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FROM THE ARCHIVES Like much of the country, Commonweal entered the 1960s with a renewed sense of purpose and a cautious optimism for the future. John F. Kennedy would soon be in the White House,...

Poetry: (December 1988)

Thomas Merton EOYQ FOR A TRAPPIST (Fr. M. Stephen, O.C.S.O.) Maybe the martytology until today Has found no fitting word to describe you Confessor of exotic roses Martyr of unbelievable...

IS THE WORLD A PROBLEM? (November 1973)

IS THE WORLD A PROBLEM? THOMAS MERTON The created world: an epiphany of divine wisdom and love June 3, 1966 j want to make clear that I speak not as the author of the Seven Storey Mountain,...

AN ANTI-POEM (February 1969)

Thomas Me rto n AN ANTIPOEM Plessy 1 ) 8 . Ferguson: Theme & voriotions (Received some months b e f o r e t h e a u t h o r ' s d e a t h . ) 1. "We consider the underlying fallacy of...

TEILHARD'S GAMBLE (October 1967)

TEILHARD'S GAMBLE • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Betting on the whole human species THOMAS MERTON It is neither difficult nor unusual to contrast the optimism of Teilhard de Chardin with the...

Is the World a Problem? (June 1966)

IS THE WORLD A PROBLEM? @ @ _9 _9 _9 0 _9 _9 @ 0 _9 _9 O 0 _9 0 _9 Ambiguities in the secular THOMAS MERTON Is the world a problem? I type the question. I am tempted to type it over again,...

The 'Honest to God' Debate (August 1964)

in love, the habit of respect for words and for rhythm and beauty in language, the habit of restrained sobriety in leading common prayer and vital, reverent proclama- tion in the reading of God's...

The Monk in the Diaspora (March 1964)

Monasticism Requires More Than a Reshaping in a Contemporary Mode The Monk in the Diaspora THOMAS MERTON THE LIFE of St. Fronto, apostle of an obscure corner of Southwestern France, relates...

Correspondence (February 1964)

CORRESPONDENCE "Ecclesiastical Baroque" Trappist, Ky. TO THE EDITORS: In presuming to comment on the interesting and provocative points raised by James O'Gara in his recent column deploring...

A Baroque Gravure (November 1963)

A Baroque Gravure (from a 17th century book of piety) She is devout and plump, but not happy: Hers is a vie infortune'e But she will be patient She will bear life at Versailles. No, she is not...

Elegy for James Thurber (July 1962)

of accepting the plenitude of the priesthood, and of being the successor of the apostles? However, it must be said in all fairness that the American church has been blessed with bishops who for the...

The Moslems' Angel of Death (June 1962)

built modern structures of the new cities, and the Arab dress protecting head and body from sun and sand-filled wind, as contrasted with Western dress, one might sometimes wonder about some of the...

Nuclear War and Christian Responsibility (February 1962)

THOMAS MERTON Nuclear War and Christian Responsibility It is no exaggeration t o say that our times are Apocalyptic, in the sense that we seem to have come to a point at which all the hidden,...

An Elegy for Ernest Hemingway (September 1961)

AN ELEGY FOR ERNEST HEMINGWAY Now for the first time on the night of your death your name is mentioned in convents, ne cadas obscurum. Now with a real bell your story becomes final. Now men in...

Ox Mountain Parable (May 1961)

The Ox Mountain Parable of Meng Tzu by THOMAS MERTON IN THE FOURTH and third centuries B.C., in an age, (like ours) of war and chaos, Meng Tzu, (Mencius) built on the spiritual foundations which...

Poetry and Contemplation: A Reappraisal (October 1958)

Poetry and Contemplation: A Reappraisal by THOMAS MERTON AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ten years ago I wrote an article called "Poetry and the Contemplative Life" which was published first in The Commonweal...

A Prelude: For the Feast of St. Agnes (December 1955)

A PRELUDE: FOR THE FEAST OF ST. AGNES O Small St. Agnes, dressed in gold With fire and rainbows round about your face: Sing with the martyrs in my Mass's Canon! Come home, come home, old...

Reality, Art, and Prayer (March 1955)

LIFE OF THE SPIRIT Reality, Art, and Prayer THOMAS MERTON O NE of the most important--and most neglected ---elements in the beginnings of the interior life is the ability to respond to reality,...

