In the hallway of the guesthouse, I bumped into a young Swiss abbot, Dom Marie Joseph. Twenty-five out of the fifty men in his community were mobilized in the last war. Now that they are back, he provides them with all sorts of reading in the refectory to keep them in touch with what is happening in the church outside. He wants them to hear about the social situation and what the church is currently doing – priests in factories and so on. He does not believe that monks could forget their living connection with the rest of the mystical Body of Christ.
Dom Marie Joseph reads Léon Bloy and appreciates him, especially because he understands suffering. He allowed his novices, at least those who were in the war, to read The Poor Woman.
(Thomas Merton /1915–1968/, diary entries from December 1947)
