{"id":31431,"date":"2013-01-03T05:30:33","date_gmt":"2013-01-03T11:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=31431"},"modified":"2013-01-03T09:43:18","modified_gmt":"2013-01-03T15:43:18","slug":"beginning-the-year-with-thomas-merton-book-reviews-and-shameless-plug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/01\/beginning-the-year-with-thomas-merton-book-reviews-and-shameless-plug\/","title":{"rendered":"Beginning the Year with Thomas Merton (Book Reviews and Shameless Plug!)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"photo<\/a>

photo by rachelelisag on Instagram<\/p><\/div>\n

I’d like to take this post to do a total shameless plug for Thomas Merton – a holy man who has taught me so much that I consider him to be a spiritual father.<\/p>\n

At the end of the old year and to help me start the new year, I picked up his book\u00a0Thoughts in Solitude<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>It’s a relatively short book – but each sentence is packed with wisdom. I’m about half way through so far, and I’ve underlined something on nearly every page (sometimes underlining a whole half page!).<\/p>\n

Thoughts in Solitude<\/em> has been a providential tool for examining my life with God and putting serious thought into how I live my faith. We should all take such a moment of solitude with God at the start of this new year.<\/p>\n

God truly gifted Merton with a keen eye and a generous heart. He speaks about the things of God and the things of men in a way that reaches down into the core of our reality today. His words connect the reader to the transcendent Truth that has always been and always will be, while retaining harmony between the deeply spiritual inner life and the sometimes mundane external reality. He is one of the best guides I have found for living a life with God in the midst of our modern world.<\/p>\n

But don’t take it from me – Fr James Martin, SJ, who is fast becoming a prolific and central public figure in our Church and society, has a whole book on why he loves Merton, too. It’s\u00a0called\u00a0Becoming Who You Are<\/a>. \u00a0<\/em>Fr James Martin also dedicates a chapter to him in his book,\u00a0My Life with the Saints<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

If that hooks you and you want to learn more, I earnestly suggest Merton’s autobiography,\u00a0The Seven Storey Mountain.<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>It’s a long book, to make an understatement, so I suggest reading some of his other spiritual works first. Once you fall in love with those, you’ll want to know where he came from, and be able to make it through the fascinating story of his life and vocation.<\/p>\n

To further entice you to seriously consider taking up Merton as a spiritual guide in this new year, here are a couple quotes from\u00a0Thoughts in Solitude.\u00a0<\/em> I know that after I read the prologue, I was totally hooked!<\/p>\n

“In actual fact, society depends for its existence on the inviolable personal solitude of it members. Society, to merit it’s name, must be made up not of numbers, or mechanical units, but of persons. To be a person implies responsibility and freedom, and both these imply a certain interior solitude, a sense of personal integrity, a sense of one’s own reality and of one’s ability to give himself to society – or to refuse that gift (p xi)”<\/p>\n

“No amount of technological progress will cure the hatred that eats away thevitals of materialistic<\/div>\n
society like a spiritual cancer. The only cure is, and must always be, spiritual.” (p xii)<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n
“The spiritual life is first of all\u00a0a life.<\/em> It is not merely something to be known and studied, it is to be lived.” (p 37)<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n
“Faith alone can give us the light to see that God’s will is to be found in our every day life. Without this light, we cannot see to make the right decisions. Without this certitude we cannot have supernatural confidence and peace. We stumble and fall constantly even when we are most enlightened. But when we are in true spiritual darkness, we do not even know that we have fallen.” (p. 38)<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/div>\n
\"thomasmerton1\"<\/a>May you take some time at the start of the year to seek out spiritual sustenance and to invite God into your year-end or year-beginning reflections. May this new year, 2013, in this Year of Faith, bring us more deeply into the heart of God as He gifts us with \u00a0new life, day by day.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’d like to take this post to do a total shameless plug for Thomas Merton – a holy man who has taught me so much that I consider him to be a spiritual father. At the end of the old year and to help me start the new year, I picked up his book\u00a0Thoughts in… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[1283,773,163,50,1282,408,865,104,1280,1281,1066],"class_list":["post-31431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-blog","tag-1283","tag-book-review","tag-books","tag-faith","tag-fr-james-martin","tag-new-year","tag-prayer-advice","tag-religion-and-spirituality","tag-spiritual-reading","tag-thomas-merton","tag-year-of-faith","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12656,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/03\/wading-into-spiritual-waters-review-no-man-is-an-island\/","url_meta":{"origin":31431,"position":0},"title":"Wading into Spiritual Waters (Review: “No Man Is an Island”)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"March 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes, what your faith life needs is someone to break things down, but not too far down. Adults do not like to be talked down to or made to feel like they don't know anything, but not everyone is a rocket scientist (and I know several actual rocket scientists). Lent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/3024993377_d85b48d7e9-300x187.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":117911,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/06\/signs-of-the-times\/","url_meta":{"origin":31431,"position":1},"title":"Signs of the Times","author":"Rachel","date":"June 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"As I was walking through Hobby Lobby last week to buy material to make a gift, I was struck by the number of cute little plaques\u00a0with words on them - tons of displays for any occasion - teacher gifts, inspirational Bible verses, kitchen signs, man-cave signs - words for everyone.They\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"from hobbylobby.com","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/961441_1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11848,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/02\/review-theology-for-beginners\/","url_meta":{"origin":31431,"position":2},"title":"Not Quite for Beginners, but Worth It (Review: “Theology for Beginners”)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"February 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It is amazing how much I do not know. I came back to the Church seven years ago tomorrow (which was Ash Wednesday that year, too). I am a joiner by nature, so when I decided to become a practicing adult Catholic, I went in full-tilt. That led me to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/132962285_e7afcd7ebd-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":155143,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/09\/review-the-year-without-a-purchase\/","url_meta":{"origin":31431,"position":3},"title":"Faith, Consumerism, and More (Review: “The Year Without a Purchase”)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"September 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Minimalist stories don't usually contain much God-talk. Some have hints of spirituality in their suggestions that you can declutter your soul, make time for what's important, and find peace in a life that's not so full of stuff. On the flip side, there is plenty of writing about how to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Review of \"The Year Without a Purchase\" at Austin CNM","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/bossfight-vegetables-285x190.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":84470,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/01\/hope-beneath-despair\/","url_meta":{"origin":31431,"position":4},"title":"Hope Is Beneath Despair","author":"Josue","date":"January 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Too often we fail to recognize the fidelity of God in our lives. I could quote to you every other line of Psalm 136: \u201c\u2026his steadfast love endures forever,\u201d but that\u2019s not always the response we\u2019re looking for, is it? The answer is true, sure. Thomas Merton calls the Book\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Who Upholds Us","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Jesus-Christ-Cornerstone.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":331456,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/review-great-catholic-parishes\/","url_meta":{"origin":31431,"position":5},"title":"Bits and Bytes on Thriving Parishes (Review: “Great Catholic Parishes”)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"December 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Since I stopped working in ministry, I've been a regular parishioner, just like everyone else. Having seen things from both ends of the pew, in a sense, I remain interested in the state of American parishes and efforts to right the wrongs and fulfill our mission as Christians. So I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cristo Redentor statue","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/cristoredentor-550x374.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/cristoredentor-550x374.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/cristoredentor-550x374.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}