"Each one of us has some kind of vocation. We are all called by God to share in His life and in His Kingdom. Each one of us is called to a special place in the Kingdom. If we find that place we will be happy. If we do not find it, we can never be completely happy. For each one of us, there is only one thing necessary: to fulfill our own destiny, according to God's will, to be what God wants us to be." - Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island Drawing © Susan McNamara 2000

Online Writings of Thomas Merton

• St. John of the Cross Merton essay from Saints for Now, 1952.
• Thomas Merton's Journal #10 The Red Diary from Emory University. Includes facsimile of original hand written diary, full text and search engine.
• Concerning the Collection in the Bellarmine Library November 10, 1963. Full text.
• Cold War Letter, #50 Full text.
• Understanding Catholic Devotion to Mary from Catholic Online. Full text.
• Why Devotion to Mary?
• Thomas Merton Quoted by topic: A collection of Merton quotes on a variety of subjects.
• The Empty Boat Full text of a poem from The Way of Chuang Tzu.
• On the Contemplative and the Atheist from Contemplation in a World of Action. Essay, (full text?).
• Elegy for the Monastery Barn poem by Merton from The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton.
• For Confidence in God A prayer authored by Merton.
• Spiritwalk Teachers Thomas Merton quotes and excerpts from The New Seeds of Contemplation.
• The Bells of Gethsemani "Music by Joan Baez, Words by Thomas Merton"
• Sharing the fruits of contemplation Quotes from The New Seeds of Contemplation.
• Excerpt from Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander.
• Thomas Merton's Marian Poetry An _excellent_ online collection of Merton poetry from the The Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute, University of Dayton.
• Letter to a young activist An excerpt(?) from a Merton letter.
• Great quotes to inspire A small collection of Merton quotes.
• Thomas Merton's Prayer for Peace
• Philosopher's Corner Presents Thomas Merton An excerpt from Wisdom of the Desert.

Merton Organizations

• The Thomas Merton Center and Foundation
• International Thomas Merton Society
• Thomas Merton Society of Great Britain and Ireland
• International Thomas Merton Society, BC Chapter
• The Thomas Merton Center Pittsburgh's Peace and Justice Center.

Merton Collections at Various Libraries

• The Thomas Merton Collection at Bellarmine College, Thomas Merton Center, W. L. Lyons Brown Library.
• Thomas Merton Collection at Saint Joseph's College Wellehan Library.
• Thomas Merton Papers at Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
• The Thomas Merton Archives at St. Bonaventure University Friedsam Memorial Library.
• The Thomas Merton - Edward Rice Correspondence at Georgetown University Lauinger Library.
• Thomas Merton A Guide to Resources in Mount Angel Abbey Library Mount Angel Abbey and Seminary in St. Benedict, Oregon. Includes a brief biography.
• Catholic Peace Fellowship Merton documents contained in the Archives of the University of Notre Dame.
• Thomas Merton Collection at Pitts Theological Library, Emory University. See also: electronic access to works of religious author Thomas Merton.
• A list of Theses and Dissertations about Thomas Merton Thomas Merton Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

