This is the fifth of eleven reflections on Thomas Merton’s teaching on the True Self/False Self dynamic. This conflictual but enlightening relationship permeates Merton’s huge quantity of writing on the spiritual life. The basic point of the conflict is the individual’s pull toward and away from God, one’ true and ultimate destiny. Merton’s exposure of the consequences of original sin is ruthless in its intensity. This is the task of the False Self. At the same time, the pull of the True Self, the ever-present call of God’s personal and passionate love, is even more power...

John 14:1-12 Dear Friends, In my early days as a Carmelite seminarian, I had a retreat that I remember quite vividly these seventy -one years later. I do not remember anything of the preacher’s message. What I do remember is that he told us he slept in a coffin each night. He wanted to grow in awareness that he was going to die. At the time, I thought it was really weird. Now that I am several decades closer to my death, I think the nightly coffin routine is way beyond weird. In the Easter Season, there is a magnificent message about our personal death. It is not...

III Lectio Divina and Deep Personal Prayer As we grow in understanding Lectio Divina, there is a truly beautiful unveiling of the approach to God’s Word and prayer. The practice of deep personal prayer draws one into oneself where the light of God’s Word opens the passage to true self-knowledge. This, in turn, draws us back to the world in a way that moves away from selfishness to service and loving presence to all.Faithfulness to prayer engenders an ever-repeating cycle. We turn inwards to seek God and we turn outwards to share in the divine love for our brothers and sisters. True prayer will always lead us to the tas...

John 10:1-10 Dear Friends in Christ. This is the Fourth Sunday of our Easter Season. Our message today focuses on Jesus as the gate. In the time of the Gospel, the shepherd had many duties. They all built up a meaningful relationship with the sheep.The image of the gate was especially expressive of the role of the shepherd. As the sheep entered the gate there was a guarantee of security from the many sources of violence and even death that waited in the darkness of the night.During the night the shepherd literally slept in the gate, the entrance to the sheepfold...

This is the fourth of eleven reflections on Thomas Merton’s teaching on the True Self/False Self dynamic. This conflictual but enlightening relationship permeates Merton’s huge quantity of writing on the spiritual life. The basic point of the conflict is the individual’s pull toward and away from God, one’ true and ultimate destiny. Merton’s exposure of the consequences of original sin is ruthless in its intensity. This is the task of the False Self. At the same time, the pull of the True Self, the ever-present call of God’s personal and passionate love, is even more powerf...