Survival or Prophecy?: The Letters of Thomas Merton and Jean LeClercq

by Father Thomas Merton, Father Jean Leclercq, Rembert G. Weakland (Introduction)

Introduction by Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland.

Two monks in conversation about the meaning of life and the nature of solitude.

Thomas Merton, the American Trappist monk who wrote The Seven Storey Mountain , spent his entire literary career (1948- 68) in a cloistered monastery in Kentucky. His great counterpart, the French Benedictine monk Jean Leclercq, spent those years traveling relentlessly to and from monasteries worldwide, trying to bring about a long-needed reform and renewal of Catholic religious life.

Their correspondence over twenty years is a fascinating record of the common yearnings of two ambitious, holy men. "What is a monk?" is the question at the center of their correspondence, and in these 120 letters they answer it with great aplomb, touching on the role of ancient texts and modern conveniences; the advantages of hermit life and community life; the fierce Catholicism of the monastic past and the new openness to the approaches of other traditions; the monastery's impulse toward survival and the monk's calling to prophecy. Full of learning, human insight, and self-deprecating wit, these letters capture the excitement of the Catholic Church during the run-up to the Second Vatican Council, full of wisdom, full of promise.

Genres: Spirituality

Hardcover

First published August 1, 2002

Reviews

[Maximilian Nightingale]

I have actually read more Jean LeClercq than I have of Thomas Merton, but this collection of letters is a beautiful record of their common interest in earlier forms of consecrated life, especially in the eremitic life and in the writings of St. Bernard. It is a quick read.

[Dan Glover · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am always fascinated by letters between two thoughtful people. This was even more than typically interesting because the interaction is about a kind of life, a vocation, with which I am only slightly familiar: monasticism. LeClercq was a French Benedictine monk from Luxembourg and Merton a Trappist (Order of the Cistercians of the strict observance) from Kentucky.

There is much in these letters to do with the nature of monasticism, particularly the life of contemplation, and Merton's discernment of a vocation of solitude. There is discussion of the place of monasticism and its role in the modern world, discussion of the nature of the various monastic orders as they manifest in different global settings, lament over the dominant role of the US in various far flung parts of the world (Vietnam), and how the US culture gets imported and then the entire west and Christianity gets equated with US glitz and force. Some of the most interesting aspects of these interactions were Merton's wrestling with trying to obey an Abbot who, he felt, did not understand him or view his perceived vocation to solitude seriously, and at the same time, agree with his desire to travel to experience the monastic life in other locations. LeClercq's responses were often suffused with an implicit and gentle reminder to obey, be content, and trust God that submission is for Merton's good, though it is seldom spelled out and it is always balanced with an encouragement and belief in the validity of Merton's discerned vocation as a hermit (which his Abbot was reluctant to admit, much less bless) and a commitment to pray for and support in various ways.

I also found the desire for both LeClercq and Merton to understand eastern, as well as non-Christian and non-western monasticism very fascinating. Each desired to understand the life, practices, and 'atmosphere' of Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Zen, etc., monasticism although both felt that there was nothing to learn from their doctrine. It was practice, motivation, call, search, end, etc., that they found compelled to learn and try to understand and find similarities with Christian monastic life.

I knew LeClercq was a serious scholar but I was surprised at how serious a scholar Merton was. I always thought of his as something of a celebrity (he certainly was) but didn't know that many of his contemporaries (not so much among the most conservative) viewed him as a man of deep learning and thinking. This was an age of very much turmoil for the Catholic Church and some of that is reflected here. There is some discussion of Vatican II, but much more about "monasticism today". Both men were advocates of a "return to the sources" (Patristics) approach to sustaining and growing monasticism in the modern era. They each wrote much to (re)introduce the monastic founder's works and spirit to their own orders and both were amazed at how the 12th century monastic founders were completely influenced by Origen. The people that these two men (together and alone) rubbed intellectual shoulders with (in person and/or in correspondence, or at least appreciated and interacted with their writing) is quite a list: Louis Boyer, Jean Danielou, Henri de Lubac, Yves Congar, Karl Rahner, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Bede Griffiths (with whom C.S. Lewis had a fascinating and extensive correspondence), Vladimir Lossky, Jacques Maritain, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Rosemary Reuther, etc.

