A Word from Merton

I have been reading more Thomas Merton lately.  "New Seeds of Contemplation" is the writing which I do not seem to be able to finish enough to put down.  I must be keeping it too close since I am constantly picking it up for some more reading.  The piece which has stuck in my spirit most recently is a commentary on the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus where He speaks of the disciples being in the world, but not of the world.  It is found in the 17th chapter of the gospel of John.  Most of us have read it more times than we can count.  

 Merton offers this word:  "What is this 'world' that Christ would not pray for, and of which He said that His disciples were in it, but not of it?  The world is the unquiet city of those who live for themselves and are therefore divided against one another in a struggle that cannot end,...It is the city of those who are fighting for possessions of limited things and for the monopoly of goods, and pleasures that cannot be shared by all."  There is, of course, more, but this smidgen of truth is enough to turn over in the minds that are not accustomed to entertaining such profound thinking.  We prefer truths that tantalize, not those that probe our souls.   

While reading what others write about the Scripture can become a crutch for actually reading and meditating on the Word, it is also true that there are those who are ahead of us on the journey that have seen light not normally seen by most of us as we hurry along.  Merton was less caught up in the hurrying of living as we tend to be and there is much to be learned from those who dare to walk the road at a slower pace.  It is not that they give us answers so much as they cause us to look again at the ones on which we have settled.