The Merton Files

In my last post I had mentioned that I was reading a book called "New seeds of Contemplation" by Thomas Merton. What a great read! In fact I have been reading it with a highlighter in hand as there is so much thought provoking material in this book. I thought that it would be fun to take some quotes and comment on them.

Here is the first one: "No man who ignores the rights and needs of others can hope to walk in the light of contemplation, because his way has turned aside from truth, from compassion and therefore from God."

We live in world that is choked off by need, drowning in suffering. Tragically we see those who follow Christ doing far too little to be the answer to someone's need. We are very good about debating what to do with need. We love to discuss what we would do about the need in front of us, but we never take the next step. I am not talking about global problems either. I am talking about the need and suffering that we see in front of us each day.

What are we doing to meet those challenges head on? How are we combating injustice and suffering right in front of us? Merton makes the point here that if we turn aside from being compassionate that we are turning aside from God. A very harsh charge to be sure, but one that I think we would do well to review.

How can you incorporate compassion back into our faith? Who can you bless that has nothing to give back? Showing compassion is showing the character of Jesus to a world that needs to see it.