The Climate of Monastic Prayer

Cistercian Studies Series #1

by Thomas Merton, Sarah Coakley (Foreword)

This guide to monastic prayer, written in 1968 and thus turning out to be Thomas Merton’s final testament to us, is now available in a new edition commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of his death. While he wrote it for other monastics, all seekers drawn to explore the full dimensions of prayer will be enriched by his words, especially as they take on added meaning in today’s dizzying world. The climate in which monastic prayer flowers is that of the desert, where human comfort is absent, where the secure routines of the “earthly city” offer no support, and where prayer must be sustained by God in the purity of faith.

172 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Thomas Merton, religious name M. Louis, was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. In December 1941 he entered the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani and in May 1949 he was ordained to priesthood. He was a member of the convent 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 across the US. It is on National Review's list of the 100 best nonfiction books of the century.
Merton became a keen proponent of interfaith understanding, exploring Eastern religions through his study of mystic practice. His interfaith conversation, which preserved both Protestant and Catholic theological positions, helped to build mutual respect via their shared experiences at a period of heightened hostility. He is particularly known for having pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including the Dalai Lama XIV; Japanese writer D.T. Suzuki; Thai Buddhist monk Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, and Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. He traveled extensively in the course of meeting with them and attending international conferences on religion. In addition, he wrote books on Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, and how Christianity is related to them. This was highly unusual at the time in the United States, particularly within the religious orders.

Reviews

[Harry Allagree · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the last manuscript that Thomas Merton (Fr. Louis, OCSO) wrote & completed just before his 1968 Asian journey, during which he died suddenly by accidental electrocution when he tripped over a fan on December 10, 1968. The small book was published in 1969 under the title of Contemplative Prayer; this current edition is a 50th anniversary publication. Sara Coakley, who wrote the Foreward, says "...it is neither a beginner's manual on prayer, nor a handy potted history of the various traditions of Christian contemplation. Indeed, it was...pasted together from more than one earlier manuscript, and its contents were probably not originally designed for the monks in the novitiate (as is often presumed), but for a somewhat more mature monastic audience.

Merton understands contemplative/monastic prayer as applying primarily to those people called to a monastic life, but never excluding Christians in general. He also says that "Real contemplatives will always be rare and few..." He further understands contemplative prayer, generally, to be "a mystery of divine love, of personal vocation and of free gift..." The "climate" in which it is found is "...the 'desert', where the comfort of man is absent, where the secure routines of man's city offer no support, and where prayer must be sustained by God in purity of faith..." Contemplative prayer, Merton says, is essentially "...the 'prayer of the heart' [where] we seek first of all the deepest ground of our identity in God...to gain a direct existential grasp, a personal experience of the deepest truths of life and faith, finding ourselves in God's truth..." He emphasizes the important elements of simplicity, sincerity of heart, purity of heart, which he understands as "...an unconditional and totally humble surrender to God, a total acceptance of ourselves and our situation as willed by God..."

Of its relevance to today's world Coakley notes in the book "...a stern insistence...that contemplation is no escape from social or political life into individual interiority, but drives one precisely into the uncomfortable maelstrom of political decision..." Of its relevance for the Church today she says: "...the necessary alignment of liturgy and contemplation marks, for Merton, the only true place where the Church can resist both the blandishments of the world and the more subtle dangers of its own self-satisfaction..."

Citing examples of the Nazis & Communism, Merton states: "The whole gospel kerygma becomes impertinent and laughable if there is an easy answer to everything in a few external gestures and pious intentions. Christianity is a religion for [people] who are aware that there is a deep wound, a fissure of sin that strikes down to the very heart of man's being...History has yet to show the Marxists are right in this matter [note that this was written in 1968 before the fall of Communism]...the Nazis, in their turn, borrowed...a similar false diagnosis of the Christian's 'fear of the Lord'..."

[Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Merton captivates me again and my heart wishes to turn all of my life into a monastic playground. No, I don't think I am a monk like Merton, but I want to sweep all these thoughts together in a pile and make a home out of it.

[Jay]

I found books about prayer bland and boring reading before I gained a little experience in trying to pray. I think I would have found this little book unreadable a decade ago despite Merton's vigorous prose, lively style, and the sparks of grumpy humor and temper that flash here as in all his writing.