Month: May 2022
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Chapter 1: Reflection 3 – The Great Compassion, Mahakaruna
By the time he boarded the Pan American flight that began his journey to Asia, TM had already been engaged in dialogue with the continent’s spiritual traditions for many years. And on that Tuesday, October 15th, the 53-year-old Trappist monk was filled with an almost dreamlike excitement: The moment of take-off was ecstatic. The dewy…
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Chapter 1: Reflection 2 – One of My Best Friends
It appears that Thomas Merton (TM) began reading – or possibly, re-reading – Julian’s writings in 1961. 1 In a journal entry of Easter Sunday (April 2nd) of that year, TM notes briefly that he had been “reading bits of Dame Julian of Norwich” the day before, Holy Saturday. 2 By the end of that…
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Chapter 1: Reflection 1 – A Treasure of Wisdom and Blessings
On page 425 of the fifth volume of his magisterial work, The Presence of God: A History of Western Christian Mysticism, after 2000 pages of richly researched, insightfully interpreted, and warmly delivered teachings on the Saints and the Greats of the preceding tradition, Bernard McGinn begins his essay on Julian of Norwich with these words:…
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May 8, 2022 – Beginnings
At the end of A Revelation of Love, the anchorite Julian of Norwich (c.1343-c.1416) writes, “This book is begun by God’s gift and his grace, but it is not yet performed, as I see it.” 1 This seemingly simply statement is an authentic act of genuine humility. It is not a rhetorical flourish made to feign modesty, as…
Julian of Norwich and Other Tibetan Lamas 