1 Cor.The Folly of the Cross - true wisdom and false

Thomas Merton. "A Christian looks at Zen"   

 The Abbey of Gethsemani 1968

 Thomas Merton and a trinity of his novices (1960)
L. to R. Bro. Denis, Bro. Cuthbert, Thomas Merton, other novice.

FIFTH WEEK IN ORDIANRY TIME
Monday, February 7
MARK 6:53-56. The Reception at Gennaseret
(Genesis 1:1-19; Psalm 104)
KEY VERSE: "They laid their sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak" (v 56).

Night Office Reading

A Reading from Thomas Merton is a joy to read from the Lectern, and to listen to.

1.    The flow of the English language.

2.    His grasp of Paul’ Writing.

3.    He resounds the power of Paul on the word of the Cross

4.    His having that same the word of the Cross.

5.    The reality of the word of the Cross realized the life

From A Christian Looks at Zen by Thomas Merton

In the first two chapters of the First Epistle to the Corinthians Saint Paul distinguishes between two kinds of wisdom: one which consists in the knowledge of words and statements, a rational, dialectical wisdom, and another which is at once a matter of paradox and of experience, and goes beyond the reach of reason. 

To attain to this spiritual wisdom, one must first be liberated from servile dependence on the wisdom of speech. This liberation is effected by the word of the cross which makes no sense to those who cling to their own familiar views and habits of thought and is a means by which God destroys the wisdom of the wise. The word of the cross is in fact completely baffling and disconcerting both to the Greeks with their philosophy and to the Jews with their well interpreted law. But when one has been freed from dependence on verbal formulas and conceptual structures, the cross becomes a source of power. This power emanates from the foolishness of God and it also makes use of foolish instruments (the apostles). On the other hand, he who can accept this paradoxical "foolishness" experiences in himself a secret and mysterious power, which is the power of Christ living in him as the ground of a totally new life and a new being.  

Here it is essential to remember that for a Christian the word of the cross is nothing theoretical, but a stark and existential experience of union with Christ in his death in order to share in his resurrection. To fully "hear" and "receive" the word of the cross means much more than simple assent to the dogmatic proposition that Christ died for our sins. It means to be nailed to the cross with Christ, so that the ego-self is no longer the principle of our deepest actions, which now proceed from Christ living in us. I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me. To receive the word of the cross means the acceptance of a complete self-emptying, a "kenosis," in union with the self-emptying of Christ obedient unto death. It is essential to true Christianity that this experience of the cross and of self-emptying should be central in the life of the Christian so that he or she may fully receive the Holy Spirit and know (again by experience) all the riches of God in and through Christ.   

Responsory         1 Cor 1:18; Gal 6:14

The message of the cross is folly to those 'on the way to ruin, but

+ to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

v. Far be it from me to boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. + To us who ...