What I Am Living For: Lessons from the Life and Writings of Thomas Merton

"If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, and ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for."―Thomas Merton

Some of today's most popular spiritual writers―including Rev. James Martin, S.J.; Bishop Robert Barron; Robert Ellsberg; Rev. Daniel P. Horan; and Kaya Oakes―explore the meaning of life and what we live for using Thomas Merton's life and writings as a guide.

In his address before the US Congress, Pope Francis praised Merton as one of four exemplary Americans. This was no surprise to the thousands who already know and appreciate the twentieth-century monk, but there were many listening that day who still have no idea who Merton is.

What I Am Living For offers readers new to Merton, as well as longtime enthusiasts, an opportunity to see how the influential twentieth-century monk and writer continues to encourage the awakening of faith in the twenty-first century.

The book is in two parts. Each contributor to part one focuses on an aspect of the spiritual life that is of vital importance today and on which Merton made a profound impact. These include:

• Martin―Finding who God intends you to be
• Ellsberg―The spiritual need for solitude and stability
• Oakes―The importance of coming to terms with our sexuality, whether married, single, or celibate
• Horan―The importance of dialogue with God, culture, society, and people of other faiths

Part two features shorter, often more personal reflections on the future of faith, the life and teachings of Merton, and what he still says to anyone who seeks a relationship with God.

Contributors include such well-known writers as Barron; Sue Monk Kidd; Pico Iyer; Paula Huston; Ilia Delio, O.F.M.;  Paul Quenon, O.C.S.O.; and Sylvia Boorstein.

Rev. James Martin, S.J., is a Jesuit priest, author, and editor-at-large at America magazine.

Robert Ellsberg is the editor-in-chief and publisher of Orbis Books. He previously served as managing editor of The Catholic Worker.

Daniel P. Horan is director of the Center for Spirituality and professor of philosophy, religious studies, and theology at Saint Mary’s College. He previously served as the Duns Scotus professor of spirituality at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. He is a columnist for National Catholic Reporter and the author of thirteen books, including The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton and Catholicity and Emerging Personhood, which received a 2020 Excellence in Publishing Award from the Association of Catholic Publishers.

Horan regularly lectures around the United States and abroad and serves on a number of university, academic, and publication editorial boards, including the St. Bonaventure University Board of Trustees, the Franciscan School of Theology Board of Regents, and the Board of Directors of the International Thomas Merton Society. He is cohost of The Francis Effect podcast.

He lives in the South Bend, Indiana, area.

Jon M. Sweeney is an independent scholar and one of religion’s most respected writers. His work has been hailed by everyone from PBS and James Martin, S.J., to Fox News and Dan Savage. He’s been interviewed on CBS Saturday Morning, Fox News, CBS-TV Chicago, Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, and on the popular program Chicago Tonight. Several of his books have become Book-of-the-Month Club and Quality Paperback Book Club selections. His popular medieval history, The Pope Who Quit, was published by Image/Random House and optioned by HBO. It was a selection of the History Book Club and received a starred review in Booklist. His book, When Saint Francis Saved the Church, received a 2015 award for excellence in history from the Catholic Press Association.His other works include The Enthusiast, The Complete Francis of Assisi, and The St. Francis Prayer Book. He was the editor of A Course in Christian Mysticism by Thomas Merton. Sweeney writes regularly for America and The Tablet, and is the publisher and editor-in-chief at Paraclete Press. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.