The reading group is the beginning of our transformational journey. Engage in Thought provoking discussion on the life, times and writings of Thomas Merton and the inspiration it brings to our lives in our journey meeting the Living God.

As Merton said, “JOIN IN THE GENERAL DANCE.” Our virtual discussion group is the “general dance.”

We all come from various walks of life — a community of people seeking spiritual growth. In the writings of Thomas Merton, we will experience insights, reflections, dialogue to strengthen our commitment to grow and meet the Living God. Our focus is to deepen our understanding using the thoughts of Merton as a means to influence our journey together. As Merton wrote: “No man is an island.”

Merton’s prophetic wisdom, articulated through his writings, speaks to the hearts of millions around the world, including Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama. We will spend time sharing and discerning the wisdom found in his writings.

“My dear Brothers, we are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are.” – THOMAS MERTON

We will use the “The Pocket Merton.” (Shambhala Pocket Library) This book is “A treasury of wisdom from the influential Christian contemplative, political activist, social visionary, and literary figure.”

We will discuss the readings, and for further readings, we can read the books from which the excerpts came from in ” The Pocket Merton” if we wish to gain a deeper understanding of the writings of Thomas Merton.

The Merton discussion Group is open to all denominations, all those seeking to meet the Living God.

Meetings will be monthly, or bi-weekly if the group desires, and they may be day, evenings or weekends depending on what is best for the group. The sessions will last no longer than thirty to forty minutes. Our goal is to discuss the essential excerpts as they apply to the world today.  We can have multiple reading groups in a month, that is the joy of being virtual.  The time will be (GMT-6:00) Central Time (US and Canada).

I (Richard) will provide guided questions and supplementary reading along with other resources such as the Merton Film Biography (DVD), Merton audio tapes, and material from the International Thomas Merton Society. “The Pocket Merton” is available online from various sellers including Amazon and others.

We will use ZOOM (https://zoom.us) for our reading sessions. All you need is a computer, laptop, tablet even a cell phone. You can use the browser of your choice, and there are apps available for both iOS and Android for the Zoom if you are interested.  Once a group is established I will send out a reoccuring link to the session as a calendar invite.

NO LICENSCING REQUIRED, NO PURCHASE of ZOOM is necessary.

Our target start date is the week of February 11th next month. More to come next week on the kick off of the reading groups.

More to come.

For questions and more information, please contact:

Richard Putz
409-789-4100 Cell or Text
rcputz@me.com email