Book Review: Thomas Merton book on retreat at home, a workbook by Esther de Waal

by Peter Menkin

Today, again, I asked myself during centering prayer, to let my heart be open to God. This is the Christocentric God of the Trinity about which I speak. The book, “A Seven Day Journey with Thomas Merton” by Esther de Waal is an

Thomas Merton at ease

excellent exercise for home retreat that helps one come to opening the heart to God. The book does so in words, and it has photographs by Thomas Merton.
Irregardless, through the words or by looking at the photographs, one can find a way of looking at the world in the everyday and finding God. Set out as a seven day journey, take the book kindly and give it attention during the day, setting aside the time to go into the retreat. In the notes on Thomas Merton, the writer says, “The message of love, the primacy of love, this is the most basic definition of monastic life as Merton discovered it…” Thomas Merton was a man who lived a life of love, learning so much about it and Esther de Waal, a Benedictine, is a good person to help us along the way with this love that Thomas Merton knew.

She asks questions in the days of the retreat. In day one, she asks, “Who am I before God at this point in my life?” She goes on in an intimate way, teaching us to become intimate with God: “…I am overawed to think of the person that I am, that unique person, so lovingly created by God in all the fullness and riches of my own individuality, a person made to be His daughter, His son.” Is this too

Thomas Merton, portrait

close for some readers (what I think is these are starting points for considerations). So, as to being too close, I think not; the book is personal. If the reader has a starting point of relationship with God, and is not afraid to explore both the sensitive and open areas of relationships, he or she will find these more meaningful statements as time goes on. This is a book to be used more than once, is what becomes apparent.

Another thing this book helps with is the way of contemplation. As she quotes Thomas Merton, using his poetry throughout the book, we have a guide to help us in our spiritual exercise and quest. On “Day Three–The Solitary Within: The True Self” Merton is quoted: “What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves?” From Psalm 139 she quotes a response for this retreat exercise. “For it was you who created my being/knit me together in my mother’s womb/I thank you for the wonder of my being,/for the wonders of all your creation.”
“Day Four–Encounter With Christ” is the fourth day, and the central day of the retreat. Remember,this book is a retreat for seven days read a chapter at a time, day by day. The great gift Merton offers readers is a sharing of his experience in contemplation, his spiritual journey, and mostly his coming to know God. The book is kept under the section of books for “Spirituality/Prayer” and those interested will find that they too are with “..the Christ of God who in

In the wood

the spirit of his love lives in the people of God…” This is a book that is open to the reader, and open to people who are seekers of God who desire to pray. This is a prayerful book, need I say.
How religious is this book? I ask the question so that you as a reader will know that this is a book that is approachable. It “answers” the statement by John Cassian, in his “Conferences” which I am now reading about the relationship with God that a seeker may look for in his life. Even the advanced who are spiritually inclined will find this an approachable book by this measure of Cassian’s: “…We ought to know where we should fix our mind’s attention and to what goal we should always recall our soul’s gaze.” That can be an advanced question for many of us, and this book is helpful in meeting the statement’s intent for one’s life. This is a book that has life moving possibilities, one step at a time.

Book Reviewer: Peter Menkin

I would be missing a significant aspect of this book if I did not mention the photographs by Thomas Merton. One can say that one has seen his photographs, if one reads this book. Something worthwhile for an educated person in the 21st century. If you are a reader of the journal “Weavings” you may come to Thomas Merton’s photographs better prepared for seeing the contemplative in everyday things. The Journal is a quarterly series of articles from Upper Room publications on such topics. “A Seven Day Journey with Thomas Merton” does ra comprehensive job of helping one to see. Thomas Merton sees things in his world, and one must look at the photographs and then make the connection with the common things of ones world and life. That for me is a good entry point of understanding these photographs in a book that is a retreat.

A commentary on Thomas Merton by a woman who is well prepared and able to make such commentary, essentially this book is her interpretation of Merton’s writings set as a retreat for people at home or use in a retreat setting away from home. With a foreword by Henri Nouwen, and photographs by Thomas Merton (including a most intriguing one of him next to a cross — large, large one) on the cover, the title by Esther de Waal is published by Servant Publications of Ann Arbor, Michigan. I listened to a webcast some years ago, from Trinity Church in New York if memory is correct, when a woman editor with Publisher’s Weekly said that one of the things that competed with Church life was good reading — in other words books. This is one of those books that can compete with a retreat time away from home, and for me that was the value of it. I could have the book at home, use it for study and prayer on a seven day course and come closer to God in my relationship with Him by the book. This book is a good thing in the world.


This review appears on the pages of The Church of England Newspaper, London. Originally written in 2005, it is now posted 2011 again.

