We have to have a deep, patient compassion for the fears of men and irrational mania of those who hate or condemn… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“It is therefore of supreme importance that we consent to live not for ourselves but for others. When we do this we… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“My opinion is that it is a very extraordinary thing for anyone to be upset by such a topic. Why should anyone… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Only the man who has had to face despair is really convinced that he needs mercy. Those who do not want mercy… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
But the man who is not afraid to admit everything that he sees to be wrong with himself, and yet recognizes that… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Do not desire chiefly to be cherished and consoled by God; desire above all to love Him. Do not anxiously desire to… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“For whatever is demanded by truth, by justice, by mercy, or by love must surely be taken to be willed by God.… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
A Christian is committed to the belief that Love and Mercy are the most powerful forces on earth. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the other.... The whole purpose of life is to live… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Nevertheless, the liturgy of Ash Wednesday is not focussed on the sinfulness of the penitent but on the mercy of God. The… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Those who refuse His mercy satisfy His justice in another way. Without His mercy, they cannot love Him. Without love for Him… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“It is only the infinite mercy and love of God that has prevented us from tearing ourselves to pieces and destroying His… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
His justice is the love that gives to each one of His creatures the gifts that His mercy has previously decreed. And… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The very contradictions in my life are in some ways signs of God's mercy to me. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
God, have mercy on me in the blindness in which I hope I am seeking You! — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
God has left sin in the world in order that there may be forgiveness: not only the secret forgiveness by which He… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“A man becomes a saint not by conviction that he is better than sinners but by the realization that he is one… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
We have to have a deep, patient compassion for the fears of others and irrational mania of those who hate or condemn… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“The eyes of the saint make all beauty holy and the hands of the saint consecrate everything they touch to the glory… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
To desire Him to be merciful to us is to acknowledge Him as God. To seek His pity when we deserve no… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“We must approach our meditation realizing that 'grace,' 'mercy,' and 'faith' are not permanent inalienable possessions which we gain by our efforts… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Surrender your own poverty and acknowledge your nothingness to the Lord. Whether you understand it or not, God loves you, is present… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep, inexpressible certitude… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
If nothing that can be seen can either be God or represent Him to us as He is, then to find God we must… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
It is almost impossible to overestimate the value of true humility and its power in the spiritual life. For the beginning of humility is… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
We are not perfectly free until we live in pure hope. For when our hope is pure, it no longer trusts exclusively in human… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The desire to kill is like the desire to attack another with an ingot of red -hot iron: I have to pick up the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
To enter into the realm of contemplation one must in a certain sense die: but this death is in fact the entrance to a… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The mission of Christian humility in social life is not merely to edify, but to keep minds open to many alternatives. The rigidity of… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Peace cannot be built on exclusivism, absolutism, and intolerance. But neither can it be built on vague liberal slogans and pious programs gestated in… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Things that are good are good, and if one is responding to that goodness one is in contact with a truth from which one… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“The wisdom of the flesh is a judgement that the ordinary ends of our natural appetites are the goods to which the whole of… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
