Dear God,

“There is no question that here is a living and convincing truth, a deep mystical experience of the mystery of God our Creator Who watches over us at every moment with infinite love and mercy… It is highly practical, realistic, profoundly religious and set in the right perspective of direct relationship with the All-Holy God.” Merton is writing of Sufism to Abdul Aziz, a Pakistani bureaucrat who spent his free time in a rigorous, lifelong study of Sufi mysticism and spirituality. He was encouraged to write to Merton by a mutual friend. Merton speaks to him as “one spiritual man to another.” Continue reading →

Dear God,

I’ve picked up Merton again, a book of his letters, The Hidden Ground of Love, in order to make a stumbling attempt to open myself back to you. After a few days of reading, I thought I may as well try to pray again, and if I am to pray, I thought, I may as well write my prayers, since I call myself a writer. And if I’m writing, I may as well put it out in the world, because I’m sick of hiding. Thus, a blog of prayers. The point is not some form of spiritual exhibitionism; I’m neither spiritual nor an exhibitionist. Merton wrote, “the law of all spiritual life is the law of risk and struggle, and possible failure.” As you know — assuming you exist, have a mind of some sort, care and listen to individual persons within the cosmos, speak English, etc. — I have risked nothing as of late, though I’ve struggled. So let this be a risk of some sort.

If I’m honest I find Merton’s thought both utterly attractive and alienating. Continue reading →