Day full of Scripture n Merton

Yesterday I went to a retreat day titled 'Reading John Gospel with Thomas Merton'. 

Leaving home in the morning with a sense of excitement that I knew would not disappoint, after all a day full of scripture and Merton - what more can this girl ask for - 

It was presented by a Presentation Sister Mary Coloe, who had a little insight to Merton from reading his book Seven Mountains; she had a deep knowledge of John Gospel leaning more towards this rather than Merton.  

Often reading Merton Im taken by his insight and poetic way of describing beauty, defining it. As humans, we are all naturally drawn to the beautiful, whether in art or in nature. True beauty is transcendent, extending beyond the merely aesthetic, and it is essential to the spiritual life - so Merton teaches me. On a metaphysical level beauty is being itself, a manifestation of grace and life in all its spender!!  Merton says that art and comtemplation bring us to the highest form of pleasure, the beauty of God. Therefore, I take from Merton that by understanding beauty, then, we can move towards spiritual perfection and fulfillment. 

I personal draw on the garden for beauty - this is where my inner self just comes to a great halt, opening my eyes to see the Lord in all creation including myself. Merton talks about longing to go into solitude, often he finds this in the garden, out in the Lords creation. 

So when Sister started to talk about the importance of the garden my attention was fully gripped. 

John writings start with 

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people" 
(John 1:1-4) 

This sums up the connection between John and Merton perfectly. It introduces the connection between creation story and Jesus. 

"Now in the place here he was crucified there was a garden,
and in the garden a new tomb where no one had ever been laid" 
(John 19:41) 

The passion story in John Gospel is a mission story entirely based around the garden. Which leads to asking the question where in scripture relates to the garden - Gensis of course - in the beginning, garden of Eden. The garden gave life, new beginning as we know it.

"So they took Jesus… to the place called the place of a skull … there they crucified him,
and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus in the middle"
(John 19:17-18)

In some bibles the translation word 'the middle' is sometimes change, often to the word between. Yet the word 'middle' is a more actuate translation and is important especially if we continue to relate to the original garden in the beginning as the tree of life is in the middle of the garden. 

This creates two images of gardens, in Gensis we have the garden with the tree of life in the center, Eve and Adam connecting to this tree, creating relationships between each other and the tree - the Lord. 

In the passion story we also have image of the cross been the tree of life in the center. There is Mother Mary and John at the base of the tree, creating relationships between each other and Lord. 

"She shall be called Woman" (Gen2:23)

"The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living" (Gen3:20)

"When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciples who he loved standing near,
 he said to his mother "Women, behold, your son!
Then he said to the disciple "Behold, your mother!" 
(John 19:27)

This creates a picture of the original story that something is being created. It is the peak in John gospel of telling us that in that hour the disciple took her as his own, gifting us with the sight that Jesus was simply not making sure Mary his mother had loved ones, yet rather drawing the importance of interconnection between us all and Lord Jesus Christ. 

Through the 'tree of life' where we stand at the foot we are brothers and sisters drawing into Jesus own relationship and therefore relationship with our creator, creating all of us as children of God. 

John has written to teach us that been drawn through Jesus to the house of God, we are brothers and sisters, who Jesus came to show who we true are, revealing we are children of God. 

…. hehe… okay this is a lot harder to write without using visual diagram and putting into words than I thought - I am no expert like Sister who has a gift of presenting her studies in a very accessible and delightful way. Yet hopefully you can see what she was saying and the garden notion from Merton. I have left out a lot, yet try to show you the connection between the garden and also we are all brothers and sisters - with the main message in John writing of Jesus caming to show who we true are. 

I have never really made the strong connection between the tree of life and the cross, which now that its been highlighted seems so simple, so evident that they are the same how did I not make the connection. 

Another thing I was reminded that words have so much weight, the importance of meaning, use and interconnection - mother nature, women, temple, eis ta idea - as his own, finished, spirit.. there are so many other examples in John's writing. Even in Merton writing words can be translated in ones mind, when he talks about the life of a 'monk' this can be translated to 'Christian', 'monastic life' can apply 'to the non - monastic Christian'.

Merton's writings are at times a 'mixed bag' often spontaneous and energetic but also can be wordy and at times a bit tangled. At the moment Im reading The sign of Jonas, which he even states that his writings are wordy and writes quickly without a lot of revision. He wrote the seeds of contemplation in a weekend, reviewed the Elected Silence by flipping through the pages while ill to approve print …. 

This leads me with a sense that he was a great writing, I never underestimate how his writings are always human, humble, often deeply vulnerable and filed with luminous passionate faith. 

Overall the day was fruitful, insightful and left me feeling like my two great loves, Christ and Merton, sit hand in hand, along with a sense that the passionist order has this foundation that echo this, has embraced what Merton and Christ teaches leaving a sense that spiritual life is so present in admits of ordinary life - we are the flesh and God dwells within us calling us to be who we truly are, let us go from there… 

"The Word became Flesh and tabernacled among us" (John1:14) 

The spiritual life is first of all a life. It is not merely something to be known and studies,

 it is to be lived… If we are to become spiritual, we must remain human. 

And if there were not evidence of this everywhere in theology, 

the Mystery of the Incarnation itself would be ample proof of it… 

Jesus lived the ordinary life of the people of His time, 

in order to sanctify the ordinary lives of people of all time. 

If we want to be spiritual then, let us first of all live our lives… (Merton)