What do you think?
Rate this book
Through the Year with Thomas Merton
A meditation a day from Thomas Merton
This convenient day book is a compendium of inspiring passages from the writings of one of this century's spiritual giants. It offers daily challenges for thoughtful meditation intended to stimulate, provoke, and lead to grace. Here are some enduring thoughts found in these
"We cannot be happy if we expect o live all the time at the highest peak of intensity. Happiness is not a matter of intensity, but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony."
"Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul."
"Nothing is more suspicious, in a man who seems holy, than an impatient desire to reform other men. Pay as little attention as you can to the faults of other people and none at all to their natural defects and eccentricities."
"The wise heart lives in Christ."
"Wisdom manifests itself, and yet is hidden. The more it hides, the more it is manifest; and the more it is manifest, the more it is hidden. For God is known where he is apprehended as unknown, and he is heard when we realize that we do not know the sound of his voice."
"God utters me like a word containing a partial thought of himself."
"Our full spiritual life is life in wisdom, life in Christ. The darkness of faith bears fruit in the light of wisdom."
"Love cannot come of emptiness. It is full of reality."
This convenient day book is a compendium of inspiring passages from the writings of one of this century's spiritual giants. It offers daily challenges for thoughtful meditation intended to stimulate, provoke, and lead to grace. Here are some enduring thoughts found in these
"We cannot be happy if we expect o live all the time at the highest peak of intensity. Happiness is not a matter of intensity, but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony."
"Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul."
"Nothing is more suspicious, in a man who seems holy, than an impatient desire to reform other men. Pay as little attention as you can to the faults of other people and none at all to their natural defects and eccentricities."
"The wise heart lives in Christ."
"Wisdom manifests itself, and yet is hidden. The more it hides, the more it is manifest; and the more it is manifest, the more it is hidden. For God is known where he is apprehended as unknown, and he is heard when we realize that we do not know the sound of his voice."
"God utters me like a word containing a partial thought of himself."
"Our full spiritual life is life in wisdom, life in Christ. The darkness of faith bears fruit in the light of wisdom."
"Love cannot come of emptiness. It is full of reality."
240 pages, Paperback
First published September 4, 1985
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 19, 2021
A "daily" inspirational reader--which I did somewhat less often. As you can see, in this case I read ahead a bit, finishing the year 2 weeks early! This was excerpts from his published writings. Several years ago I read another daily reader from Merton A Year with Thomas Merton: Daily Meditations from His Journals, which was excerpted from his dated journals. I somewhat preferred the dated journals because the passages correlated with the time of year that I was reading them.
The readings that I liked the most from this reader were the ones excerpted from The Sign of Jonas, and I will probably try to read that in the future. A passage I most remembered was this (p. 218, December 18):
"Gabriel Marcel says that the artist who labors to produce effects for which he is well-known is unfaithful to himself. ... We are all too ready to believe that the self we have created out of our more or less inauthentic efforts to be real in the eyes of others is a 'real self.' We even take it for our identity. Fidelity to such a nonidentity is, of course, infidelity to our real purpose, which is hidden in mystery. Who will you find that has enough faith and self-respect to attend to this mystery and to begin by accepting himself as unknown? God help the man who thinks he knows all about himself."
This immediately made me think of Bob Dylan, who has made a life of defying expectations and going/growing in new directions. (Also, to a lesser extent perhaps, Ludwig Wittgenstein.) Since this applies to my 2 heroes, what about me? I'm not sure I could say that I have lived this way, though I do think that I grew in new directions after my divorce. But also, how could I still see my "real" self in mystery. So I found this as a spiritual challenge.
Merton died in 1968, 53 years ago. People still find inspiration in his writings. So I was interested to read this article in the most recent (12/6/2021) Christian Century: "Maybe it’s time for me to let go of Thomas Merton: Who do I pay attention to who may be prophetically controversial today?" Well, it's true that lots of people who inspire me are dead. So who are the living prophets I "pay attention to"? Rev. William Barber is the main one, but also Rev. James Forbes, Amanda Gorman, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Wendell Berry, and Greta Thunberg. Who are the controversial living prophets you are paying attention to?
The readings that I liked the most from this reader were the ones excerpted from The Sign of Jonas, and I will probably try to read that in the future. A passage I most remembered was this (p. 218, December 18):
"Gabriel Marcel says that the artist who labors to produce effects for which he is well-known is unfaithful to himself. ... We are all too ready to believe that the self we have created out of our more or less inauthentic efforts to be real in the eyes of others is a 'real self.' We even take it for our identity. Fidelity to such a nonidentity is, of course, infidelity to our real purpose, which is hidden in mystery. Who will you find that has enough faith and self-respect to attend to this mystery and to begin by accepting himself as unknown? God help the man who thinks he knows all about himself."
This immediately made me think of Bob Dylan, who has made a life of defying expectations and going/growing in new directions. (Also, to a lesser extent perhaps, Ludwig Wittgenstein.) Since this applies to my 2 heroes, what about me? I'm not sure I could say that I have lived this way, though I do think that I grew in new directions after my divorce. But also, how could I still see my "real" self in mystery. So I found this as a spiritual challenge.
Merton died in 1968, 53 years ago. People still find inspiration in his writings. So I was interested to read this article in the most recent (12/6/2021) Christian Century: "Maybe it’s time for me to let go of Thomas Merton: Who do I pay attention to who may be prophetically controversial today?" Well, it's true that lots of people who inspire me are dead. So who are the living prophets I "pay attention to"? Rev. William Barber is the main one, but also Rev. James Forbes, Amanda Gorman, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Wendell Berry, and Greta Thunberg. Who are the controversial living prophets you are paying attention to?
December 30, 2019
Elke dag een tekst uit een van zijn werken. Elke dag iets om over na te denken. Thomas Merton, benedictijner monnik, mysticus en groot spiritueel voorbeeld. Vooral zijn natuurbeschrijvingen zijn regelmatig adembenemend.
August 22, 2021
Some nuggets here & there but rough spots, too.
July 23, 2011
Always good to have a daily devotional book, even if I don't read it daily. Thomas Merton is so thought provoking, or more like, soul nourishing.
July 28, 2015
Excellent devotional. I've reflected on many challenging quotes Merton has had to offer. All of the readings are from his works.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews