The Sacred Silence: Finding the True Self with Thomas Merton
Holy Monday rarely gets much attention, but maybe that is exactly why it matters. It sits quietly between the fanfare of Palm Sunday and the intensity of the days still to come. It is a day that invites us to slow down and pay attention.
Thomas Merton is a wise guide here. Merton spent much of his life exploring silence, contemplation, and the false self we so often hide behind. He understood that spiritual life is not about performing holiness. It is about becoming honest before God.
As Holy Week unfolds, that honesty matters. It is easy to approach this season with familiar language and routines, moving quickly through readings and traditions without letting any of it truly touch us. Merton would likely ask us to pause and notice where we are spiritually distracted, fragmented, or simply going through the motions.
There is a deep invitation in Holy Monday to come back to the center. Before we rush toward the drama of the Passion, we are asked to become still enough to recognize our need for God. Merton believed that beneath all our noise and striving is the true self, the self hidden in God. Holy Week is not just a time to remember what happened to Jesus; it is also a time to let his journey reveal what is happening within us.
Maybe that means noticing the inner clutter we carry. Maybe it means naming our fears, our resistance, our exhaustion. Maybe it means admitting that we want resurrection but would rather avoid surrender.
Merton teaches us that silence is not empty. It is full of God’s presence. And on a day like Holy Monday, that presence can meet us in the ordinary, in the unresolved, and in the quiet places we usually overlook.
So rather than trying to “do” Holy Week perfectly, perhaps we can simply begin by being present. Present to God. Present to ourselves. Present to the sacred movement already unfolding.
Reflective questions:
What inner noise is making it hard for me to hear God this week?
Where am I tempted to perform faith instead of honestly living it?
What might happen if I made space for silence today?
Newsletter
Subscribe now to get weekly updates.
2026@Go Deeper Ministries
