Who is Thomas Merton

Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. On May 26, 1949, he was ordained to the Catholic priesthood and given the name "Father Louis". He was a member of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, near Bardstown, Kentucky, living there from 1941 to his death.

Merton wrote more than 50 books in a period of 27 years, mostly on spirituality, social justice and a quiet pacifism, as well as scores of essays and reviews. Among Merton's most enduring works is his bestselling autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain (1948). His account of his spiritual journey inspired scores of World War II veterans, students, and teenagers to explore offerings of monasteries acr...
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Thomas Merton Poems

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Thomas Merton Quotes

• Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience.
• Be good, keep your feet dry, your eyes open, your heart at peace and your soul in the joy of Christ.
• Perhaps I am stronger than I think.
• Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
• We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being. As a result, men are valued not for what they are but for what they do or what they have - for their usefulness.

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Comments about Thomas Merton

• Kingemmah: ...all men need enough silence and solitude in their lives to enable the deep inner voice of their own true self to be heard at least occasionally.  thomas merton
• Mobiquotes: thomas merton, the trappist monk, wrote that nothing can be expressed about solitude "that has not already been said better by the wind in the pine trees.
• Astriche: "let us speak words of hope." —thomas merton. this march, replete madness, has given us a way to do just that. here is one story of hope: darrion trammell
• Crooks92orha: the seeker and the monk: everyday conversations with thomas merton pipkycu
• Mertoncenter: delighted to receive copies of bill meegan's new book about thomas merton's brother, john paul - remembering the forgotten merton:

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