Creation was given to people as a clean window through which the light of God could shine into people’s souls. Sun and moon, night and day, rain, sea, the crops, the flowering tree, all these things were transparent. They spoke to people not of themselves but only of Him who made them.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
No matter how simple discourse may be, it is never simple enough. No matter how simple thought may be, it is never simple enough. No matter how simple love may be, it is never simple enough. The only thing left is the simplicity of the soul in God, or better, the simplicity of God.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
Be content that you are not yet a saint, even though you realize that the only thing worth living for is sanctity. Then you will be satisfied to let God lead you to sanctity by paths that you cannot understand. You will travel in darkness in which you will no longer be concerned with yourself and no longer compare yourself to other men. Those who have gone by that way have finally found out that sanctity is in everything and that God is all around them, they suddenly wake up and find that the joy of God is everywhere.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
Leave it all to Him, let go of yourself, lose yourself on the Cross, and you will find yourself entirely.
–Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
A good meditation, even when it is interrupted by occasional nodding, is much more beneficial than many outward religious exercises.
–Johannes Tauler (c. 1300-1361)
No person has a right to lead such a life of contemplation as to forget in one’s own ease the service due one’s neighbor; nor has any person a right to be so immersed in active life as to neglect the contemplation of God.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)
