Writings: Wherein the tradition becomes revolution, with Thomas Merton

It seems appropriate to offer thoughts by Father Louis (Thomas Merton) on Good Friday, especially when it speaks of the change of heart that lead to the peace the Christ told us about:

And yet this tradition must always be a revolution because by its very nature it denies the values and standards to which human passion is so powerfully attached.

To those who love money and pleasure and reputation and power this tradition says: “Be poor, go down into the far end of society, take the last place among men, live with those who are despised, love other men and serve them instead of making them serve you.

“Do not fight them when they push you around, but pray for those that hurt you. Do not look for pleasure, but turn away from things that satisfy your senses and your mind and look for God in hunger and thirst and darkness, through deserts of the spirit in which it seems to be madness to travel. Take upon yourself the burden of Christ’s Cross, that is, Christ’s humility and poverty and obedience and renunciation, and you will find peace for your souls.”

Thomas Merton. New Seeds of Contemplation