In the midst of the flurry of books written about Trappist monk Thomas Merton to celebrate the centenary of his birth (2015), Thomas Merton and the Celts: A New World Opening Up offers a new lens through which to reflect on Merton’s life and spirituality. By examining unpublished letters, notebooks, and conferences for the Trappist novices—previously unavailable to the general reader—the author reveals Merton’s growing fascination with his Welsh ancestry, Celtic monasticism, and early Irish hermit poetry. 

Monica Weis, SSJ is Professor Emerita of English at Nazareth College, Rochester, NY. She is the author of Thomas Merton’s Gethsemani: Landscapes of Paradise (2005) and The Environmental Vision of Thomas Merton (2011).

"I hope people will enjoy reading my writing, and then want to explore some of the sources I cite. Second, I hope they will gain a greater appreciation for the complexity of Merton’s thinking and spirituality—a complexity that is paradoxically single-focused: discovering God and being open to God’s grace. Merton says in one of his journal entries that when he is alone in nature he feels “invaded by God.” These are powerful words that can be said only by someone who experiences the outrageous love of God in the depths of his/her being. Being vulnerable to God is simultaneously scary, inspiring, and ultimately fulfilling. I hope readers will find in Merton’s story inspiration to continue their own spiritual journey—their peregrinatio—(as the Celts phrased it) “to seek the place of one’s resurrection.”