Book Review: Centered on Jesus

Seeking the beloved makes sense to John of The Cross, the mystic. He considers such desire and action Christian progress: “Christian progress means: searching for the one who is giving joy to my life, who seems to believe in me, who makes me alive. When I am with him, every moment is a discovery; and being without him is like dying.”

So the poet is quoted in the wonderful and inspiring book, “The Impact of God, Soundings from St John of The Cross” by Iain Matthew, published by Hodder and Stoughton, London, England. This work discusses the Saint, his poetry, and his doctrine. The great John of the Cross is a writer of wonderful love poetry, poetry directed at Christ, and his doctrine includes the idea that one cannot know God, for to ascend in contemplative prayer is to reach nothingness. He writes in a poem:

To come to savour all
Seek to find savour in nothing;
To come to possess all,
Seek possession in nothing,
To come to be all,
Seek in all to be nothing….
To come to what you know not
You must go by way where you know not
To come to what you are not
You must go by a way where you are not.

The author of this book explains this love poem, and many others, and the doctrine of the Spanish Saint. A Discalced Carmelite himself, the author is prior of a Carmelite Monastery in Dublin. As the jacket blurb aptly puts it, “John of the Cross testifies to a God who longs to meet us and to love us in our deepest need.” I, as reviewer, think the writer is successful in meeting this description, and the book is very worthwhile reading before reading any of St. John’s works (afterward, too, as did I).

John of the Cross writes love poems out of encounter with Christ. Here is an example regarding Easter morning. Iain Matthew says it is about a visitation St. John received:

My beloved, the mountains,
Lonely wooded valleys,
Rare islands,
Thundering rivers,
The whisper of love, carried by the breeze.

The tranquil night
At one with the rising dawn,
The silence of music,
The mighty sound of solitude
The feast where love makes all new. (Canticle A 13-14)

Jean Vanier writes a short introduction to the book (mine in paperback, and loaned to me by an Episcopal Deacon—good fortune for me to be introduced to the book). At the end of the introduction, this quote:

“For some people, John of the Cross, the John of Pain and of Ecstasy, seems too austere and complicated: for others he seems too pantheistic, not sufficiently Christ-centered. Iain Matthew reveals beautifully the true John, firmly centered in Jesus, in love with Jesus, the John who through all his life and teaching shows the path to inner liberation and union with God.” I found the book a lesson on John of the Cross, the liberator.

An unusual thing to say, yes, but there are many lessons in this book that have helped me to value and enjoy, understand the writings and poetry of John of the Cross. One important lesson and activity of John of the Cross is clear. John of the Cross points to Jesus. As Iain Matthew writes of the Saint’s dictum, “Essentially…choose the person of Christ, and get used to making him, not your feelings, your ultimate basis for action.” Lots of doctrine and good thoughts in this book.

Here is one of my favorite quotes from “The Impact of God: Soundings from St John of the Cross.” I think this is a sounding. It is also a strong statement on love. Love is explored in the book. I brought to this quotation a sense that the Ascension of Christ brings not only the perfected humanity of Jesus, but also the humanity of human kind. I found myself thinking about what was offered and brought my own questions right along as I read. The concepts of hunger, ache, dignity, being shaped for Christ resonated with me:

"So our needs--for answers or love or solutions to our problems ache is the price of our dignity. If we are meant for this much, we shall suffer that hunger.

"John designates that dignity by the term 'bride'. In the Ballads, creation was intended to furnish the Son with a 'bride', a whole people who would be his own. In Canticle, the bride is found and wedded beneath the 'apple tree' of the cross, where 'the Son of God redeemed, and so betrothed, human nature, and so each soul, with himself'. This means that humankind, and each person in it, has, necessarily, a bridal shape. We are, from our origin, shaped for Christ, a capacity, a need for Christ.

"That -- our incompleteness -- is our dignity, and when we feel it we are most truly ourselves. When we utter our appeal from there, we are being mature, being what we were meant to be. That appeal is prayer. For the human person, then, prayer is a supreme value."

The book has Chapter names like: “Prayer, a ‘Being With’,” “The Gospel Has Eyes,” “The Right Kind of Emptiness,” “There is Somewhere to go,” “It Has to be God,” and “The Experience of God…”

If you as a reader find the following words by the writer of the book ones that resonate with you, then by all means read this book. Regarding prayer, Iain Matthew says of John of the Cross: “But in each as the need, though real, is a symptom of a deeper need, of a craving that is as close and as vital as we are to ourselves. The mystic sounds human needs; and about the person John has said many magnificent things. But the most real thing he says about us is that we are created to need God—‘infinite capacity,’ for God.” The book and John of the Cross speak to people who have a need, craving, vital arousal in the heart for God.

