this issue
previous article in this issuenext article in this issue

Document Details :

Title: Thomas Merton
Subtitle: Word from the Silence
Author(s): BRAS, Kick
Journal: Studies in Spirituality
Volume: 21    Date: 2011   
Pages: 261-271
DOI: 10.2143/SIS.21.0.2141953

Abstract :
In his essay Day of a Stranger Thomas Merton describes the inner quality of a normal day in his life in the hermitage. In this essay the meaning of silence for Mertons ability to speak as a prophet and to write as a poet is explored. In letters he wrote to Latin-American poets he explained the importance of silence to receive a liberating language. For him living in silence and solitude was necessary to find a language that was not manipulated by the interests of the North American society. He also had to dissociate himself from images that his popularity produced under his many readers. It was in nature that he could find his ‘virgin point’, his authentic communication with the Word that God speaks in silence. Also the clear language of the Psalms purified his spirit and gave him the words to practice the ABC of faith. It was in silent mystical union with the Eternal that he found the well from which his words rised up.

Download article