The Courage for Truth: Letters to Writers by Thomas Merton & Christine M. Bochen

Author:Thomas Merton & Christine M. Bochen
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Religion, Catholicism, Letters, Christianity
ISBN: 9781429944083
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
Published: 1993-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

August 15, 1965

Today, the day of your ordination, I am especially thinking of you, and as we concelebrate at the High Mass this morning, I will keep you most especially in my offering. May the Lord truly bless your priesthood and all your priestly work, especially all the splendid inspirations that have come to you. May they all bear fruit. They will certainly not do so without much difficulty, but it is certainly happy that a new spirit of understanding and originality is breathing in the Church, and even some of the most conservative elements are forced to recognize it and adjust to it. I am sure that the coming years will be very creative and that prophetic initiatives may be very evident. I expect there will also be a crisis in certain quarters, particularly where there has been much unenlightened conservatism. In such places the transition will be painful. We are going along fairly well here, fortunately …

This week I will finally be able to leave the job in the novitiate. Fr. Baldwin is taking it over, and I have received permission to live entirely in the hermitage, coming down to the monastery only once a day to say Mass and have one meal. This is a great step forward. I have in fact been sleeping there and spending most of my time there since last year, and have in fact had as much solitude as one would ordinarily have, say, in the Camaldolese. I find that it suits me perfectly, as far as my vocation is concerned, though I am not a solitary by nature at all. Only grace can make a real hermit of me, but I feel very strongly the exigency of grace in this matter. It is now an imperative demand which I cannot ignore, and indeed I would fear for my soul if I ignored it. I have no desire to do so in any case. The only slight problem is presented by health, but I trust in your prayers and in those of my friends to enable me to overcome this obstacle. My health should be good enough in any case to enable me to live the life well, but it may be difficult to do some of the manual work and chores that I will have to do, as I have a bad back. But the Lord will provide.

I often think what wonderful things have happened in the six years since you left. Your life has been blessed, your vocation is truly from God in a most evident way. He may let you feel your own limitations, but the might of His Spirit will also be evident in your life. Do not fear, but be like a child in His arms, and you will accomplish much for your country.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.