{"id":1761,"date":"2011-02-15T13:46:43","date_gmt":"2011-02-15T18:46:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/deaconsbench\/?p=1761"},"modified":"2016-09-30T17:47:43","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T21:47:43","slug":"ah-gethsemani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/02\/ah-gethsemani\/","title":{"rendered":"Ah, Gethsemani"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Longtime readers will know that I have great affection for Thomas Merton and have spent some memorable, meaningful hours at the place he called home for half of his life, the Abbey of Gethsamani, in Kentucky.\u00a0 Below is a favorite shot, from several years ago: Your Humble Blogger on the front porch of Merton\u2019s hermitage.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While Merton\u2019s presence at Gethsemani changed the place radically \u2014 and his royalties have given it a steady revenue stream for decades \u2014 less well-known is the history of the abbey before Merton took up residence.<\/p>\n

Now, Pat McNamara has cracked open a window to the fascinating story of Gethsemani\u2019s early days<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

In 1948, the book world\u2019s surprise hit was The Seven Storey Mountain<\/a><\/strong>, <\/em>the autobiography of a Trappist monk named Thomas Merton. That year also marked the centennial of his monastery, Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey. Over the next few years, Merton\u2019s writings would attract unprecedented numbers of applicants to the monastery. As the year closed, Merton praised \u201cthe great sea of graces that was flowing down on Gethsemani.\u201d<\/p>\n

But during the abbey\u2019s early years, its survival seemed doubtful. Lack of funds and vocations, natural disasters and scandals threatened to end America\u2019s first Trappist experiment. (The first three abbots all resigned.) Merton himself notes, \u201cThe devil . . . has spent a hundred years trying to interfere with Gethsemani\u2014and in the early days the battle was not altogether to his disadvantage.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s a great yarn.\u00a0 Check it out<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Longtime readers will know that I have great affection for Thomas Merton and have spent some memorable, meaningful hours at the place he called home for half of his life, the Abbey of Gethsamani, in Kentucky.\u00a0 Below is a favorite shot, from several years ago: Your Humble Blogger on the front porch of Merton\u2019s hermitage. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[385,11198],"class_list":["post-1761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thomas-merton","tag-gethsemani","tag-thomas-merton"],"yoast_head":"\nAh, Gethsemani<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Longtime readers will know that I have great affection for Thomas Merton and have spent some memorable, meaningful hours at the place he called home for\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/02\/ah-gethsemani\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ah, Gethsemani\" 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