Let life alone…
We live on the brink of disaster because we do not know how to let life alone. We do not respect the living and fruitful contradictions and paradoxes of which true life is full.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
Detachment from things…
The importance of detachment from things, the importance of poverty, is that we are supposed to be free from things that we might prefer to people. Wherever things have become more important than people, we are in trouble. That is the crux of the whole matter.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
Contemplative prayer…
The only thing to seek in contemplative prayer is God; and we seek Him successfully when we realize that we cannot find Him unless He shows Himself to us, and yet at the same time that He would not have inspired us to seek Him unless we had already found Him.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
Our actions of love…
The stirring of leaves in the wind makes the wind visible. Their stirring is the wind’s stirring, their whisper is the wind’s whisper. And so with love. Our actions of love make the invisible visible. Our actions of love make love present to ourselves and to others.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
Any distractions…
If you have never had any distractions you don’t know how to pray.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
Be all alive…
If a man is to live, he must be all alive, body, soul, mind, heart, spirit.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
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