On January 31, 2015 we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Thomas Merton’s birth. It is difficult to overestimate just how deeply important his influence has been on contemplative spirituality in the West and particularly to the ministry of spiritual direction which has contemplation at its very heart. The following is an excerpt from New Seeds of Contemplation, a book that was a deep revelation for me and now feels like a dear old friend.
“What is serious to men is often very trivial in the sight of God. What in God might appear to us as “play” is perhaps what He Himself takes most seriously. At any rate the Lord plays and diverts Himself in the garden of His creation, and if we could let go of our own obsession with what we think is the meaning of it all, we might be able to hear His call and follow Him in His mysterious, cosmic dance. We do not have to go very far to catch echoes of that game, and of that dancing. When we are alone on a starlit night; when by chance we see the migrating birds in autumn descending on a grove of junipers to rest and eat; when we see children in a moment when they are really children; when we know love in our own hearts.
The fact remains that we are invited to forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful solemnity to the winds and join in the general dance.” Thomas Merton
May we all dance today in celebration of this beautiful life.
