You pray best when the mirror of your soul is empty of every image except the Image of the Invisible Father.
Interpretation
True prayer comes from a pure and undistracted heart focused solely on God.
In this quote, Thomas Merton emphasizes the importance of having a clear and focused mind when engaging in prayer. He suggests that to pray effectively, one should let go of all distractions and worldly images, allowing only the presence of God to fill their consciousness. This purity of intention and focus is essential for meaningful communication with the divine.
In practice
During a meditation retreat, this quote can inspire participants to reflect on their relationship with prayer.
The devil is no fool. He can get people feeling about heaven the way they ought to feel about hell. He can make them fear the means of grace the way they do not fear sin. And he does so, not by light but by obscurity, not by realities but by shadows; not by clarity and substance, but by dreams and the creatures of psychosis. And men are so poor in intellect that a few cold chills down their spine will be enough to keep them from ever finding out the truth about anything.
Our vocation is not simply to be, but to work together with God in the creation of our own life, our own identity, our own destiny....To work out our identity in God.
Conscience is the light by which we interpret the will of God in our own lives.
You are made in the image of what you desire.
But if you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I think I am living for.
I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.
The closer one approaches to God, the simpler one becomes.
Prayer unites the soul to God.
Of all things, guard against neglecting God in the secret place of prayer.
Dear God, I surrender this thought to you, for I would see the miracle that lies behind it. Amen.
Don't ever hesitate to take to [God] whatever is on your heart. He already knows it anyway, but He doesn't want you to bear its pain or celebrate its joy alone.
Supremely, spiritual directors/mentors/pastors are persons who have a sense of being 'established' in God. Otherwise they are too dangerous to be allowed into the soul space of others.
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