The Psalms As Poetry (October 1953)

The Psalms As Poetry "SINCE THEY ARE POEMS. THE FUNCTION OF THE PSALMS IS TO MAKE US SHARE IN THE POETIC...

Early Mass: A Poem (April 1952)

EARLY MASS (St. Joseph Infirmary—Louisville) THERE is a Bread which You and I propose. It is Your truth. And more: it is ourselves. There was a wickedness whose end is blessing. Come, people, to...

Monk and Hunters (April 1951)

Monk and Hunters By THOMAS MERTON THIS IS the way a year ends: with an examination of conscience. We are permitted to meditate at a distance from the monastery building, but within the...

Self-Denial and the Christin (March 1950)

Self-Denial and the Christian A life without asceticism is a life of illusion, unreality, and...

Is Mysticism Normal? (October 1949)

Is Mysticism Normal? The life of grace is not merely natural, it is supernatural. For a Christian the supernatural itself is the...

THE SWEET SAVOR OF LIBERTY (September 1948)

The Sweet Savor of Liberty Thomas Merton* THE MONASTERY is a school-a school in which we learn from God how to be happy. Our happiness consists in sharing the happiness of God, the perfection of...

SCHOOLBOY IN ENGLAND (August 1948)

Schoolboy in England THOMAS MERTON IT WAS on one of those mornings in Oxford Street, perhaps not the very first one, that Aunt Maud and I had a great conversation about my future. We had just...

A PSALM (Verse) (May 1948)

A Psalm When psalms surprise me with their music And antiphons turn to rum The Spirit sings: the bottom drops out of my soul And from the center of my cellar, Love, louder than thunder Opens a...

A CHRISTMAS MEDITATION (December 1947)

270 A Christmas Devotion THOMAS MERTON IT IS A terrible thing, that no one of us should realize what it means that there has been a Christmas in our world. Yet some of us will, perhaps, say:...

ACTIVE AND CONTEMPLATIVE ORDERS (December 1947)

Active and Contemplative Orders Thomas Merton THERE ARE paradoxes in the history of Christian spirituality and not the least of them is the apparent contradiction in the way the Fathers and...

THEORY OF PRAYER (Verse) (October 1947)

4o THE COMMONWEAL October 24, 1947 complained hitherto that Labor did not keep its election promises. Now they are complaining be- cause it does." "How far has nationalization been halted by the...

NATURAL HISTORY (Verse) (October 1947)

614 THE COMMONWEAL October 10, 1947 propose to guarantee the right of unlimited Jew- state; it means that...

THE TRAIPPISTS GO TO UTAH (August 1947)

The Trappists Go to Utah Thomas Merton W HEN THE CITIZENS of St. Louis see ex-service men lining up four...

CANTICLE FOR THE BLESSED VIRGIN (August 1947)

Canticle for the Blessed Virgin Die, Boreas, Come from the compass quarter where the thunder sleeps And drown your ruins in the...

POETRY AND THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE (July 1947)

280 THE COMMONWEAL July 4, 1947 temporary disruption. The first of these neces- Now, in the first place, the speech...

IN THE RUINS OF NEW YORK (Verse) (June 1947)

In the Ruins of New York (From "Figures for an Apocalypse") The moon is paler than an...

LANDSCAPE: WHEATFIELDS (Verse) (February 1947)

463 Landscape: Wheatfields Frown there like Cressy or like Agincourt, You fierce and bearded shocks and sheaves And shake your grain-spears, And know no tremor in your vigilant Your stern...

A LETTER TO AMERICA (Verse) (February 1947)

419 A Letter to A merica America, when you were born, and when the plains Spelled out their miles of praises in the sun What glory and what history The rivers seemed to prepare. We hear them,...

DUNS SCOTUS (Verse) (January 1947)

Duns Scotus Striking like lightning to the quick of the real world Scotus has mined all ranges to their deepest veins: But where, oh, on what blazing mountain of theology And in what Sinai's...

Two States of Prayer: On the Anniversary of My Baptism (April 1946)

Poems Thomas Merton Two States of Prayer In wild October, when the low hills lie With open eye, And own the land like lions, Our prayer is like the thousands in the far,...

MERTZ, (REV.) FRED

Mesmer, Sharon

Messbarger, Paul R.

Messud, Claire

Mestrovic, Matthew

Mestrovic, Matthew M

Mestrovic, Matthew M.

METCALF, JULIA T.

Metres, Philip

Metta, V. B.

Metx, Holly

Metz, Jon