152 Weekly: breakthrough moments
in understanding life and myself
With all my heart
Thomas Merton and two friends returned to his room at four in the morning after a night on the town. They awoke before noon. Around one o'clock Tom went out to get some breakfast, and returned with scrambled eggs and toast.
While they were sitting on the floor eating and listening to music, a surprising thought came to Tom: "I'm going to be a priest." He was at a loss about where the thought came from. This much he was sure of. It was too powerful to be a fleeting thought. Later that day he headed for St. Francis Xavier Church on 16th street. He writes:
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"When I got to 16th Street, the whole building seemed dark and empty . . . I was about to go away disappointed, when I noticed a door to some kind of basement under the church . . . "The door yielded and I found myself in a lower church . . . full of lights and people and the Blessed Sacrament was exposed in a monstrance.
"I fixed my eyes on the monstrance, on the white Host. And then it suddenly became clear to me that my whole life was at a crisis. . . . So now the question faced me: 'Do you really want to be a priest . . .'
"I looked straight at the Host, and I knew, now, who it was that I was looking at, and I said: 'Yes, I want to be a priest, with all my heart I want it. If it is your will, make me a priest.--make me a priest. Thomas Merton: The Seven Storey Mountain
Thomas Merton went on to become one of the most influential priests and authors of the 20th century. ____________________________________
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