Thomas Merton, the twentieth-century Trappist monk of Gethsemani Abbey in rural Kentucky helped the world find its center.  His writings, so popular in its day, continue to resonate with spiritual seekers to this day, and his wisdom continues to nurture Christians and non-Christians alike.  One of his greatest gifts was the way he made the contemplative life accessible to all human beings, including those outside cloister walls; another was his ability to show how this contemplative dimension of life leads to the prophetic.  This retreat will explore these two polarities of Merton’s thought and discover, through Merton’s synthesizing mind and spirit, their need for one another.

Br. Ephrem Arcement, OHC has been a Benedictine monk since 2010, beginning his monastic life at St. Joseph Abbey in Louisiana before transferring to Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, New York.  He was recently elected as Superior of the Order of the…