MROP event, Perth, Scotland July 24-28

I'm travelling this weekend to be part of this extraordinary annual UK event. It's probably my favourite week of the year - quite a privilege to be part of a group of guys who are going with a very ancient flow, and going against the secular tide.

I look forward to meeting some of you there one day, or in one of the other places around the world where it is either established or planned. There are strong foundations in the USA and the Czech Republic, and interest from Denmark, South Africa and Australia, among others.

Find more details at www.mrop.org.uk and at www.illuman.org.

Thomas Merton - When in the Soul of the Serene Disciple

When in the soul of the serene disciple
With no more Fathers to imitate
Poverty is a success,
It is a small thing to say the roof is gone:
He has not even a house.
Stars, as well as friends,
Are angry with the noble ruin.
Saints depart in several directions.
Be still:
There is no longer any need of comment.
It was a lucky wind
That blew away his halo with his cares,
A lucky sea that drowned his reputation.
Here you will find
Neither a proverb nor a memorandum.
There are no ways,
No methods to admire
Where poverty is no achievement.
His God lives his emptiness like an affliction.
What choice remains?
Well, to be ordinary is not a choice:
It is the usual freedom
Of men without visions.

Thomas Merton, Collected Poems (New York: New Directions, 1977)