Publisher's Synopsis
Tracing an informal chronology of Thomas MertonÆs teaching on prayer, from her earliest acquaintance with him (1960) through the next eight years, Mary Luke Tobin develops some of his themes: freedom, paradox, the true and false selves, alienation. She begins by summarizing MertonÆs advice to the Loretto novices and ends with a defence of the non-proselytizing focus of his final talk in Bangkok. While stressing that there was not a ôMerton Method of Prayerö, Luke shows how he pointed to prayer as ôthe discovery of God withinö, emphasizing as well how Buddhism, Sufism, and Asian monasticism had influenced him. A few special touches make her presentation particularly lively and personal: the recounting of her bringing to Merton a gift from Latin America, a small bottle of Juan de la Cruz liqueur; and he teaching her audience a Sufi song, complete with gestures.. The text of LukeÆs talk appears in the book, Hidden in the Same Mystery. But her vibrant presence in this recording will bring both Merton and herself into dynamic life for the listener. Hers is a voice echoing MertonÆs voice about GodÆs presence in all of being, an awareness at the very heart of prayer.
