I am a 70 year old, retired Protestant pastor, who is seeking the greatest depths in spirituality that God will take me. In my search I have discovered Bishop Barron. In listening to the messages, talks, etc. I am drawn deeper and deeper into a brotherhood of Christianity that surpasses my denomination, personal bias of youth, and Protestantism itself. The journey is inexplicably joyful. Thank you, Bishop, for the strength of your content, but beyond all content of learning I appreciate your spirit. May God bless you richly.

I left the church decades ago, and studied Buddhism for years. I believe reading Thomas Merton's works led me back, as have Bishop Barron's videos and Sunday sermons. Many thanks.

Merton brought so many souls to Christ. He may have been flawed, like the rest of us miserable humans, but I have no doubt he is numbered amongst the saints.

My uncle is actually a monk down at the Abby of Gethsenami. Pray for them. They're going through some current hardships.

Thank you for this. I read thomas merton Unfortunately i was very harmed as A child. However i read thomas merton I believe in boarding school. At the time It took me until i was 60 before i could Contemplate christ again I have had great help from the church But today i depend on the church Through the internet Masses every day. Rosery My daughtar does not want to go To mass. My granson joseph loves Church.. he is autistic. I have a very good friend who i help Who goes to church. I am in contact With her. She is recovering from long Covid. Nearly died. She is slowly Recovering. Thank god

Merton's contemplative insights still bear fruit, 53 years after his passing.

I am 77 y/o and a confirmed Catholic Christian. Dear Robert, thank you so much for this video. In my 20's I was in a Catholic contemplative group that heavily explored the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi. I read many of Thomas Merton's books at that time. I also e4xperienced what Thomas Merton experienced in France where he saw God in everything and shining through everything. This video of yours helps clarify many things for me. Thank you very much.

Thomas Merton is probably one of the most important people in my life, just from what he meant to me getting to Know God. How could I repay him, I get tears in my eyes thinking about it. I remember God’s hand guiding me by the hand through every experience, to The Cloud of Unknowing, and then to Thomas Merton’s books. I thank him and God, My Love. What a gift, to be able to get a Catholic girl to know God through your guiding writing and experience. What a time, I remember it dearly. He deserves to be a saint just from that, for the miracle of the amount of souls he guided into God. Our Father has used him as an Instrument of his Love. And still does and forever will.

Thank you Bishop, for a very level-minded and insightful sharing about Fr. Thomas Merton. - 24yr-old Catholic

Seeds of contemplation has affirmed so many spiritual realities in my soul . God bless Merton and the Holy Spirit .

Yes! Thank you Bishop Barron 🙏 for talking about the importance of contemplation in the Catholic tradition.

The seven storey mountain held a great fascination for me, engaged my thoughts and feelings as I read the story of Thomas Merton's conversion...great writing, it influenced me for many years. Immense love of God.

We all have sinned and struggled with sin. He was very human and yet very spiritual. I would think a great leader of the faith. I will read more about him. Thanks Bishop Barron.

How wonderful that Bishop Barron made this video to speak about Merton and offer good explanations, as the Bishop always does. I needed to hear this today. Many thanks.

Thomas Merton thanks for being human and letting God do God's creative work in you. I hope to get to know you better through your work.

The fact that Merton, had an infatuation with a nurse, in my view is a point to him. Let me explain. When one is so in love with God there can come a time when one sees so many aspects of God shining through another person that yes, infatuation may occur. NOT as replacement for the primary Love affair with God, but as something born OUT of it. Think of a loving mother with her newborn child (I speak from experience). The mother is COMPLETELY overwhelmed with a mad infatuation with her baby. Every tiny thing the baby does is adorable, marvelous even! She is totally focused on her baby and they form a bond which is the deepest possible in human experience. The mother is truly, madly, deeply in love with her baby. I think this springs from the same place within the mother where she meets God. God is present in this relationship. So too, it can be when someone, like Merton is struck by love for another human. That fact that he passed through this phase with the nurse, without "shutting down" his feelings but making choices tells me that he was fully human. What a rich experience and not a sin or "missing the mark" in my view.

Fr. Merton was a wonderful priest, and someone who wrote with the knowledge of direct experience of the spiritual life!!

