Save the date: 23May 2010

Dedication of Meetingbrook Hermitage's new building,

The Thomas Merton Bookshed Retreat,

will take place on Sunday, 23 May 2010, from 12:30PM to 3:30PM. There will be food, music, words, a smatter of silence, and fun.

Come by.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through those who grant pardon / For love of you; through those who endure / sickness and trial. // Happy are those who endure in peace, / By you, Most High, they will be crowned.

(St. Francis of Assisi, 1181-1226)

...I am against war, against violence, against violent revolution, for peaceful settlement of differences, for nonviolent but nevertheless radical change. Change is needed, and violence will not really change anything: at most it will only transfer power from one set of bull-headed authorities to another….But the problems of man can never be solved by political means alone. Over and over again the Church has said that the forgetfulness of God and of prayer are at the root of our trouble. This has been reduced to a cliché. But it is nevertheless true. And I realize more and more that in my own vocation what matters is not comment, not statements of opinion, not judgments, but prayer. Let us pray for one another and try in everything to do what God asks of us.

(-Thomas Merton, Midsummer 1968)

Contemplation is…a terrible breaking and burning of idols, a purification in the sanctuary, so that no graven thing may occupy the place that God has commanded to be left empty: the center, the existential altar which simply “is.”

(Thomas Merton, 1915-1968)

The geese do not wish to leave their reflection behind; The water has no mind to retain their image. {or} Coming, going, the waterfowl / Leaves not a trace, / Nor does it need a guide. (Dogen Zenji, 1200-1253)

Meetingbrook Hermitage is

A quiet place for practice and study of

Contemplation, Zen & Engaged Service

with

silence, presence, service, solitude, prayer, sanctuary