A Reflection on Jan. 18th's Merton Meditation

Rickey and Anna are here with me in Tennessee, and I took them to the mountains today where we took a little walk toward Margarette Falls. When we got home I read an excerpt from a collection of Merton writings, and thought I'd share it with the community. It's today's entry and it is titled "An Ecology of Silence." Merton is talking about a walk he shared with Frater Tarcisius.

The beautiful silence of the woods on every side! Frater Tarcisius looked about with such reverence that you would have thought he was seeing angels. Later we separated to pray apart in the thinned pine grove on the southeastern hillside. And I could see how simple it is to find God in solitude. There is no one else, nothing else. He is all there is to find there. Everything is in Him. And what could be more pleasing to Him than that we should leave all things and company to be with Him and think only of Him and know Him alone, in order to give Him our love?

Te be alone by being part of the universe--fitting in completely to an environment of woods and silence and peace. Everything you do becomes unity and a prayer. Unity within and without. Unity with all living things--without effort or contention. My silence is part of the whole world's silence and builds the temple of God without the noise of hammers.

Dec. 29 and Jan. 28, 1953

I love his observation that "Everything you do becomes unity and a prayer." I am beginning to understanding this phenomenon more as I journey. For a long time prayer was a chore for me. Having this deeper understanding of prayer coupled with the practice of Centering Prayer has truly transformed me as a person. Here is a photo of the silent woods we walked/"prayed" in this morning.

Blessings,
Mark