Gethsemani: A Brief Reflection

Since coming back to Mobile after the retreat at Our Lady of Gethsemani I have been looking through my pictures and reflecting on our time spent there. One of the wonderful moments for me was being able to watch all of the birds at the bird feeders and in the trees. We have birds in our neighborhood but not like we saw and heard on the monastery grounds. It gave me an even greater appreciation for Thomas Merton’s reflections on the wildlife there, especially what he experienced while living in his hermitage.

This journal entry from July 2, 1964 has a deeper layer of meaning after spending time at the hermitage which he was allowed to build and move into in 1965.

Meadowlark sitting quietly on a fence post in the dawn sun has golden vest—bright in the light of the east, his black bib tidy, turning his head this way, that way. This is a Zen quietness without comment. Yesterday a very small, chic, blah and white butterfly on the whitewashed wall of the house.—(The Intimate Merton: His Life from His Journals, p. 222)

While I was writing this short reflection, a serious thunderstorm hit our neighborhood. It makes me think of the birds and all of the other animals who are our neighbors. May God protect them and keep them dry and safe. May God also protect and keep my siblings who don’t have homes to take shelter in from the storm.