November 27, 2023

Dear Friends, Blessings of Christ’s peace to you!

   As we start the holy season of advent, I thought we could turn to Thomas Merton, the great monk, contemplative, author, and teacher, for wisdom to help us prepare anew for the coming of the nonviolent Jesus in 2024. For me, there is no greater Merton scholar than my friend Jonathan Montaldo, who will reflect with us on “Thomas Merton’s Advent Message of Peace, Prayer, & Hope” on Saturday, December 9th. Join us and be inspired!

     Jonathan Montaldo is a writer, editor, and retreat presenter. He served as director of the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, the official archive, from 1998 -2001. He was Associate Director (2006-2009) for the Merton Institute for Contemplative Living in Louisville, for which he created “Bridges to Contemplative Living with Thomas Merton,” a ten-booklet resource for small group dialogue. He served also as the director of Bethany Spring, the Merton Institute’s Retreat Center one mile from Merton’s Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey.

     He edited “A Year with Thomas Merton;” “Dialogues with Silence: Merton’s Prayers & Drawings;” “Choosing to Love the World,” and “Thomas Merton in His Own Words.” He was principal editor of “The Intimate Merton: His Life from His Journals” with Br. Patrick Hart of Gethsemani. He edited the second volume of Merton’s private journals, published in seven volumes by Harper Collins, under the title “Entering the Silence (1945-1959).”