Seven Storey Epilogue and Final Thoughts

[Susan Margaret]

Merton begins his epilogue with the celebration of Christmas. He learns that his friend Bob Lax has converted from Judaism to Catholicism, and also his other friend Bob Gerdy has been baptized into the faith. It seems that already Merton is having an effect on people to convert and/or enter into religious orders.

Merton finally found a home in the monastery and he says that his writer self has followed him there. I can’t imagine Merton not wanting to write. Thank goodness for us that his Abbot allowed and instructed him to continue writing! I truly enjoyed reading “The Seven Storey Mountain”. I knew of Thomas Merton but did not know anything about him. While reading the book, Merton worked his way into my heart, and I can see why his book was an inspiration to others to enter into religious orders.

Since Christmas is next week, I’ll end my comments with a quote from page 446:

“What will You say to me, this Christmas, O Jesus? What is it that You have prepared for me at Your Nativity?”

P.S. Don’t forget to vote for our next book read. Doreen will be putting up a new poll on or around January 1st.

[Mike]

For me, one of the best parts of this particular reading was seeing the reactions and observations of the other members of this group. The additional things, beyond the book, that were brought into the conversation enriched the time spent reading a great deal.

Some time ago Galicius raised a question about how might Merton have turned out if he had to work to support himself, which caused me to think about what path I would have followed if I did not have to work. Over the past couple of weeks, I have spent some enjoyable time thinking about just that; so thank you for the question Galicius! And the conclusion of that thinking – I would not change a thing. I will admit that I did not enjoy working seven days a week and holding two jobs every summer, but the people I met and the friends I made taught me more than any class I have ever taken.

I still enjoy the fact that the life of a Trappist used to make Merton’s skin shiver and yet he joined the life, lived it and found happiness. His four walls of freedom!

I am glad he joined and was encouraged to write, also that I found his writings.

[Irene]

I wish we could have spent more time with Merton in the monestary. But, this is a conversion story and the focus does not belong necessarily in the monastery. Nonetheless, I found his story more and more interesting the more and more committed to the faith he became and I want to see more of that on-going conversion and the way a cloister life style fostered his spiritual journey.

[Galicius]

The impression I got from reading the Epilogue the first time was that it was “all over the place” if I tried to synthesize some kind of coherent understanding of it. It seemed it required a second careful reading so I read it again at another time. I maybe expected more than he could say but as Irene says, “this is a conversion story”. There is much more to Merton of course. In looking through a couple of his later creations “No Man is an Island” (1955) and especially “New Seeds of Contemplation” (1961) I this is the next step in exploring what happened to him and what he was thinking in later years at Gethsemani Abbey.