST MONK “It is customary,” Merton says in The Silent Life, “to begin discussions of Cistercian spirituality with a historical flourish”1 – and so I will begin as custom dictates. On Palm Sunday in 1098 Robert of Molesmes and a group of monks left their Benedictine monastery and traveled to the woods [...]
Thomas Merton and the Search for True Self (Part 1)
Thomas Merton has been rightly called “one of the most influential Catholic authors of the 20th century,”1 but his influence has spread far beyond the limits of the Catholic population. The endurance and diversity of his influence is due in large part to the strict observance of The Rule of St. Benedict Merton practiced at [...]
