| Author Quoted | Raïssa Maritain |
| Title Quoted | Journal de Raïssa |
| Date (Year/Month/Day) | 1962/12/18 |
| Imprint | Paris : Hors Commerce Commerce. 1962 |
| Quotation | I am overwhelmed by Raissa's Journal. How to put it? You must know better than I do. This document is like the sunrise, a wonder that is ordinary but if you are more attentive you find it an astounding event. I read it in solitude in the woods. Each sentence opens our heart to God. It's a book full of windows. What moves me most is that in each line I see and I hear this "child" of Proverbs 8:27"”31 "ludens in orbe terrarum" [playing on the surface of the earth], ludens too in Raïssa. I dreamed a few times of this child (who the first time presented herself as a girl of the race of St. Anne) and she was sad and quiet because everyone was making fun of her strange name which was "Proverb." Also, another time on a Louisville street I saw suddenly that everyone was Proverb, without knowing it. Raissa's words are filled with the presence and the light of this wisdom-child. She is "Proverb." Especially she reminds me of that mystic that I love above all others, Julian of Norwich. (Raïssa even speaks of the maternal knees of God.) She has the same tone, the same candor. I will treasure this book. To receive it is an event of significance and a very great grace. It is not only Raïssa that moves me in this book but your love for her and her love for you and your love for all your friends. This is what the Church is all about. |
| Quotation Source | The Courage for Truth: Letters of Thomas Merton to Writers.; Selected and edited by Christine M. Bochen. / New York : Farrar Straus Giroux. 1993, p. 33 |
| Letter to | Jacques Maritain |
| Notes | |
| Link to Merton's Copy |
52137
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