Review

Wrestling with Grief and Grace in Seeds of Contemplation

Lifted up by Thomas Merton from the mud and ashes

Image by Bing

I contemplate.

Contemplation is a daily ritual for me — a quiet turning inward sparked by a line in a poem, a passage in a book, or a restless thought that won’t let go. Right now, I’m reading New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton, so it’s no wonder I’m deep in it.

Merton’s words stir something in me — but I have to be honest: I don’t always agree with everything he writes. And when that happens, I pause. I ask myself, how can I — a mortal soul, not nearly Merton’s intellectual match — question his wisdom? But I do. And maybe that’s the point.

Maybe the act of questioning is the contemplation.

If you are unfamiliar with Thomas Merton, it’s no surprise. He’s not on most people’s radar unless you are interested in questions about reconciling the spiritual with the secular life. Merton was a Trappist monk, a mystic, and a prolific writer from France who later migrated to the United States.

I first encountered his work a few decades ago when I read The Seven Storey Mountain: A Journey of Faith and Transformation, Exploring Vulnerability, Forgiveness, and the Quest for Spiritual Fulfillment in the Midst…