Thomas Merton on Love Author:Thomas Merton Thomas Merton on Love (7 Titles, 7 CDs) In these live audio CD recordings you will hear Thomas Merton's own voice discussing his thoughts on love with visiting novices during his stay at the Abbey of Gethsemani. — LOVE CASTS OUT FEAR - Merton discusses the theology of love of St. Bernard. Perfect love does not make us tough, it aligns us with... more » the will of God. Our life's work is to get fear out of our lives.
THE HEART ALIVE WITH LOVE - Merton explains the centrality of the heart in religious belief, both in Christian and in Sufi traditions.
CREATED FOR LOVE - Bernard and Merton's mystical theology. We only seek God because we have found him, because the desire to seek him is already the love of God working in us. Lyrical mystical theology.
THE ARMS OF GOD - Bernard says we must do the will of God and God will take care of the results. A lovely nonfundamentalist understanding of the will of God.
LOVE IS ENOUGH - Rest is freedom from desire and fear. So is contemplation. Merton discusses the vocation of the contemplative and the calling to be free from the compulsions of desire and fear. Only when that freedom is reached can the Christian really love.
LOVE AND PURITY OF HEART - Merton's appreciation of St. Bernard is evident as he explains why St. Bernard is so important in our tradition. He relates the virtue of love to the inner dynamics of the Trinity, and as he does, he develops almost a theology of love. His final contrast with Jean Paul Sartre is delightful.
PURE LOVE - At the heart of the Cistercian way of life is the search to purify love. Merton explains St. Bernard's concept of pure love and why it is important. It is a surprisingly practical doctrine.« less