--Peter Menkin, Pentecost 2008

Talking to the muse, Conversations with the Holy Spirit

By Peter Menkin - Jun 20, 2001

Edited October 27, 2007

"The spirit moves on the waters, breath of God

"to its dark and furthest corners by the wind

of heaven blown" You bring this melodious

soundings as all the earth around me receives

the wind that blows; divine love may we

gain the human self

You offer. Holy Trinity

the place begun is the place I found, as again

I see others and myself lose their lives to have

their life. Come Holy Spirit, as you are in languages

many, knowing our hearts and secret desires.

Love is a tender embrace, an entry so gentle

encompassing the spirit and soul, seducing and arousing

with whispers and songs; on the daylight through each

day and in the night, for O gracious Light,

Yours is the day, O God, Yours also the night...

the sunshine and season seek us with Your spirit

among us, in us, behind us, before us, below us,

above us.

The Contemplative prayer Experience

I have found the practice of contemplative prayer soothing, peaceful, and prayer that offers affection. Thomas Keating recommends two 20 minute sessions daily. I practice one in the afternoon. Is this a struggle, contemplative prayer? Is this a wrestling match? It is hospitality, acceptance, reception of Christ. It is surrender.

Two poems, one an introduction to the other.

Affection Treasured...

by Peter Menkin

This yearning need,

by grace is affection treasured,

acceptance satisfying. I am a man of faults.

You enlarge my heart by presence,

moving me to accept the other. The other.

You Almighty are other.

Each day prayers are offered,

and study goes on: reading books on spiritual matters.

It is the prayer that helps, mostly.

The books instruct, in so many ways.

The connection is living the life in the Way.

Struggle sometimes to be friend to neighbor;

love brings me strength and a wisdom,

offering a perfection. You are love, known.

I lift up my heart to You.

I open my heart to you. I wait.

Silence. You are love, unknown.

Now I must hush. I must hush.

The ongoing Conversation
By Peter Menkin

God's presence,
communicates silence, making
things seen and unseen:
prayerful notices. These conversations
continue reverently.

How soothing to listen: the Yes.

Be awake in spirit and mind
during the engagement with God.
The fiery envelopment
elicited within, enjoined
to others in a rising embrace
by unknowable vastness.

A moment to be aware
of God's presence.

Thank you for taking the time to read these new poems. The second is a revise of an older poem from 2000. The first is brand new, hot off the press.

Some words about Thich Nhat Hanh, a poem

My poem is about a spiritual teacher named Thich Nhat Hanh, the result of reading a book of his writings.

As you may know, I am an Oblate of Camaldoli, a monastic order interested in the meditative and contemplative practices of Buddhism. It is a Christian monastic community, Catholic by denomation. Like my monastic friends, I am a Benedictine. My affiliation is as an Anglican, since I am an Episcopalian and we are Anglicans. It is a charism of friendship. The monks of the Camaldoli order are contemplatives, and have been for hundreds of years. Oblates take a vow of living a monastic life in the world--as their situation allows. At least, we Camaldolese do who are members of the Order of St. Benedict. We endeavor to live our lives by The Rule of St. Benedict.

There is a monastery, informally known as New Camaldoli, in Big Sur, California USA. Its formal name is Immaculate Heart Hermitage. I visit there and go to retreats. So you can guess I share their interests, including their interest in the West-East dialogue, also called Christian-Buddhist. Granted, I am casually interested, whereas the monks are seriously interested. This poem represents some of my reading of Bhuddist thought, but mainly it represents my admiration and respect for a spiritual leader who is a Buddhist.



Reading Buddhist Thought...
by Peter Menkin

The present is a place,
so I read. Buddhist thought
tells me, between the past and the future
is the place present. Be mindful,
keep good thoughts
--not so easy a thing.
Spiritual teachers like
Thich Nhat Hanh offer
reverence.
"Learn lessons from the cloud."

"Tomorrow I'll be gone..."
he says, so I read.
Me, too.
Between he and I,
through the pages
there is his voice.

We wonder about faith.
Is there something
for the Christian in this Buddhist
thought?
In Church, the Priest
washes his hands before
celebrating. The Buddhist
says clean hands to gain
the truth.

A little style of his words,
adapted to life
as I know it. The man in the book
is generous. Peace.










The web page for New Camaldoli:
http://www.contemplation.com

Apophatic Prayer: A Transcription (2000)

by Peter Menkin

Invited by God into
a wordless kind
of prayer--Cataphatic is opening
the Bible
and believing
the images of entering
into the wonder of the scene.

The same one invites us
into the apophatic spirituality.

Desert, stripping, pain, addiction.
loneliness. (Aloneness.)

Desert spirituality will be deeper,
and this is one.
Invitation to an all
new spirituality. This is the

monk's.
Birth at forty.
Forty to eighty.
Eighty to one-hundred twenty.

Moses was offering deliverance. (Acts.)
Settles into what is
the symbolic period
of 40 years~into the future.

