It is not merely our own desire but the desire of Christ in His Spirit that drives us to grow in love.… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
We cannot love ourselves unless we love others, and we cannot love others unless we love ourselves. But a selfish love of… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Prayer is not so much a way to find God as a way of resting in him...who loves us, who is near… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
True happiness is found in unselfish Love, A love which increases in proportion as it is shared. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
In the spiritual life there is no such thing as an indifference to love or hate. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything He has given us...and He has given us everything. Every… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
What is 'grace'? It is God's own life, shared by us. God's life is love. Deus caritas est. By grace we are… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
But precisely this illusion that everything is "clear" is what is blinding us all. It is a serious temptation, and it is… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
In a world of noise, confusion and conflict it is necessary that there be places of silence, inner discipline and peace. In… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
As a magnifying glass concentrates the rays of the sun into a little burning knot of heat that can set fire to… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist our own image. Otherwise we… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Love, in fact, is the spiritual life; and without it, all other exercises of the spirit are emptied of content. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Our real journey in life is interior; It is a matter of growth, deepening, and of an ever greater surrender to the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit out own… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“It is God’s love that speaks to me in the birds and streams; but also behind the clamor of the city God… — 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
