On the occasion of Merton's 101st birthday ...
For Thomas Merton, O God.
We give thanks …
A keen mind, a fervent heart.
Probing the mysteries of life and faith.
Daring to go the limit … pushing the envelope …
How you led him, O LORD, with your kindly hand:
From an uncertain childhood to Columbia University to a sojourn at the Monastery of Gethsemane … and then your call to the monastic life - behind the walls of a monastery, a place of Trappist silence, worship and study … a life of engagement with you, O God, and with your world …
We give thanks for Merton’s wit and wisdom, his foibles and his faith … and how your love, dear God, held him and compelled him … and by that same love, Holy God, we’re all held and compelled, to reach higher and deeper and wider, think beyond the boundaries, cross strange bridges … to seek your glory and to give ourselves unto great things, and small things, too - in the whiteness of washed pocket handkerchief or the kindness of a smile, O LORD our God … in the small and in the great, in the mundane and the sublime, we find you, O God, finding us!
And for the rain today, dear God,
And for the snow in the Sierras,
Our Thanksgiving. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment