Prayer is not so much a way to find God as a way of resting in him...who loves us, who is near to us.
Interpretation
Prayer is a means of experiencing God's presence rather than just seeking Him.
In this quote, Thomas Merton emphasizes that prayer serves not only as a method for individuals to seek God but more profoundly as an opportunity to find solace and rest in the divine love that surrounds them. It suggests that through prayer, individuals can experience closeness to God, recognizing His constant presence and love in their lives.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of faith, one might say, 'As Thomas Merton reminds us, prayer is not just a way to find God; it allows us to rest in His love.'
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.
I always begin my prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks. God is the friend of silence-we need to listen to God because it's not what we say but what He says to us and through us that matters.
In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with Himself. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence.
We see baptism as the starting point in our journey of discipleship. Our daily walk with Jesus Christ leads to peace and purpose in this life and profound joy and eternal salvation in the world to come.
If Jesus is to become the center of our life, we need to spend time in His presence, before the Tabernacle.
Dear God, I surrender this thought to you, for I would see the miracle that lies behind it. Amen.
It is precisely in times of spiritual dryness that we must hold on to our spiritual discipline so that we can grow into new intimacy with God.
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