Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Dialogues with Silence

Cover image for Dialogues with Silence: Prayers and Drawings by Thomas Merton, 183 pages

This collection pairs prayers drawn from Merton's journal with drawings now held by Bellarmine College.  Most of the prayers have a poetic quality, and while Merton's drawings - quick black and white sketches of monks and saints and landscapes - are not by any means great art, they evoke the same quiet stillness that is sought in the prayers.  Merton again and again struggles with the Benedictine charism of stability.  Unlike his rebel cousins Dean Moriarty and Sal Paradise who perpetually "gotta go", Merton seeks his fulfillment in the inky silence of the Kentucky night, confident that the One he seeks is also seeking him.

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