Wondering If It’s Time To Be: A Brief Reflection

In an article that was published in Blackfriars (Oxford, England), June 1962, Thomas Merton wrote about the struggle against the madness of the cold war and nuclear war. These words of Merton are, as always, timeless and prophetic, speaking to what we are living through and responding to on the national and world stage.

The awful problem of our time is not so much the dreams, the monsters, which may take shape and consume us, but the moral paralysis in our own souls which leaves us immobile, inert, passive, tongue tied, ready and even willing to succumb. The real tragedy is in the cold, silent waters of moral death which climb imperceptibly within us, blinding conscience, drowning compassion, suffocating faith, and extinguishing the Spirit. A progressive deadening of conscience, of judgment, and of compassion is the inexorable work of the cold war. — Passion For Peace: The Social Essays, p. 81

As we continue this descent into the madness that this Administration calls “Operation Epic Fury” I find myself feeling worn out and frustrated. Perhaps my exhaustion finds its deeper roots in all of the chaos that this Administration has created since January 20, 2025.

Are you feeling that same sense of exhaustion and frustration within your own spirit, dear reader? Do you feel like your voice is just one tiny little spark in the cacophony that is the 24-hour news cycle or Social Media? Does your heart sometimes grow weary? When I find myself asking these questions in the middle of a dark night within my own heart and soul, I try to seek out light and hope.

Sometimes that light and hope is found in the purr of our cat Stella as she “makes biscuits” on my chest and shoulder. At other times it is found when I sit on our back patio as the squirrels and the birds go about their day. Often it is found in the loving eyes and embrace of Denise, my beloved partner in life, love, and ministry.

When he found himself pondering issues and concerns in the world or in his life, Merton often found himself reflecting as he listened to the birds and frogs outside of his hermitage in the very early hours of the day. This journal entry from June 5, 1960 (The Feast of Pentecost) speaks to this experience.

At 2:30–no sounds except sometimes a bullfrog. Some mornings, he says Om–some days he is silent. The sounds are not every day the same. The whippoorwill who begins his mysterious whoop about 3 o’clock is not always near. Sometimes, like today, he is very far away in Linton’s woods or beyond. Sometimes he is close, on Mount Olivet. Yesterday there were two, but both in the distance. The first chirps of the waking birds–“le point vierge [the virgin point]” of the dawn, a moment of awe and inexpressible innocence, when the Father in silence opens their eyes and they speak to Him, wondering if it is time to “be”? And He tells them “Yes.” Then they one by one wake and begin to sing. First the catbirds and cardinals and some others I do not recognize. Later, song sparrows, wrens, etc. Last of all doves, crows,… — Turning Towards the World: The Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume Four 1960-1963

I wish there were easy answers… but there aren’t any easy answers. I wish there was a magic wand we could wave and make all of this chaos and disaster disappear… but I don’t have a wand. In the end, the only thing that we can do is, as Merton wrote in the concluding line of this journal entry—…to ask mercy, and to trust mercy. Perhaps that step is the first step towards finding the light of hope and then becoming that light of hope in this world of chaos.

From my lips to God’s ear, that is my prayer…