Intercessions from Merton?

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ez3714

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Got an old classmate; she’s atheist, but a thinker with a heart. So I got her a pocket collection of Thomas Merton’s best for Christmas. “Oh, isn’t he that saint you keep telling me about?” Not anytime soon. Besides, you gotta have at least two miracles attributed to you before you make that class. Tell ya what: Start praying, and let me know how it turns out.

But it got me thinking: Anybody ever ask for his intercession?
 
Don’t know about his current status, but I can say that Merton’s writings were instrumental in my conversion to Catholicism. I think some conservatives are under the misapprehension that he was outside of orthodox Catholic teaching, or that his writings were syncrenistic in some way. Neither is true. He did incorporate Buddhist practices into his spiritual practice, but all of this was done in a strictly Christian context. Many priests I know, including conservative ones, are quite fond of his works. He was a mystic, and as such, was often open to misunderstanding.

I think a lot of the opposition to him is political. He was against the U.S. war in Indo-China. So were many other Catholics, despite the fact that much of South Vietnam’s leadership was Catholic.
 
I’m a new-ish Catholic myself, just under a year since my little swim, and bound to ask beginner’s questions. But people were asking John Paul’s intercession before he was ever granted any “official” status (so to speak), right? Just wondering…
 
ez3714 said:
I’m a new-ish Catholic myself, just under a year since my little swim, and bound to ask beginner’s questions. But people were asking John Paul’s intercession before he was ever granted any “official” status (so to speak), right? Just wondering…
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I think they were asking for his intercession before his last breath was fully exhaled.
 
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