Mario Aguilar - Thomas Merton: Contemplation and Political Action

Mario Aguilar tackles the central theme in Mertons life and writings: that frequently elusive balance between contemplation and action. Aguilar traces Mertons struggle to keep this balance, between the social activists who looked to him for support and the more conservative voices in the Church who did not believe issues of justice and peace to be the work of a monk. Mertons greatest insight, as the reader will see in this book, is keeping contemplation and action in a tension where both are necessary and each complements the other.

Paul M. Pearson, Director and Archivist,
Thomas Merton Center, Louisville, Kentucky

Mario Aguilar is well placed to offer this appreciation and analysis of Thomas Mertons cross-cutting interests in the spiritual and the political, in the religious traditions and non-violence movements of East and West. While Mertons affinity with Asia is well known, this study also explores Mertons interest in and influence on Latin America, especially through his contact with Ernesto Cardenal. Aguilar demonstrates the ongoing significance of Mertons life and writings for all those who are contemplating their place and engaging their faith in diverse contexts and turbulent times.

Julie Clague, Lecturer in Catholic Theology,
University of Glasgow

At the time of Thomas Mertons death, a group of us noted his conversations with Daniel Berrigan, the contemplative and activist. Our aim was to embody this dialectic, and our motto was faith without politics is evasion, politics without faith is management. I welcome this new study of Mertons life and work, especially its emphasis on the importance of his contacts with Latin America. It is timely. As, in Western societies, consumerism and greed give way to austerity and reflection, it is time to revisit the biblical values of hospitality and justice.

Alistair Kee, Emeritus Professor of
Religious Studies, University of Edinburgh

Mario Aguilar makes a convincing case in arguing that the silence of the cloister can speak powerfully and prophetically to the world at large. His book is a welcome addition to the scholarly literature on the twentieth centurys most influential Christian monk.

Lawrence S. Cunningham, Professor of Theology,
University of Notre Dame, Indiana

This book not only informs readers about the extraordinary life and work of Thomas Merton, but is an outstanding account of the inseparability of contemplation and political action. Aguilars prose is flowing and a joy to read. The powerful subject matter is conveyed simply, and in a manner that will appeal far beyond the classroom. Reading this book made me feel as though I had met with Thomas Merton personally.

Esther D. Reed, Associate Professor of
Theological Ethics, University of Exeter

***

Mario I. Aguilar occupies a chair in divinity at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. Born in Santiago, Chile, he experienced at a young age, and together with his extended family, the torture and killing of political opponents by the government of General Augusto Pinochet. He found his Christian vocation within the Catholic Church of that time, and has worked with Christian communities in Kenya. He has lived in St Andrews since 1994, and over the years has led a contemplative life, while being involved with human-rights organizations and exiles. His academic research extends to Chile, Colombia, Kenya, Rwanda and Tibet. He is the author of Contemplating God, Changing the World (SPCK, 2008). He has recently completed, in three volumes, The History and Politics of Latin American Theology (SCM Press, 20078), and is currently working on the nine-volume A Social History of the Catholic Church in Chile (Edwin Mellen Press).

THOMAS MERTON

Contemplation and political action

Mario I. Aguilar

First published in Great Britain in 2011

Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge

36 Causton Street

London SW1P 4ST

www.spckpublishing.co.uk

Copyright Mario I. Aguilar 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

SPCK does not necessarily endorse the individual views contained in its publications.

The author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the external website and email addresses included in this book are correct and up to date at the time of going to press. The author and publisher are not responsible for the content, quality or continuing accessibility of the sites.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 9780281060580

E-ISBN 9780281066049

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Typeset and ebook by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong

Dedicated to my daughter, Sara Ann Catherine

(Fathers Day, 2010)

Contents

It was in March 1978 that I had the privilege and the joy of making a retreat at the Cistercian monastery in Santiago, Chile. Since then the Cistercian community has moved outside Santiago in order to search for further solitude and a more fulfilling monastic life. However, the wisdom of Fr Linus, at that time novice master, made an impact on what was to become a long journey through contemplation in life. That was followed by a few years of quiet days and spiritual direction at Ealing Abbey in London. There, Dom Bernard Orchard OSB, a learned English Benedictine, led me into the silence of God by suggesting I should read Mertons The Sign of Jonas and Monica Furlongs biography of Merton.

It was only years later that I learned that the Cistercian foundation in Chile had been started from Mertons abbey, Gethsemani, in Kentucky. It was while preparing this book that I learned that Merton almost ended up in Chile and was approached about this. Thus, this book was in the making for some time and I am thankful to the editors of SPCK for encouraging its preparation and writing. As the book was being completed I became a postulant of the oblates of the Camaldolese hermits of California, and I realized that my admiration for and closeness to the life and work of Thomas Merton have been there for almost 30 years. I hope that this work makes a contribution to those Christians and non-Christians who search for the same human solitude and ultimately for God. They will find a soulmate and pilgrim in the person and writings of Thomas Merton.

Mario I. Aguilar

Santiago, Chile

Introduction:
Merton the contemplative activist

On his personal reflections about the life of Dom Flavian Burns OCSO, Abbot Robert Barnes OCSO argued that the life of every Christian, of every human being, is a mystery. This mystery of life may be the more clearly seen when expressed in the lives of monks, but it is true of us all. The following chapters of this, yet another, book on the US Catholic monk Thomas Merton argue for the same: in our mysterious journey with God, within families and within society in general, we are contemplative activists because we draw from the face of God in order to recognize Gods face in others, and particularly in the poorest of society.