Book Reviews

Sr. Catherine recommends Becoming Who You Are: Insights on the True Self from Thomas Merton and Other Saints by James Martin, SJ.

This is the first book I’ve read by James Martin. The Merton-Nouwen connection intrigued me. If you’re a fan of either, you will be enriched by this book. Merton and Nouwen are so popular, and have been for so long, that one might feel as though one has “been there, done that” with them. Is it possible to suffer from Merton fatigue? Nouwen fatigue? Perhaps. But I’m not in the category.

Merton first grabbed my heart with Contemplation in a World of Action and again many years later with The Seven Storey Mountain. Over the years I’ve read lots articles and books by and about Merton. I even had the privilege of listening to cassette tapes of Merton’s lectures to the novices as Gesthemani. His voice didn’t match the voice I’d created for him over the years, but it was a treat to get to “hear” him.

I’d just finished a heart-wrenching, gripping biography of Nouwen, Wounded Prophet: A Portrait of Henri J.M. Nouwenby Michael Ford. Martin does not set out to offer another biography of Nouwen. Rather, it is the juxtaposition of Merton and Nouwen that I found valuable. The two are so similar and yet so different. I think we do tend to see Nouwen as a contemporary Merton. But after reading Martin’s book, I can see now why that’s incorrect.

Merton was the contemplative saint I yearned to be. Nouwen was the contemplative saint I yearned to be. As I learned more about both of them, however, I realized that they were all too human. Or should I say, I learned that neither of them were angels. Saints? Hardly. That is, until I read Martin’s book. Merton was a saint. And so was Nouwen. The first paragraph of Martin’s book explains why:

“For me to be a saint means to be myself,” wrote the Trappist monk Thomas Merton in his book New Seeds of Contemplation. “Therefore the problem of sanctity and salvation is in fact the problem of finding out who I am and discovering my true self.”

James Martin takes us on a journey of probing what it means to discover one’s true self. He graciously shares with us his own ongoing journey illuminated with the journeys of Merton and Nouwen. This is a book to devour (it’s a short 89 pages, plus a few pages of suggested reading) and a book to savor. Are you “searching for yourself”? Do you know someone who is (or should be)? Pick up a copy of this book and get going. I’ll meet you on the path. — Sr. C