Thank you Bishop ... lol ... 6 years later for this excellent insight into Thomas Merton .... I have read 7 Story and just now due to your advice I bought The Signs of Jonas ... pretty cheap on Kindle!!! We love you Bishop and thank God for you every day!! Jerry

Thank you, Bishop Robert Barron. THE SEVEN STOREY MOUNTAIN was very important in my spiritual development as well. I think it is important to view the later Merton in a historical background. At that time, many were interested in Eastern Religions. Also, the Catholic Church was going through a "liberal" period which may have "confused" Merton in his relationship with the young nurse. But Merton was a great spiritual writer, and I am sure he was on the right path at the end of his life. RIP Thomas Merton.

Thank you, you inspired me to read the Seven Story Mountain, a wonderful book.

Did not really know Thomas Merton until just now... Thank You Bishop Barron. WOW! Doing a Thanksgiving Pro bikers For Life post loved this quote... “To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything.” Very much St. Frances of Assisi... Being a Third Order Franciscan. "I want to use this quote but have know idea who Thomas Merton is. I've heard the name but?" This really made my Thanksgiving Day. God is good!!! Now the Detroit Lions most beat Green Bay Packers today!

If Thomas wasn't a saint, I think he most certainly must have been close. His profound love for God comes through in his many writings, which continue to impact people as much today as when he was a monk; catholics and non catholics. Its that deep, rich love for God that makes us saints.

To love all - but none too much. He appears as a highly disciplined man.

Thank you Bishop, beautiful, concise, honest and interesting video essay. I like Merton all the more now. I am so glad I watched this because I was unclear about his priesthood and monastic life. You did him great homage. I prayed for his soul and ask for his intercession in my prayer life. God bless you. Keep up the great work.

There's no one like Thomas Merton. He understood life in a way few do. So grateful for his life, his honesty, his profound realness. He was a deeply courageous man, most likely killed for daring to speak out about Vietnam.

Fr Louis was far more influential in my life that I realized...until later in life. Right now, I'm typing on an old desk of Nun "Lucy" that was given to me. Lucy and I never met, but she had heard of my interest in Merton, although I could never explain it myself. Since then, I've actually published a novelette that acknowledges the influence of TM. I still don't understand my interest/infatuation with Thomas Merton, but yet...here I am still learning. Thanks for this video.

Fr. B -- thank you for your honest commentary! Merton is an important Catholic figure who contributed greatly not just to the church but our society. Merton’s writings are relevant as ever, our country still continues to struggle with race, consumerism, social injustice and one's attempt at maintaining faith amid the topsy-turvy relativistic world.

The Seven Story Mountain is one of my favourite Catholic autobiographies. It had a huge influence on me and I really enjoyed this talk. Thank you so much 😊🙏🏻

We love you, Bishop Barron! Your charism is a great blessing for us all.

Brilliant Bishop Barron, Thomas Merton a great priest and catholic writer. Amen 🙏🙏

Thank you so much for honoring who he was…..♥️🙏♥️

Thanks. Facts must count. Thomas Merton was a good person. He did not do harm to humans.

thank you father,,,,I love his work

Thanks for your heartfelt clarity and tribute to one of my favorite spiritual writers. "le point vierge"!

Merton did so much in pointing out the common ground among the world's faith traditions. If more Catholics and Protestants read him, and actually understood him, maybe they'd stop criticizing each other so damn much

Merton understood something most of us don't.

Give it a few years. Not every Saint can be a St. John Paul II, canonized within a decade of their death. The notion of a monastic in these modern times has yet to bear fruit, but it surely will. Modern man has need of Fr. Merton's perspective; and modern Catholic men are desperate for it. No sin condemned any Saint, they sinned, but they overcame. Saints were flawed, I think we fail to keep that in perspective, but heroic faith is common to all of them. Merton's insights may yet prove heroic, even as this age progresses.

It looks like to become a spiritual master one has to go through tests and confusions of human moral life and sometimes one may fail. But the good thing is we have people like Fr. Barron to sort out our confusions.

New Seeds of Contemplatoon and No Man is an Island were the two Merton books that shifted my spirituality and anchored me in my Catholic Faith forever.

Thank you for this. I have been re-reading my way through “The Seven Storey Mountain” and “No Man is an Island” during Lent. I love Father M. Louis just shy of idolatry. I am a devout member of the Anglican Communion, about which the good father had NOTHING good to say, but I love him nonetheless!

In a documentary on Merton's life, the Dalai Lama praises Merton as one of HIS great mentors...something like his second greatest influence. When I heard that, I was stunned. Such a beautiful sentiment that the Dalai Lama would hold Merton with such high regard.

