Thomas Merton and the Wisdom of the Desert
Come to the next Spiritual Classics gathering on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at 7:00 pm in the Ascension Parish Center Dining Room, when we’ll discuss Thomas Merton’s spiritual classic, The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century, a collection of sayings of the earliest Christian hermits in their own words, as translated and introduced by Merton. Clare Kalemba will lead the discussion. Please note we are meeting on the second Tuesday of the month in March, because the day before Lent is in the first week of March. All Oak Park parishes are welcome.
Thomas Merton, a monk at the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky during the mid-twentieth century, wrote more than 50 books on spirituality and social justice. Merton explored Eastern religions and pioneered dialogue with the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh, among others. The Wisdom of the Desert is Merton’s collection of 150 sayings of the desert fathers of the fourth century, who strove for purity of heart and for a keen understanding of the reality of our lives anchored in God through Christ. He saw that they had much in common with Indian Yogis and Zen Buddhist monks.
On April 1, 2025, we’ll discuss Richard Foster’s book, Celebration of Discipline, when David Anderson will lead the discussion. For more information about our monthly Spiritual Classics discussions, send an email to [email protected].
Edith Stein, Martyr and Saint
How does God work within our souls? What is the meaning of the cross within our lives? Come to the next Spiritual Classics gathering on Tuesday, February 4, 2025 at 7:00 pm in the Ascension Parish Center Dining Room, when we’ll discuss Edith Stein’s book, The Hidden Life, which addresses these penetrating questions about spirituality working deep within our hearts. Maryanne Rusinak will lead the discussion. All Oak Park parishes are welcome.
The Hidden Life is a collection of short essays and meditations by Edith Stein on the hidden life and epiphanies of God's work in souls. For example, the kings at the manger represent seekers from all lands led by grace to find truth. These writings were composed during Stein’s final years, before she was killed by the Nazis in the gas chamber at Birkenau. Stein was a philosopher, Catholic feminist, convert, Carmelite nun, and one of the six patron saints of Europe.
For more information about our monthly Spiritual Classics discussions, send an email to [email protected].
The World of Silence with Max Picard
Our world is filled with noise and constant communications – beeps and pings, texts and emails, phone rings demanding your urgent attention. Have you longed for silence, for a quiet space uninterrupted by all that unwanted noise? Come to the next Spiritual Classics gathering on Tuesday, December 3, 2024 at 7:00 pm in the Ascension Parish Center Dining Room, when we’ll discuss Max Picard’s book, The World of Silence, with Rich Kordesh leading the discussion. All Oak Park parishes are welcome.
Picard’s book gives silence deep meaning and significance, and describes how silence can transform us. In many short chapters, Picard writes about such things as silence and nature, silence and time, silence and the ego, and the noise of words. Picard was a Swiss writer in the early twentieth century, born Jewish, who converted to Catholicism. Picard believes that silence is sacred and necessary, and he mourned the loss of it in the modern world.
For more information about our monthly Spiritual Classics discussions or for a pdf copy of the book, send an email to [email protected]