On an October day in 1938, in his apartment on the upper West Side of Manhattan, Thomas Merton put down G. F. Leahy’s biography of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Merton writes that he heard voices urging him to action. For those who believe that mystics hear actual voices it is easy to conclude that it was the voice of Gerard Manley Hopkins emanating from the biography. Merton could agree with Richard De Bury in his The Love of Books (1453) who wrote; “In books I find the dead as if they were alive.” Merton’s ruminations of becoming Catholic crystallized and he immediately walked twelve blocks in the rain to Corpus Christi Church on 121st Street to announce his decision to Father Ford. He said, “Father, I want to become a Catholic.”
About a month later on November 16 he was baptized into the Catholic Church, a convert from Anglicism just like Hopkins. What is it about highly educated adults converted to Catholicism who find what other adults, baptized less than an octave from their birth, do not appreciate? The list is long: Saul of Tarsus, Augustine of Hippo, and John Henry Newman who counseled Hopkins.
When Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain was published in 1948, seventy-five years ago, it surprised many by its immediate popularity. Its attractiveness, then and now, is easy to understand; he wrote about human experiences that resonated with many readers, as true and authentic.
Consider the scene as Merton tries to dispel the voice of Hopkins. Merton is alone reading about Hopkins’s conversion. He is unsettled and fidgety. Outside it is raining and October rain in New York City can be dreary and cold. Hopkins speaks about conversion. An immediate first excuse, common to many, comes to Merton’s mind: do not act impetuously. Hopkins counters and insists on being heard. Merton’s second excuse is dismissive: not now, maybe later. Hopkins's persistent voice does not relent: Merton concedes and is convinced he must act and then the mist of indecision evaporates. Merton writes; "Suddenly I could bear it no longer....And then everything inside me began to sing—to sing with peace, to sing with strength and to sing with conviction." If anyone needs to know why Merton was and is still popular this moment explains it.
Who among us has not faced a major decision, a life changing decision and cowered in its consequences even though we knew the decision was not only the right one but the necessary one. And once we decided the rewards inundated our self: relief, confidence, certainty, hope and peace.
Reflection
“In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.” Isaiah 29:18
Response
What was it that Merton finally saw clearly about becoming a Catholic?