Now God is not the God of the dead but of the living, and his presence, being the presence of the living God, is active, life-giving, healing, and sanctifying. One can’t stand in front of a fire without being warmed, or stay in the sun without being tanned, and in remaining in God’s presence and letting him act in the depths of our being, we are doing what really counts.
–Jacques Philippe (1947-
Today, more than ever, we need to recognize that the gift of solitude is not ordered to the acquisition of strange contemplative powers, but, first of all, to the recovery of one’s deep self, and to the renewal of an authenticity which is presently twisted out of shape by the pretentious routines of a disordered togetherness.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
We stumble and fall constantly even when we are most enlightened. But when we are in true spiritual darkness, we do not even know that we have fallen.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
We may begin to seek Him in desolation, feeling nothing but His absence. But the mere fact that we seek Him proves that we have already found Him.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
The most precious crown is reserved in heaven for those who do all that they do as zealously as possible: for to do good deeds in not enough by itself; we must do them well.
–Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)
