Monday Merton 6.10.13

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:13 pm by Morgan Guyton

Monday Merton 6.10.13 2014-07-17T14:13:20-05:00 Morgan Guyton

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

For this week’s Monday Merton, I am drawing from chapters 8 and 9 of No Man Is An Island.

Providence is… more than an institution, it is a person. More than a benevolent stranger, He is our Father. And even the term Father is too loose a metaphor to contain all the depths of the mystery: for He loves us more than we love ourselves, as if we were Himself… He Who is infinitely above us, infinitely different from ourselves, infinitely “other” from us, nevertheless dwells in our souls. 132

The thing that is hardest to get our heads around about God is that He is more inside of us than we are inside ourselves. Selfishness is paradoxically to be out of touch with our true selves; it is a superficial comprehension of what our real needs and desires are.

The truth of God lives in our souls more by the power of superior moral courage than by the light of an eminent intelligence… We cannot possess the truth fully until it has entered into the very substance of our life by good habits and by a certain perfection of moral activity. 136-137

This is because truth is more than just facticity. We can come up with all sorts of clever ways of spinning a truth about our world that are all supported by facts. It’s a different thing to live in the truth.

The fulfillment of every individual vocation demands not only the renouncement of what is evil in itself, but also of all the precise goods that are not willed for us by God. The man who is content to keep from disobeying God, and to satisfy his own desires wherever there is nothing to prevent him from doing so, may indeed lead a life that is not evil: but his life will remain a sad confusion of truth and falsity and he will never have the spiritual vision to tell one clearly from the other. 137

It’s one thing to figure out what all the rules are and avoid breaking them so that nobody has anything on you. That could be called living a safe life. It’s different to actively seek and listen for God’s will for your life. The third servant in the parable of the talents did the former, figuring out exactly what he thought was required and not exerting himself an ounce more. To seek God’s will actively means living an inspired life instead of a safe life.

Convention and tradition may seem on the surface to be much the same thing… In actual fact, conventions are the death of real tradition as they are of all real life. They are parasites which attach themselves to the living organism of tradition and devour all its reality, turning int into a hollow formality… Tradition, which is always old, is at the same time ever new because it is always reviving–born again in each new generation, to be lived and applied in a new and particular way. Convention is simply the ossification of social customs… Tradition is creative. Always original, it always opens out new horizons for an old journey. Convention, on the other hand, is completely unoriginal. It is slavish imitation. 150-151

This is a helpful distinction. I grew up Baptist, and we were always suspicious of any kind of “ritual.” We basically assumed that tradition was always convention, and the only way to avoid “hollow formalities” was to be spontaneous. If you’re doing something that other people have always done without reflecting on its meaning for you, then you’re being conventional. To be traditional means that you have embraced an ancient path because of its meaning.

Do not ask me to love my brother merely in the name of an abstraction–“society,” the “human race,” the “common good”… There are plenty of men who will give up their interests for the sake of “society,”: but cannot stand any of the people they live with. 169

This is an important critique of what often happens in liberalism. People are infatuated with utopian ideas and scandalized by the dissonance of injustice, but none of it is derived in personal relationships. At a recent gathering at the General Board of Church and Society, we were advised to only take up causes according to the needs of people with whom we were in authentic relationships. Always start with the personal.

Devotions

Monday Merton

Thomas Merton

Previous Post

June 10, 2013

Fearing God vs. carrying a fearsome god-puppet who agrees with you

Next Post

June 11, 2013 Eternal life is innocence restored (Journey to Eternity #1)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Beauty Will Save the World Bible Big Picture: Ephesians Bloggers Book Christian salvation and the Beautitudes Culture Daily Office Danceable Homiletics Deadly Sins Deep Roots: Genesis Devotions Dominican Republic May 2011 El Principio Misericordia (The Mercy Principle) Five verses God tattooed on my heart Fundraising FutureGospel Good Biblical Words Henri Nouwen Interview Jennings' Christian Imagination Jesus inside the beltway Jesus Is My Candidate Jesus vs the Pharisees Jesus vs. Plato Journey to Eternity Looking Back on 2012 Love Actually Monday Merton Monday Merton Music Occupy the manger On Earth As It Is In Heaven Original Sin Podcast Poetry Politics Prayer Psalm 119 Radical Jesus 101 Reviews Sermon on the Mount Sermons Spanish Bible study Special Series Spiritual but not religious Synchroblog Theology Things that made me think Thomas a Kempis Ugliness Into Beauty Uncategorized Viaje Dominicano 2013 Walking in the Valley (Lent) Welcome: It's More than a Mat Wild Goose 2013 Wrestling

Select a Month March 2022 January 2022 December 2021 September 2021 April 2021 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Abraham's wife?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Rebekah Rachel Sarah Leah