Oblate Program at Belmont Abbey, NC

Tag: Merton

Our Concept of “the World”

I think the question of “turning to the world” is in fact a question of being patient with the unprepossessing surface of it, in order to break through to the deep goodness that is underneath. But to my way of thinking, “the world” is precisely the dehumanized surface. What is under the surface, and often… Read More ›

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“The World” is a sham

The real trouble with “the world,” in the bad sense which the Gospel condemns, is that it is a complete and systematic sham, and he who follows it ends not by living but by pretending he is alive, and justifying his pretense by an appeal to the general conspiracy of all the others to do… Read More ›

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All that is poor deserves mercy

[The] self is not by nature evil, and the fact that it is unsubstantial is not to be imputed to it as some kind of crime. It is afflicted with metaphysical poverty: but all that is poor deserves mercy. So too our outward self: as long as it does not isolate itself in a lie,… Read More ›

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Worship our false selves is hell

The only true joy on earth is to escape from the prison of our own false self, and enter by love into union with the Life Who dwells and sings within the essence of every creature and in the core of our own souls. In His love we possess all things and enjoy fruition of… Read More ›

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The Wilderness of Our Own Abominable Selfishness

[A]ll men who live only according to their five senses, and seek nothing beyond the gratification of their natural appetites for pleasure and reputation and power, cut themselves off from that charity which is the principle of all spiritual vitality and happiness because it alone saves us from the barren wilderness of our own abominable… Read More ›

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We are exhausting vital pure spiritual energy

We live in a society that tries to keep us dazzled with euphoria in a bright cloud of lively and joy-loving slogans. Yet nothing is more empty and more dead, nothing is more insultingly insincere and destructive than the vapid grins on the billboards and the moron beatitudes in the magazines which assure us that… Read More ›

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Humans do not agree in moral reasoning

This is no longer a time of systematic ethical speculation, for such speculation implies time to reason, and the power to bring social and individual action under the concerted control of reasoned principles upon which most men agree. There is no time to reason out, calmly and objectively, the moral implications of technical developments which… Read More ›

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Love cannot come of emptiness

I have learned that an age in which politicians talk about peace is an age in which everybody expects war: the great men of the earth would not talk of peace so much if they did not secretly believe it possible, with one more war, to annihilate their enemies forever. Always, “after just one more… Read More ›

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Solitude is a necessity

You must be free, and not involved. Solitude is to be preserved not as a luxury but as a necessity: not for “perfection” so much as for simple “survival” in the life God has given you. Hence, you must know when, how, and to whom you must say “no.” This involves considerable difficulty at times…. Read More ›

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What do you think is the way to Contemplation?

Do you think the way to sanctity is to lock yourself up with your prayers and your books and the meditations that please and interest your mind, to protect yourself with many walls, against people you consider stupid? Do you think the way to contemplation is found in the refusal of activities and works which… Read More ›

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