You are invited into a profound and personal contemplative experience in this unique retreat with Thomas Merton, who will summon you toward the recovery of paradise.

Presented by gifted professor, author, and musician, Sr. Kathleen Deignan, this 6-conference series will transform your spiritual imagination and deepen your contemplative consciousness. These conferences will invite you to spiritual awakening and a renewed commitment to read the Scripture of Creation.

The pathways Merton explored in his own quest “to recover paradise” have become routes of discovery and healing for millions of seekers. Merton’s wisdom pioneered the mystical experience, engagement with the world, and interreligious dialogue. Now you too can experience this legacy, which will inspire you to more deeply explore the personal and divine worlds.

In these conferences, you will unearth the significance of the natural world for Merton’s own experience of God. You will discover his intimate rapport with creation as the body of divinity—at once veiling and unveiling the God he so longed to behold. Weaving together word and song, Sr. Deignan’s conferences will lead you steadily closer to Merton’s horizon of insight.

In learning the practice of natural contemplation, you will come to sense the beauty and urgency of recovering the paradise of creation. This fresh look at him as a creation mystic and ecological prophet will empower you anew. Listen to the prophetic voice of Thomas Merton, whose vocation was to be “a gardener of paradise.”

This course is part of the Learn25 collection and includes a free PDF study guide.

*Photograph of Thomas Merton by John Lyons. Used with Permission of Merton Legacy Trust and the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University.