The Waters Of Siloe by Thomas MertonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Best read in small doses, after long weary days of labor. It's by Merton, who can't help but write sentences that SING.
At one level, this book can be read as the history of the Cistercian order.
But it can also be read as a collection of individual lives woven into one mystical holy cloth.
Beautiful passages abound, and this reader especially appreciated the passages that spoke of the simplicity of a life dedicated to common purpose, to truth and goodness and charity.
"We are what we love."
I found it calming and found myself more centered after reading pages from it, over the course of several weeks.
It goes against so much of what the world shouts: it speaks of the vow of stability, of sinking roots where you are and loving your woods.
It speaks of the necessity of labor that tires us in a pleasing way, of perfect love shown through obedience and humility, of freedom from exterior possessions and base selfish desire.
Above all, it reminds us of finding God in all things, in joy and pain. In silence and birdsong.
"The one love that always grows weary of its object and is never satiated with anything and is always looking for something different and new is the love of ourselves. It is the source of all boredom and all restlessness and all unquiet and all misery and all unhappiness; ultimately, it is hell."
Reading this nearly one year into the lockdown made me realize that solitude from the world is not necessarily a bad thing. Without invalidating the suffering of many, this book challenges its reader to do as Merton does: to find God even in the midst of great evil and strife.
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