Thank you for your perspective and comments, particularly about Merton's exploration of Zen and other Asian religions. They are a very helpful guide when exploring Merton and growing in my faith and understanding.

For a Catholic bishop you are a nice bloke... good to listen... ;) Thank you.

fascinating insights into the man and monk Fr Louis....thanks bishop

I am slowly making my way through this book. The first part was easy to read, but I got bogged down in the middle of the book. It's getting a little better. I'm especially intrigued by his relationship with a Hindu monk who recommended that Merton read 2 books he liked, Confessions and Imitation of Christ.

I believe that what Merton discovered within some forms of Buddhism were some profoundly developed forms of apophatic prayer, particularly in the meditation practices of Chan, Zen and the classical satipatthana practice of Theravada Buddhism.

Thanks for doing justice to this great person who opened a different path for us to get deeply connected to our creator who is universal. Ever loving God reveal to all his creatures with no boundaries and Thomas Merton had seen it in Buddhism, the basis of which is '' maithee' or universal love. He had been unfairly dealt with for being too open about it and being truthful of his feelings. In his writings he had stressed the centrality of Holy Eucharist in Christian life, so he had never misled anybody. By this posting you have done a Christian duty Fr. Barron. May God bless you!

Thank you for shining a light on the life of Thomas Merton. I'd been reticent to read his writings because there's a local organization bearing his name that does social justice work but strays well outside of the bounds of Catholic morality, causing me to assume that Fr. Merton would have sanctioned their actions. But now I'll definitely have to read Seven Storey Mountain.

"o No, Father, " and he said, "Are you in a state of grace? Because that is what it means, to be a saint." So in that sense, Merton certainly was a saint. Will he be elevated to Sainthood? Maybe not, but he was a saint. Thank you, Bishop, for this video.

And incidentally, when in the amazing French chapter of the book he writes about 'the wood smoke of the Midi' we see that we have not just a spiritual, but a literary master on our hands...

I always thought that a saint was someone who was fully alive and fully human as was Thomas Merton

You can travel out to explore the horizons If you are sure that your home is safe. When your home is in danger you stay there to protect it.

Thank you Bishop Barron, I always appreciate your input on different subjects. This one was helpful as well :).

Contemplation is not something one does... it is a gift that one receives by being disposed to receive it. It is a "cloud of unknowing." About the best you can do is suspect that something HAS been happening, but to be actually conscious OF its happening is not possible.

Thank you, Father, for this meditation on Merton. I come back to the wise words of Lewis who said “How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been; how gloriously different are the saints," for I have fallen into this same trap of "dividing" the saints by refusing to read one or the other for my so-called "pure" reading of orthodox faith. This meditation jolts me out of that, to recognize the diverse streams into which God pours His knowledge and wisdom.

Reading it now. Loving it.

Based on something you said in a more recent video, I checked out a copy of Merton's "The Seven Storey Mountain" from the library. I am enjoying it and look forward to reading some of his other books. Thank you for the recommendation.

I discovered Thomas Merton when I was in college in the 80's. I hated his writings at first but by October I was quoting him. I cherish all he has written. He was not perfect but he was so wise.

Bishop Barron, seeing 'Zen and the Birds of Appetite' on the shelf of an American translator in the Latin Quarter brought me back to the church... So it was cool to be Christian! That was in 1977. I am 60 now.

thank you father for sharing your thoughts on Thomas Merton, and more importantly to clear up about the affair and his interest in eastern religion. His writing changed my life too!

By God's grace he indeed will be a saint

Great explanation of contemplation. Thank you.

Thanks Father, I needed that.

Excellent!

Such an influence for so many. He left us too soon. Thanks for the great commentary Father.

A Judicious appraisal, thank you.

Wonderful. I have only one T. Merton book ~ *No Man Is an Island* So I cannot speak to a lot of his work. It sounds to me like he could (and should) be a great bridge to walk over for anyone who has fell into modern trendy zen spirituality. Good to know his work can be helpful. As far his personal challenges, Priests/Monks are human. Working out our salvation is what we are all doing regardless. Religious, consecrated and ordained can take his story to heart.

I understand perfectly why the interest for Buddhist and Zen. In my journey, God asked to pay attention first to meditation teachings, it’s easier to start, since Catholicism doesn’t know how to teach contemplation. For someone who isn’t a monk or a sister, just a regular Catholic girl. It’s easier to get a master in meditation to teach you how to go deep inside, it’s like taking an elevator into the nothingness very deep inside. It’s not easy to learn how to go in and stay in and look inside, search and call for Our Father with our heart and eyes. It’s an adventure that makes it more real than anything else in our worlds.

