o sunday night always comes too quickly ... might as well just jump to monday morning ...

Our Carmelite tradition acknowledges the hunger for God deep in the human heart. This yearning or longing propels us through our lives as we seek a fulfillment of our heart's desire. This deep current of desire within our lives is the result of God having first desired us. God, the first contemplative, gazed on us and made us lovable, and alluring to God. The Carmelite tradition does not speak of an annihilation of desire, but a transformation of desire so that more and more we desire what God desires in a consonance of desire. As Teresa of Avila said simply, 'now I want what You want'. ... john welch, o. carm. in Seasons of the Heart

What Scorsese brought was crucial: much-needed cohesion, an arching narrative structure, and an ability to contextualize Dylan's achievements against epiphanous moments from the times he inhabited, from 1950s Cold War paranoia and the 1960s Civil Rights movement to a cultural revolution in which Dylan found himself at the center.

back from the retreat ... tired a bit ... but not too much ... greeted by a well-fed cat and a stately litter box ... thanks to dom ...

greeted also by a box from amazon with scorsese's dylan movie ... i watched it just now ... was psyched for a good time & was not disappointed ... this is a great one of its kind ... doesn't answer all questions (whatever would or could?) but it's a sane and beautiful look ... at dylan in that early time ... i think it's set to begin broadcast monday night on pbs & is well worth whatever re-arranging one needs to do ... to squeeze it in

the film's recent dylan interview is essential for anyone put off by a perceived disingenuousness in his book ... chronicles ... no reason here to think this guy is playing any game

there are moments in it that ... well ... are hugely funny and sad ... scorsese makes it clear that dylan had set out on a particular (american?) road and had taken it (or been taken) as far as he could ... into the madness ... not self-induced but ... culturally ... something had shifted ... happened ... and it seems not even mr. dylan knew exactly what it was

gonna be incommunicado for a few days ... catch ya on the weekend

ah ... fait accompli has not dried up and blown away

THOMAS MERTON REFLECTION for the week of September 19, 2005

The dread of being open to the ideas of others generally comes from our hidden insecurity about our own convictions. We fear that we may be "converted" ­ or perverted ­ by a pernicious doctrine. On the other hand, if we are mature and objective in our open-mindedness, we may find that viewing things from a basically different perspective ­ that of our adversary ­ we discover our own truth in a new light and are able to understand our own ideal more realistically.

Our willingness to take an alternative approach to a problem will perhaps relax the obsessive fixation of the adversary on his view, which he believes is the only reasonable possibility and which he is determined to impose on everyone else by coercionThis mission of Christian humility in social life is not merely to edify, but to keep minds open to many alternatives. The rigidity of a certain type of Christian thought has seriously impaired this capacity, which nonviolence must recover.

From Passion For Peace by Thomas Merton

Edited by William H. Shannon (New York: Crossroad Publishing 1995), pgs. 255-256

sure ... i needed a little memory jog from mom ... but the day's not done yet, and i've got time to say to one of my most perfect nieces ...

Happy Birthday, Korie!!

... and many many more!!