A Book of Hours by Thomas Merton

One of the books I purchased at Powell's in Portland on our trip was the new Book of Hours with writings from Thomas Merton. All of the writings are Merton's, but they have been arranged beautifully by Kathleen Deignan into daily readings. Each day of the week has prayers and readings for dawn, day, dusk, and dark. Being an undisciplined and irregular practioner of praying the hours in the past and an admirer of Merton, I was anxious to get this book. If you are a fan of Merton, you won't be disappointed. If you're new to Merton, this collection will give you a good introduction to his contemplative style of prayer and writing. Here is a portion from Sunday that grabbed my attention:

Here is an unspeakable secret: paradise is all around us and we do not understand.

It is wide open. The sword is taken away, but we do not know it: we are off "one to his farm and another to his merchandise."

Lights on. Clocks ticking. Thermostats working. Stoves cooking. Electric shavers filling radios with static.

"Wisdom," cries the dawn deacon, but we do not attend.

Paradise is all around us...and we do not understand. What did I miss today that I did not understand?