I appreciate your knowledge about Thomas Merton.

Bishop Barron, - Merton's dialogue with Zen & other spiritual traditions in my view went even deep, at least to myself. I had the privilege of getting to know Fr Bill SJ a little. So sad that Fr Johnston who was to meet Merton in Thailand (though they had met at Kentucky) didn't manage to, due to Merton's untimely death. RIP FR Bill & Thomas Merton - Peace, Gus

Really appreciate this video.

I knew a priest who knew Merton. He described him as a man who used the church for his own purposes. He was a great writer, but desired fame. He ultimately said that while he was an interesting person at a distance he was a complex and unhappy person. He ultimately told me that he thought that Merton was an ass. I was shocked by what he told me about Merton. I sensed he was trying to get me to be interested in someone else rather Merton. He said Merton was about maintaining an image of a contemplative monk but how he spend the day was far from it. I just thought it was fascinating. This priest was a very old school traditionalist. He had many holy relics in his position. He never spoke ill of anyone except the one day he spoke to me about Merton.

Excellent video! It has made me want to read more than just "The Seven Story Mountain".

Great piece enjoyed over lunch

I'm a LOT!! Older than Barron, but I too was introduced to Merton as a 15ish kid. I knew the nurse and Zen stories. I "frequented" the nearest monastery-- St. Joseph's Abby. Had I been a priest-- or brother( a vocation that never gets attention) , I would have been a Trappist. Why? I don't know.

With my very limited English I tried to read his Seven Storey Mountain when I was in my twenties. Yes I still remembered some of his spiritual journey to Catholicism but I know it was inadequate because of my linguistic limitations. But I know that he was an intelledtual giant.

Thoughtful video.

I highly recommend "The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton", a biography by Michael Mott over Merton's own autobiography. If you want to read Merton, I suggest "Seeds of Contemplation" and "Life and Holiness" which is my go-to book for retreats. Check them out!

thank you

Love the Sign of Jonas!

I have been listening to his lecture series on Marxism. Merton is one of the best teachers I have ever heard. His perspective catches much weight in today’s landscape. One day I’ll die and meet my family who has gotten up there before myself, and I shall be happy to see them, but Merton may be the first I seek out once I get up to heaven. His observations are practical as well as spiritual, a difficult synthesis in the 20th/21st century, in which he does with ease.

Dear Bishop Barron, Thank you for your work at word on fire. Although you dont know me you have done a great deal for me. After ten years of absence from the church I am going back to mass now in part thanks you your efforts by the grace of God.Yet I would ask you this of you if i may, to decipher for me the prayer Thomas Merton wrote for his brother at the end of the seven story mountain. I long to have a deeper understanding of Catholicism. Thank you and may God continue to guide you.

I guess I would credit you for taking up "The Seven Storey Mountain". A quote early in this autobiography moved me: "It is a law of man's nature, written into his very essence, and just as much a part of him as the desire to build houses and cultivate the land and marry and have children and read books and sing songs, that he should want to stand together with other men in order to acknowledge their common dependence on God, their Father and Creator. In fact, this desire is much more fundamental than any purely physical necessity" (page 15). In many of your videos, you say, "We are wired for God." I know now where you're coming from.

Dear Father Barron, thank you so much for this video. I am a Catholic who is 72 y/o and started reading Thomas Merton's books in the 1960's. He was extremely helpful to me. I became a contemplative monk in an unofficial Catholic group but that was associated with the Carmelite Monastery at Holy Hill Wisconsin. There was a Carmelite monk who was a liaison between the monks there and us. I lived full time with this group and practiced poverty, chastity, and obedience to my superior for 2 years. It was a difficult time but it was the best time of my life and I am extremely grateful to God for leading me to this group and having this experience in my life. As I'm sure you know but in case others are interested, Thomas Merton was Novice Master for at least a year and his talks to the young men who wanted to become Trappest monks were recorded and can be bought from Credence Cassettes and are not very expensive. If anyone has read Henri Nouwen; Nouwen said that Thomas Merton was the Spiritual Master of the 20th Century. I was not a saint either and certainly I am not a saint now but I also realized that Contemplative prayer and the experience of Contemplation is open to anyone. In fact it is the reason that God created us: To know God experientially and be known by Him; to love God and to be loved by Him. That is certainly at least one of the reasons if not the reason that when Jesus was asked what was the most important Commandment He quoted Deuteronomy 6:4,5 ,which says in the Hebrew, "Hear O Israel: "Yahweh our God, Yahweh is One. Thou shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." Thank you again Father Barron.

