A weekend celebrating the life of Thomas Merton

Following Richard Rohr’s visit to Norwich earlier this year, The Norwich Christian Meditation Centre is celebrating the life of the poet and mystic Thomas Merton.

Thomas Merton was one of the most influential spiritual writers of the 20th century. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of his death, we are delighted to be hosting a two-day intensive conducted by James Finley, who spent six years as a student of Thomas Merton.

Merton was a Trappist monk of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in America. He was a spiritual writer, poet, author and social activist who pioneered the re-discovery of Christian Meditation and brought it to a wide audience. He died tragically in 1968, electrocuted while travelling in Thailand.

James Finley entered the Trappist Monastery of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in 1961. He then spent six years with Thomas Merton who acted as his spiritual director, giving him a unique insight into the life of the man who has defined the practice of meditation and contemplation for many people today.

After being released from the order he has become a renowned spiritual teacher in his own right, writing books and conducting retreats all over the world.

This two-day intensive will be looking at the spiritual contribution made by Thomas Merton. The spiritual life for Merton is a journey in which we discover ourselves in discovering God, and discover God in discovering our true hidden self in God.

James Finley will use this to explore Merton's relevance for our age, particularly to those seeking to live a more contemplative way of life in the midst of today's world. We "fall into silence" in learning to live in habitual awareness of the ultimately unspeakable holiness of life itself, then bear witness to that by the way we love ourselves, others and all things. James will lead us into this understanding through a series of talks, dialogues and meditations rooted in the teachings of Thomas Merton.

As Merton puts it: “The way to find the real ‘world’ is not merely to measure and observe what is outside us, but to discover our own inner ground. For that is where the world is, first of all: in my deepest self…..It is a living and self-creating mystery of which I am myself a part, to which I am myself my own unique door”.

On this intensive we will be finding our way to that door.

“Thomas Merton: Falling into Silence”
St Luke’s Church, Norwich NR3 2HF
Friday 21st - Saturday 22nd November.
9.30am - 5pm both days.
£50 before July 1st, £60 before Sept 1st, £70 thereafter. Concessions £40