Per our tradition, we always take the month of December off to give people more time with friends and family for the holidays. It may seem like a small thing. But it’s one less thing. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! NOTE: We will likely meet again the second week of January, 2022.
Just a reminder that the last meeting in 2021 of the Grand Rapids chapter of the International Thomas Merton Society will be IN PERSON on Wednesday, November 10th (tomorrow!), at 7pm in our spiritual home: Orchard View Church of God 2777 Leffingwell Ave NEGrand Rapids, MI 49525 Orchard View Church of God is located at the corner … [Read more…]
The next meeting of the Grand Rapids chapter of the International Thomas Merton Society will be held Wednesday, October 13, IN PERSON here: Orchard View Church of God 2777 Leffingwell Ave NEGrand Rapids, MI 49525 Orchard View Church of God is located at the corner of Three Mile Road and Leffingwell in the northeast section of Grand … [Read more…]
Due to power outages in West Michigan, our August 11th meeting at Orchard View Church has been canceled. We will meet September 8th.
The next meeting of the Grand Rapids Chapter of the International Thomas Merton Society will be held IN PERSON for the first time in over a year. Yay! We will meet in the Community/Activity Room at Orchard View Church – which is located at the corner of Three Mile Road and Leffingwell in the northeast … [Read more…]
The next meeting of the Grand Rapids chapter of the International Thomas Merton Society will be held online (via Zoom) once again – but, hopefully, for the last time! – and we will discuss the next few chapters of Thomas Merton’s book The Ascent to Truth. Read these chapters and come prepared to discuss them … [Read more…]
The next meeting of the Grand Rapids chapter of the International Thomas Merton Society will be Wednesday, April 14th, at 7pm via Zoom. To join, contact Bill via e-mail. Request to be included in the Zoom invitation e-mail. For our next meeting, we will dive into Thomas Merton’s book The Ascent to Truth. Written in … [Read more…]
Happy New Year! Since it’s still not permissible to meet in person, we’ll continue to meet via Zoom. We realize it’s not the same thing, and everyone is probably quite sick of the word “virtual” (well, almost as sick as they are of the phrase “unprecedented times”), but it’s what we have to work with … [Read more…]
RECAP OF PREVIOUS MEETING On November 11, 2020, Merton’s book The Silent Life became the springboard for lively discussions about the history of monastic life, Merton’s own vocation, and what we can glean from Merton’s insights to apply to our own lives. Topics discussed included obedience, poverty, love (usually referred to as “charity” in Merton’s … [Read more…]
This week, we’re honored to have author/poet/resident Merton scholar Bob Hudson with us. Bob often presents short discussions titled “Merton and…” This month, Bob will discuss Merton and The Shakers. After we listen to Bob, we’ll finish the wonderful little book from Thomas Merton titled Life and Holiness, reading and disussing pages 86 (“Charity”) to 119 … [Read more…]