The Thomas Merton Reading Group led by Fr. Francis Cusack will begin its discussion of Mystics and Zen Masters (the first 80 pages) at 7 p.m. this Monday, Feb. 23, at the Passionist Monastery, 5700 N. Harlem, Chicago. The group meets on the last Monday of each month. Thomas Merton was recognized as one of those rare Western minds that are entirely at home with the Zen experience. In this collection, he discusses diverse religious concepts -early monasticism, Russian Orthodox spirituality, the Shakers, and Zen Buddhism - with characteristic Western directness. Merton not only studied these religions from the outside but grasped them by empathy and living participation from within. "All these studies," wrote Merton, "are united by one central concern: to understand various ways in which men of different traditions have conceived the meaning and method of the 'way' which leads to the highest levels of religious or of metaphysical awareness." Monday Reader meetings for the remainder of 2009 are scheduled Mar. 20, Apr. 27, June 29, July 27, Aug. 31, Sept. 28, Oct. 26, Nov. 30, and Dec. 28. Free.

Our March speaker meeting will feature Sr. Suzanne Zuercher, OSB discussing "Merton the Prophet,"at 2 p.m. Sunday, Mar. 15, in the Rectory Assembly of Immaculate Conception Church, 7211 W. Talcott, Chicago. Sr. Suzanne, a teacher, author, retreat leader and licensed clinical psychologist, served as president of St. Scholastica Academy, the corporate ministry of her monastery, from 1994 until 2006. She also served as a campus minister at Loyola's Water Tower Campus and co-director of Loyola's Institute for Spiritual Leadership in Hyde Park. Sr. Suzanne has been a frequent lecturer for the CC-ITMS, giving talks on "How Merton Understood His Monastic Life" and "Loving and Living: Merton's Last Task." She is an expert on the enneagram and author of the recently published Using the Enneagram in Prayer (Ave Maria Press), copies of which will be available for purchase ($10). Free to dues-paying members; visitors are asked to make a donation (suggested $5).

Sunday Speaker meetings are held on the third Sunday of each month. Upcoming speaker meetings are scheduled for Apr. 19, Sept. 20, Oct. 18, and Nov. 15.