Oh, what a thing it is, to live in a place that is so constructed that you are forced, in spite of yourself, to be at least a virtual contemplative!  (SSM, 42)   In the Spring of 2026, my wife and I travelled to the Pyrénées-Orientales and Midi-Pyrénées (Occitanie) regions of southwest France to explore the beauty and cultural richness of these locations but more specifically to trace the footsteps of Thomas Merton’s France. Merton was born in Prades, now a small bustling c