Reading Thomas Merton’s s letters in the book Thomas Merton, A Life in Letters has fascinated me because of the relevance of Merton’s thoughts in today’s world. As you may know, Thomas Merton was one of the influential religious figures of the 20th century. As a monk, mystic, and prophet, he helped form American religious thoughts by connecting spirituality and social justice and promoting unity beyond difference.
In one of his letters in Lent 1967 to his friends, he criticized modern medicine and technology used merely for profit and not to alleviate poverty and suffering. In the letter, he states:
Modern medicine is undoubtedly a good thing. Thank God for it. Thank God for the fact that penicillin saves thousands of lives. But let’s also face the fact that penicillin saves lives for people whom society allows to starve because it is not set up to feed them… Today twelve percent of the world’s population (repeat, twelve percent) live in the appalling shanty towns and poblaciones that are seen in the outskirts of South American, African, and Asian cities. What is technology doing for these people? It is not creating work for them, but is developing more and more labor-saving methods of production because technology in our society is not in the service of people but in the service of profit.
Talking about the relevance of his thoughts to today’s times! Writing further on human issues of survival versus politics and profits, here are his words:
When a human question becomes a “political issue,” unfortunately the human problem gets shoved into the background, human hopes are derided and ignored, money passes from hand to hand and a lot of noise is made in the press, and the human problem may or may not even be touched.
Indeed, in a world of modern technology and medicine that has made some people billionaires, Merton’s words strike a chord when we think of the scandalous disparity between the rich and the poor. We hope that the wealthy will share their resources to narrow down this economic gap in many countries worldwide.
Jesus also minced no words to criticize the “rich” and bring up the scandal of poverty during his time as written in this Sunday’s Gospel:
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are filled now, for your will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.
And for those of us who are not rich but still live comfortable lives and may perhaps blame the poor themselves for their lot, here is another quote from Thomas Merton to chew on:
It is easy enough to tell the poor to accept their poverty as God’s will when you yourself have warm clothes and plenty of food and medical care and a roof over your head and no worry about the rent. But if you want them to believe you–try to share some of their poverty and see if you can accept it as God’s will yourself!
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The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.
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Fr. Rodel “Odey” Balagtas is the pastor of Incarnation Church in Glendale, California.