I include fr. louis in my daily prayers and ask for his intercession.

Very graced are we to enjoy the elite.

Thomas Merton is, in my opinion, the most relatable Catholic spiritual writer. I'm not sure if I could have transitioned into other Catholic writings if I hadn't first read The Seven Storey Mountain.

Thank you for this. Very well stated. The only exception is that I don't think we can say he was probably not a saint. As you point out, he had crisis, but which saints haven't? Moreover, he came through his crisis. That in itself is saintly. But you are absolutely correct about his faithfulness to his vows and his order. In fact, he had his order's permission for his trip to Asia. It is highly unlikely he would have ever taken the journey without it.

Fr. Barron, I'd love to hear your comments on Thomas a Kempis

So glad to have seen this video. No one is perfect but as my theology professor told our class in freshman year of college, back in 1956 (!) __if we are in a state of grace, free from mortal sin, we ARE saints. So I have no doubt that Merton was and is as much a saint as others canonized by the Church. Maybe we can distinguish between those the Church has officially elevated to sainthood and those yet to be recognized in this special way but free from serious sin and yearning to be close to God?

Teach Only Love

Monseñor Barron tengo el libro "La montaña de los siete círculos" de Thomas Meryon desde que era una adolescente y la verdad es que lo comencé a leer varias veces pero "nunca" lo terminé así que ya me deja una buena tarea... Dios lo bendiga.

Thank you. I had heard about him but I didn't know if reading him would help me. I'm going lo look for his books in spanish.

I will pray for your uncle

I would suggest Merton was a saint by virtue of facing up too and struggling with his near lapse into sin. I believe he became a greater example, and more sympathetic person as a result.

I understand that the CBS Radio Mystery Theater narrator, Gordon Gould, has narrated 'The Seven Storey Mountain'. He has also voiced many of the H.P. Lovecraft short stories, as well as Heinlein's "I Will Fear No Evil'.

GREAT opening story :D :D :D.

Could you make a video about Teilhard de Chardin? Please

oH MY Father Robert,,,,yr sooo awesome!!!!

Merton was a man on the road to sainthood until Satan distracted him into a sexually obsessed relationship with a woman. And, an admirer of Merton, it was painful to watch, most especially his written justifications for remaining in this obsession. And having a depth-understanding of what Merton went through, I'm certain he is in heaven, because he did repent and remained a priest. The basic reason I could no longer indulge his spiritual writings was/is how Merton dealt with his existential war with the demonic during that year of “romance”, to witness how powerful demonic forces can be, and how his fall served to dampen my sense of being able to arrive at a contemplative life when this spiritual and literary genius who loved God so dearly could be defeated over such a long period of time. This is how I concluded that Satan is always 37 steps ahead of us in the chess game of life. In other words, Merton's fall became a discouragement. I had no problem with Merton’s indulgence in Zen. It in no way discouraged me to continue on my path to going deeper into the life of Christ. Indeed, one of my favorite spiritual books of all time, what deeply impacted my life in a totally positive way, was Dom Aelred Graham’s book, Zen Catholicism, a book I highly recommend because it reveals more than any book I’ve ever read how God loves and inspires all his children, even the ones who are not yet aware they are part of God’s family, and once aware, they can return home. A man I consider the most corrupt priest in the Catholic Church today is Fr. James Martin who has been licensed by the Vatican to go out into the world and destroy children’s lives by imposing and affirming Satan’s sexual identities, which, by the way, is the best impediment to arriving at a contemplative life. And that he uses elements of Merton’s fall to keep children on a path to embracing one of Satan’s assigned sexual identities is instructive. What other contemplative could he use? I can’t think of one, and why Merton’s fall is the only thing Martin is concerned with, what he doesn’t see as a fall at all, but just another path to becoming one with a God who imposes destructive sexual identities on babies in their mothers’ wombs. That is not our Christian God. Merton, to my mind, is in heaven because it seems he did come out the other side of Satan’s war with his soul. And this is the point: Merton stayed close to God in his battle with the demonic, whereas Martin crossed over into Satan’s camp.