There are many lovely reflections (especially by LeClercq, who travelled constantly) about African, Asian, South American, cultures and the local vernacular Christian monastic communities he experienced there.

Some money quotes:

"Here I hope to form a group of competent students not merely of history or of the texts but rather - in line with the tradition which you so admirably represent - men competent in all-round spiritual theology, as well as scholarship, using their time and talents to develop the seed of the Word of God in their souls, not to choke it under an overgrowth of useless research as is the tradition in the universities of this country at the moment.... Our studies and writing should by their very nature contribute to our contemplation, at least remotely, and contemplation in turn should be able to find expression in channels laid open for it and deepened by familiarity with the Fathers of the Church." (Merton to LeClercq)

"My only merit - if any - is to accept not to be a pure scholar; otherwise I never invent ideas: I just bring to light ideas and experiences which are to be found in old monastic books that nobody, even in monasteries, ever reads today." (LeClercq to Merton)

"...he was seeking less to nourish his interior life then to exercise it. As if new meanings in his own life and Scripture spontaneously grew up to confirm each other as soon as Bernard immersed himself in the Sacred Text. Still, there is the evident desire of the saint to penetrate the Text with a certain mystical understanding and this means to arrive at a living contact with the Word hidden in the word. This would be tantamount to saying that for Bernard, both exegesis and theology found their fullest expression in a concrete mystical experience of God in His revelation.... As you so have so rightly said, 'His reading of Scripture prepares and occasions his experience of the divine." But I wonder if he dd not think of Scripture as a kind of cause of that experience, and in some sense, keeping due proportion, as a Sacrament is a cause of grace?".... Although I readily admit there can be no question of his attempting as a modern author might to 'make the text clear' or to 'explain its meaning.'.... But do you not think that in giving the fruit of his own contacts with the Word through Scripture he was in a sense introducing his monks to a certain mystical "attitude" toward the Scriptures - not a method, but an "atmosphere" in which Scripture could become the meeting place of the Soul and the Word through the action of the Holy Spirit?" (Merton to LeClercq)

"To my mind the most regrettable thing about both of them was their exaggeration of externals, their ponderous emphasis on 'exercises' and things to be done." (Merton to LeClercq regarding some leaders of monasteries).

"Here I think that youths who are psychologically insecure and lost are placed in an ascetic machine that was designed for men of strong character and powerful egos. The result is not too wonderful. We suppress them when we ought to try to educate and develop them. Have you any ideas? Certainly the expedient of TV and recreation (of an artificial kind) will be worse then the sickness it is supposed to cure." (Merton to LeClercq, regarding training new novices)

"Hans Urs von Balthasar has sent me his Lordship and it is magnificent.... It is great theology and everywhere perfect for monks - completely sapiential." (Merton to LeClercq)

"I think Balthasar approaches most closely a really monastic theology." (LeClercq to Merton)

"...I am becoming more and more convinced that true simplicity, in the depths of the heart, is almost impossible for an American or a European. Certainly they may be subjectively sincere and mean well, but the fact that they come from a society that divides a man from the very start and fills him with conflicts and doubts must mean something." (Merton to LeClercq)

"I did in fact go through the manuscript and I found it full of scholarship and charm (they do not often go together)." (LeClercq to Merton regarding the writings of an former Anglican, now English Dominican)

"As to the corruption that American civilization is bringing with it - that is a source of more and more sorrow to me. One feels this corruption even here, in spite of all the good there still is in the country and in this monastery. Yet there is a stink of decay, not the decay of oldness, the enfeeblement of something past its prime: but rather a splendid cancerous fulness that shines with a kind of health, a richness, and a flowering of something overgrown, overdeveloped, and lacking in basic intelligence, above all in living wisdom. Here in the monastery we have a sense of struggling with futility even in the midst of great opportunity." (Merton to LeClercq)

