"Is there anyone here who yearns for life and desires to see good days?" Those stirring words come at the beginning of one of the most durable spiritual guides of all time, the Rule of St. Benedict.

A community of entrepreneurial Cistercian monks in rural Wisconsin balance a life of prayer and work, charity and contemplation. They also run a multi-million-dollar ink-and-toner business.

Read excerpts from THOMAS MERTON: A LIFE IN LETTERS: The Essential Collection edited by Willam H. Shannon and Christian M. Bochen