Merton Web Sites, Articles, Reviews, Photos, Interviews and Poetry

• The Abbey of Gethsemani The monastery where Merton lived his monastic life.
• Firewatch "dedicated to distributing information on the works of Thomas Merton and on religious contemplation in general".
• The Legacy of Thomas Merton Abbey of Gethsemani
• Touched By Fire Homily of Fr. Matthew Kelty, OCSO. for the Thomas Merton Memorial Mass at the Louisville Cathedral, Dec. 10th, 1998
• Thomas Merton: Man of Many Journeys An essay by Sr. Marie de Lourdes Mates, I.H.M. from Spirituality Today, Summer 1989.
• Thomas Merton Mask from the collected works of Joel Weishaus, University of New Mexico.
• Thomas Merton: Something of a Rebel Essay by William H. Shannon, St. Anthony Messenger, September 1997
• MAKING AND REMAKING: THE MANY MASKS OF THOMAS MERTON an essay by Dr. Michael Higgins
• The Merton Retreat 2000 Public Forum Hear on-demand, Real Audio re-broadcast of the forum held June 2, 2000 at the Abbey of Gethsemani.
• THE LIFE and WISDOM of THOMAS MERTON online photo gallery from the collection at Saint Joseph's College.
• Thomas Merton's Monastic Reading of the Bible
• Thomas Merton Monk and Poet
• Merton: Links from alapadre.net an excellent collection, links to material by and about Thomas Merton.
• Electronic Publications about Thomas Merton
• Thomas Merton, Monk, Poet, Spiritual Writer
• Thomas Merton Resources from the Mysticism Resources Page at the University of Florida.
• Merton's Journals reviews and descriptions of Merton's published journals.
• New Developments in Christian Contemplative Practice Centering Prayer includes quotes from Merton-Aziz correspondence on prayer and meditation.
• Thomas Merton and James Laughlin Selected Letters book description and review.
• Merton's Freedom: Celibate Solitude Commentary on Witness to Freedom: The Letters of Thomas Merton in Times of Crisis.
• Musings on Merton A poem offered on the 'anniversary of Thomas Merton's death'.
• Thomas Merton: Walls of Freedom An interview with Michael Higgins and Donald Grayston.
• Grave of Thomas Merton photo.
• 30 years after his death, noted monk Thomas Merton is remembered Text of a newspaper article from the Lexington Herald-Leader.
• The Dalai Lama Visits Gethsemani
• Monastic Journal page with photo of Thomas Merton and the Dalai Lama.
• Thomas Merton: Man of the century News article from Scripps Howard News Service.
• Spirituality in Catholicism Brief article concerning the conversions of Merton and Augustine.
• Abbey of Gethsemane reflections on a visit Article about a trip to Gethsemani.
• A Quiet Life The Contemporary Spiritual Significance of Thomas (Father Louis) Merton.
• Cistercian Spirituality "Contemplation is a mystery...."
• Thomas Merton in Pictures Various Merton photos from the Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute, University of Dayton.
• Thomas Merton's contemplation An article from the Proceedings of the Symposium on Science, Spirituality, and the Environment held at Brock University, St.Catharines, Ontario January 21-23, 1999.
• Thomas Merton-Mystic, Monk, and Man of God A tribute to Thomas Merton. Site contains articles A Brief Biographical Sketch of Thomas Merton and Merton and the Holisitic Approach to Prayer.
• The Several-Storied Thomas Merton An overview of Merton's life. Essay by Robert Royal.

International Merton Web Sites

• The Pilgrimage Program: Thomas Merton in France A trip to Merton's birthplace: Prades, France. Offered with academic credit by Simon Fraser University, B.C. Canada.
• A Merton Memorial features an online exhibition of Owen Merton (Thomas Merton's father) paintings. Sponsored by the Auckland Consortium for Theological Education, New Zealand.
• Thomas Merton in de Lage Landen Belgum.
• Polskie Towarzystwo Mertonowskie Poland.
• Merton Thomas (1915-1968), amerykanski prozaik, poeta i filozof. Wielka Internetowa Encyklopedia Multimedialna. Poland.
• THOMAS MERTON: La experiencia interna Notas sobre la contemplacion. Spain.
• Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton Catholic Secondary School Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Merton Internet Discussion Groups, Email Reflectors, Bulletin Boards

• MERTON - L "a forum for _substantive_ discourse on research and scholarly inquiry to create and develop knowledge about contemplative and spiritual life within and across multiple traditions, disciplines, and professions". Sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies at Marshall University.
• thomasmerton @Egroups.com. "Those interested in the spirituality of the American spiritual writer and Trappist monk, Thomas Merton. Merton texts are posted regularly for reflection and response." Participate via email or on the web.

Merton Computer Software

• The Merton Bibliography an indexed database of the complete published works of Thomas Merton. MS-DOS freeware (said to also run under Win 95/98).

Places to Purchase Merton Books and Tapes

• Thomas Merton Books Bardstown Kentucky. Vast selection of books by and about Thomas Merton, large selection of audio tapes.
• the giftshop: Books at the Monastery of Christ in the Desert.
• Merton: A Film Biography purchase video online from First Run Features. On 09/28/2000 I received the following note from Jon Hertzberg at First Run Features: "I also wanted to let you know that we can offer your readers a 10% discount if they order the video from our site. By typing the code, 'IB06MB' into the 'special instructions/comments' box on our online shopping cart, they will receive the discount. Readers should also know that the 'code discount' will not show up on the cart, but the code and discount will be noted when the order is being filled."
• Cistercian Publications Texts and studies in the monastic tradition.
• Credence Communications Audio Tapes from Thomas Merton.
• Heretic Blood: the Spiritual Geography of Thomas Merton a three part radio series. Tape available from Stoddart Publishing.
• Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller Source for closeouts, overstock, shopworn books at a substantial discount. Availability of Merton titles varies.
• Bibliofind a clearinghouse for used bookstores. Good source for hard to find first editions, rare books, or plain old paperbacks.
• abebooks.com is another clearinghouse for used bookstores. On October 4, 2000 a search on the site for "Thomas Merton" returned 4755 matching books. Wow!
• eBay online auctions.
• Amazon.com
• Barnes and Noble
• Thomas Merton and Peace Through Humanity video of Joan Chittister speech available through C-SPAN.
• Natural Bridges Robert Lentz Collection Thomas Merton (1915-1968). Purchase Lentz artwork online.