"As for America in Asia, we must not forget that for them U.S. equals West equals Christianity." (LeClercq to Merton)

"Looking at the general situation of monasticism and inter-religion relations today, I think you've been cut off long enough and the Church needs you to go out and share with others, not only in writing. Your very personality...is a witness of the liberty in Christ, and that has to be shown." (LeClercq to Merton)

"The vocation of a monk in the modern world, especially Marxist, is not survival but prophecy. We are all too busy saving our skins." (Merton to LeClercq)

[Orville Jenkins]

This series of letters covering the 18 years from 1950 to 1968, these letters portray the collaboration and thought, as well as struggles with their Catholic orders, of these two internationally loved and read writers. Merton, an American Trappist monk with a deep desire for the solitude of hermitage and solitary devotion, wrote on topics of theology and personal prayer and devotion.

A mystic like his friend, he exchanged ideas, personal struggles and topics he was writing or planning with his dear friend Jean LeClercq, a Benedictine of the Clervaux monastery in Luxembourg. They both struggled with the entrenched hierarchy of their orders and longed and worked for revival in their respective orders and the church and Christian faith at large.

Both traveled and spoke, teaching courses or conducting seminars for monasteries of several orders as well as international conventions on various topics. Merton chafed under the excessive restrictions of his Trappist authorities, who kept him from traveling and spreading his ideas as much as LeClercq. The authorities of LeClercq’s order were more cooperative with permissions to travel, write or speak than the Trappists were with Merton.

The persistence of Merton and LeClercq in following their calling and fulfilling their personal commitment to Christ and their devotion to God and their calling is admirable and easily discerned in their voluble correspondence here. It is no wonder Merton’s writings were so well-received by Protestant and Catholic alike over the period of his productive life.

I was less familiar with LeClercq’s life and works and this was a satisfying and challenging life to read in this format. In their struggles against the entrenched bureaucracy of their orders they spoke of the aspect of prophecy in the calling of a monk.

They spoke at times of the church censors that would read and edit their books, pamphlets, journal articles, etc, before they were published. Sometimes their works were eviscerated by the censors, especially the Trappists. They had to get permission for each speaking engagement and publication.

For some of us this impediment to fulfilling our calling to teach and write would be forbiddingly torturous. Speaking to the church as a prophet was an important component of their sense of calling; to cast vision and remind the church of its role and calling from God.

Thus the title, Survival (in the morass and frustration fo the monastic and church permission hierarchy for what they can do) or Prophecy (their sense of call to continue the work they feel called to do in and for the church for the sake of God’s work).

[Corbin · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are particularly interested in either or both of these figures, or doing research on monasticism, then you may find value in this collection. It wasn't uninteresting, but it did feel like a waste of time, as I do not fall in the categories listed above. There is very little development of ideas and only rarely a captivating turn of phrase. For the most part, these are practical considerations about publishing, Order politics, and interfaith dialogue--more about the who, when, and by what authority rather than the more intriguing details of what can be learned from such ventures. Also, considering that a central, oft-repeated issue in these letters is whether Merton's solitude ought to be permitted and whether it is healthy for modern monasticism, very little in the way of justification or criticism is put forward. There is obviously tension within Merton's circle and within himself about obligations to others and pursuit of a deeper individual spirituality, but the content of these tensions is often left implied or ellipsed in dialogues that happen between the letters. I want to emphasize: this collection of letters is not worthless, it's just that its value did not apply to me, and can be passed over by many.

[Mark Fulk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book about the relationship between two scholars who are contemplatives (or contemplatives who are also scholars). Merton is certainly one of my favorite writers and this work sees him exploring whether or not there is a path for eremitical life within the contemplative order under the Rule of St. Benedict. Profound and moving, and cut short by Merton's untimely death, this book with inspire religious and non-religious alike.