Editor s note: (Broadleaf Books) by Sophfronia Scott.
Over the course of a wet and chilly weekend in December, I walked in the footsteps of Thomas Merton. I wouldn t call my trip to his corner of Kentucky a pilgrimage. I knew I would do some praying when I joined the monks in their daily cycle of chanting and prayer, but I didn t have a plan beyond that. I d traveled alone, and I wasn t sure how comfortable I d be rambling the woods by myself. But I knew I wanted to try.
The grounds of the Abbey of Gethsemani cover nearly 1,500 acres of hills (called knobs ), valleys, lakes, fields, and forests. To know Merton s work is to know this landscape, because he photographed it and wrote about it so often: from basic observations about the weather to contemplative ruminations connecting the natural world to the divine presence at work. His observant eyes and ears absorbed the vital details, and he found words to bring it all to life. Such words from his book
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks to reporters after House Republicans vote to remove her as chair of the House GOP Conference on Capitol Hill in Washington May 12, 2021. (CNS/Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)
At her Letters from an American, historian Heather Cox Richardson reflects on the ouster of U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney from leadership in the GOP House caucus and the art of gaslighting, which is the only thing that seems to unite the current Republican Party.
In The Washington Post, a fine analysis of how the lackluster jobs numbers, combined with concerns about inflation, are causing people to wonder about President Joe Biden s big spending plans. If inflation is starting to rise, the last thing to do is pump trillions of dollars into the economy. Of course, we need that money to build infrastructure and to expand our notion of infrastructure to include things like childcare, without which millions will be unemployed or underemployed. My solution? Make sure you raise taxe