After 40 years he was learned to,
as a child,
look at this strange sight,
"Why the bush is not burning."

Look hard in the desert
at 80 years of age of age.
This is a life as a child.
In the Hebrew: ~ I must go across and look.

This is a leaving of where
he was on a life
with the sheep
and have a look
at something
new.

He must leave this security
of the plain to be
confronted with the mystery.

How far the Lord wanted Abraham
to go as did Peter
in his early morning
as he waited for Christ. As did

Martha when she organized Christ,
or the Spirit.
Martha learns
something when Lazaraz
dies.

God knows when we are
in the desert when he calls
in the desertwhen he calls,
"Where is Moses."

It is in the Holy Fire
of God
when we take off our shoes,
as did Moses.
We do it
alone,
in solitude.

The very thing is the presence
of God
waiting for us.

I have heard the suffering
of my people. (Father Michael.)

God liberates Moses,
who in his
brokenness discovers his identity,
and in his~finds his mission.

Contemplation (from male spirituality):trust
in the insecurity of the painful
victoryby putting on the mind
of Christ. "Mercy."
reads an Oblate, "instead of sacrifice.
"went to the desert."
Moses meets God
in the inner Desert
and leads those in slavery
outside.

There are two deserts:
The invitation, the inside us
that is the other/Merton calls this
the great self within that is
the God within us. (The ineffable
now of truth.) Entailing
the creator,

we are in failure invited
into another truth,
the abandonment into the word.
For the Oblate (for me),
getting up early,

God very seldom comes as a
gentle invitation.
It comes as an assault on our invitation.

The Gospel only
makes sense
to the poor,
(the weakness of the poverty
of our humanity.)

We are
all struggling with the ideal
of our body, of a woman
and of a man.

The Little Book notates
poverty of spirit-- a Little Book:
New look at spirituality,
new look at being human,
new look at who God is.

The Little Book notates entering into
the dying and stripping
--stripped with everything and just being
left with the now.
A cup of wine becomes sacred.
A desert allows us

to find a meaning (a place)
in the sacred.
Cup of wine

a desert allows
burning bush
yes.
This flow is within us
and other people. There
is surrender here.
There is surrender there.

Without doing.
and not going against
the nature of things
we have to go
where we are fed by Christ.
God takes Moses
into the heart of God.

(Words & thoughts by Father Michael, OSB Cam;
poem & transcription by Peter Menkin Obl Cam OSB.)

Musical sound reminding the listener of contemplation, an experience...

This is a more unusual poem, hopefully worthwhile. I wrote it more than five years ago, in 2000. It speaks of the melding of music in the cathedral and the experience of contemplative prayer. There is an opening up, an ascending in hearing the music, just as there is in contemplative prayer.

My way into contemplative prayer is by centering prayer. I do so in quiet, no music. So why this poem about music and prayer? As I say, the experience is similar in regards to a feeling of God's presence.

I bought the CD of the music played by the group. It is "Officium" with Jan Garbarek, The Hilliard Ensemble. Check out Amazon.com to buy or look at the album. Amazon says of the CD:

"What is this music?" Fundamentally, it's an exploration of what happens when an improvisatory instrumental voice (saxophone) is placed into the world of early vocal music, which has elements of both improvisation and formal structure. In reality, it's an adventure in which the four male voices of the Hilliard Ensemble travel the 14th- and 15th-century territory of Morales and Dufay, visit the 12th century of Perotin, and roam even earlier ages of plainchant, accompanied by the always sensitive and tasteful, often astonishing, saxophone improvisations of jazz master Jan Garbarek. Sometimes, these new melodies simply accompany; sometimes they transform the common--a routine minor chord, for instance--into a sublime, indescribable moment. The answer to the above question is easy, but it's different for each listener. --David Vernier

Waiting engagement in contemplation: to Be/Ascend...(2000)

by Peter Menkin

The existential aloneness, yearning

enters as a musical cry, like a procession

the music flows through the building.

I join this human allowance in the finitude.

In retrospect, memory brings days enjoyed,l

ike the heart seeking. Beautiful sound.

The hearing of the listening ear

enjoins the great spirits [heavenly praise] who gather

in bringing more clearly a presence:

everlasting peace in a depth of I am, stays.

What elicited this to mind was sound.

This more than exercise as a movement

in music is recollected from the Cathedral,

where the players invoked a sense of Christ,

done by the Hilliard Ensemble--

music that speaks spare words:

A saxaphonist met a vocal quartet.

Listen to this unusual sound.

What they play brings consideration... in the morning,

in the loneliness, at night.

How the music waits upon us for engagement

self emptying love given to respond. Allow

your love to come enjoining us to know:

"A blown husk that is finished

but the light sings eternal

a pale flare over marshes

where the salt hay whispers to tide's change."

I am.