By: Alex J. Nagem © April 23, 2025 (Rev)
One of the last conversations I had with a dear friend, Bill Hogan, before he began walking the streets of eternal paradise, centered around Thomas Merton. Bill said he wanted to read Merton’s “The Seven Storey Mountain” one more time in his aging years. I never found out if he finished the book before he departed from this world. So, in memory of Bill, I recently purchased the book and began journeying through the pages of Merton’s thoughts and memories.
One phrase that stays with me in times of indecision and confusion originates from the writings of Merton: “The meaning of the journey is not always known by the traveler.” Nevertheless, we continue to travel onward, making new friends, facing adversity, making both good and bad choices, and, for the most part, savoring the lives we’ve created for ourselves during our brief time here.
We create our own seven-storey mountains along the moonless journey of clouded meaning. Anyway, we journey. We may become confused and nervous with the decisions we are faced with or have made. Praying for guidance or spending time in calm meditation can lead to enlightenment. The guidance may be in the form of an unexpected conversation with a friend. With the mind open for answers to prayers, as a funnel that collects the smallest grains of sugar to sweeten the bitter taste of indecision, we find comfort with each word spoken and written. Has the Holy Spirit, sent by God the Father, given us an answer to our plea for help through a conversation sparked by a thought of another? It does not come with majestic tones deafening to the ear. It does not come as an explosive mushroom cloud to blind the eye. Instead, it may come within a subtle, unexpected conversation with a friend, after we ask God for guidance. I have found that God’s answers to troubling questions that plague the disheveled mind may be as insignificant as a single grain of sugar, but is needed to flavor the bitter taste of indecision.
You are remembered in our daily prayers, as I hope my family and I are remembered in yours.
“Vocatus Atque Non Vocatus Deus Aderit”
Alex J. Nagem © May 3, 2022 Original