"[Merton was] really alive! I wouldn’t want to say exuberant, that would be too strong, but always 'up.' You really never experienced him as being down about something or negative. Always very positive, always very present to life, very present to the moment. Always seeing the humor of the present moment and also the pathos of it, and always very, very conscious and very alive to the place, to what he’s doing and so on.

"He was a scholar and a poet by temperament, yet one never really ran into him when he was preoccupied by other things. He was always really present. If you were speaking with him, he was very present to you. If he was doing something else, that’s what he did. For example, because we eat in silence at some meals, brothers would bring a book to read at the meal. Fr. Louis [Merton’s monastic name] would say, 'Don’t do that. When you eat, eat, and be present to what you’re eating. Enjoy it, be aware of what you are eating. When finished eating, go do the reading.' "