Tuesday, February 21, 2017

The Way of the Hermit

A Monk
“It is true that a hermit’s life must be a life of prayer and meditation, if he is an authentic hermit. For the hermit in our context is purely and simply a man of God. Hence the hermit says nothing. He does his work, and this, patiently (or perhaps impatiently, I don’t know), but generally he has peace. It is not the world’s kind of peace. He is happy, but never has a good time. He knows where he is going but he is not sure of his way. He just knows he is going there. He does not see the way beforehand, and when he arrives, he arrives. His arrivals are usually departures from anything that resembles a “way”. That is his way. He cannot understand it. Neither can we."
The Hermitage Within, translated by Alan Neames
(quotation continued tomorrow)


3 comments:

  1. This reminds me of U.G., if you start from "Hence the hermit says nothing".

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  2. My favorite line is when he says the hermit is happy, but never has a good time. As Jesus said it, peace that surpasses understanding.

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  3. These quotes are by Thomas Merton. Why isn't he given credit?

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