--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Therefore, doing the Stations of the…" description: "\"Therefore, doing the Stations of the Cross was still more laborious than consoling, and required a sacrifice. It was much the same with all my devotion..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/763/thomas-merton-231_consoling_therefore-doing-the-stations-of-the-cros_1503931.jpg" --- # Therefore, doing the Stations of the Cross was still more… ![“Therefore, doing the Stations of the Cross was still more laborious than consoling, and required a sacrifice. It was much the same with all my devotions. They did not come easily or spontaneously, and they very seldom brought with them any strong sensible satisfaction. Nevertheless the work of…” quote by Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/763/thomas-merton-231_consoling_therefore-doing-the-stations-of-the-cros_1503931.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/763/thomas-merton-231_consoling_therefore-doing-the-stations-of-the-cros_1503931.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/763/thomas-merton-231_consoling_therefore-doing-the-stations-of-the-cros_1503931.jpg) > “Therefore, doing the Stations of the Cross was still more laborious than consoling, and required a sacrifice. It was much the same with all my devotions. They did not come easily or spontaneously, and they very seldom brought with them any strong sensible satisfaction. Nevertheless the work of performing them ended in a profound and fortifying peace: a peace that was scarcely perceptible, but which deepened and which, as my passions subsided, became more and more real, more and more sure, and finally stayed with me permanently.” [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Spiritual practices can feel burdensome and unsatisfying, yet they may yield a deep, lasting inner peace that grows as passions subside. **In simple terms:** Hard work in devotion can bring lasting peace. Key Takeaway Embrace disciplined practice for lasting peace. Themes spirituality discipline inner peace sacrifice growth Mood contemplative reflective Type spiritual philosophical When to use this quote - personal prayer - daily meditation - ritual observance - timesiritual retreats Key Concepts Meditation ritual self‑transcendence Questions to Reflect On - What quiet benefits have you overlooked? - How can routine deepen your inner calm? A Different Perspective Peace may be subtle and take time to notice. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Consoling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consoling/) [Crosses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crosses/) [Devotion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/devotion/) [Devotions Did](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/devotions-did-5520917/) [Ended Profound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ended-profound-5520916/) [My passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/my-passion/) [Passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passion/) [Passions Subsided](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passions-subsided-5520918/) [Peace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peace/) [Performing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/performing/) [Profound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/profound/) [Real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real/) [Sacrifice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sacrifice/) [Sacrifice Devotions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sacrifice-devotions-5520915/) [Satisfaction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/satisfaction/) [Sensible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensible/) [Stills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stills/) [Strong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strong/) [Wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wisdom/) ## Related quotes > [The married man and the mother of a Christian family, if they are faithful to their obligations, will fulfill a mission that is as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-married-man-and-the-mother-of-a-christian-family-if-they-are/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [Consoling a miserable soul, wiping the tears of a crying person is greater than any worldly achievement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mata-amritanandamayi/consoling-a-miserable-soul-wiping-the-tears-of-a-crying-person-is/) [Mata Amritanandamayi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mata-amritanandamayi/) > [A consoling thought: what matters is not what we do, but the spirit in which we do it. Others suffer too; so much so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-pavese/a-consoling-thought-what-matters-is-not-what-we-do-but-the-spirit-in/) [Cesare Pavese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-pavese/) > [I'm not interested in provoking people, but only in trying to be consoling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-kippenberger/i-m-not-interested-in-provoking-people-but-only-in-trying-to-be/) [Martin Kippenberger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-kippenberger/) > [It can be consoling to think your children are in heaven. You have got to understand that that doesn't make it true. Many people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/it-can-be-consoling-to-think-your-children-are-in-heaven-you-have-got/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [False beliefs can be every bit as consoling as true ones, right up until the moment of disillusionment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/false-beliefs-can-be-every-bit-as-consoling-as-true-ones-right-up/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“. . . In all parts of our globe, fanatics have cut each other's throats, publicly burnt each other, committed without a scruple and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baron-d-holbach/in-all-parts-of-our-globe-fanatics-have-cut-each-other-s-throats/) [Baron D'Holbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/baron-d-holbach/) > [When it comes to spiritual teachers, there are those safe, gentle, consoling, soothing, caring; and there are the outlaws, the living terrors, the Rude…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-wilber/when-it-comes-to-spiritual-teachers-there-are-those-safe-gentle/) [Ken Wilber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-wilber/) > [Talking about your feeling with someone who is willing to listen can be enormously consoling, especially if that person has experienced a death similar…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/candy-lightner/talking-about-your-feeling-with-someone-who-is-willing-to-listen-can/) [Candy Lightner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/candy-lightner/) > [I think there is something very consoling in feeling lost in space but also feeling grounded, and seeing that all of this is part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-tillmans/i-think-there-is-something-very-consoling-in-feeling-lost-in-space/) [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) > [At every moment in our lives we need compassion, but what more urgent moment could there be than when we are dying? What more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sogyal-rinpoche/at-every-moment-in-our-lives-we-need-compassion-but-what-more-urgent/) [Sogyal Rinpoche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sogyal-rinpoche/) > [She had always been a reader… but now she was obsessed. Since her discovery of the book hoard downstairs from her job, she’d been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-erdrich/she-had-always-been-a-reader-but-now-she-was-obsessed-since-her/) [Louise Erdrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-erdrich/) > [And Christ, through His own salvific suffering, is very much present in every human suffering, and can act from within that suffering by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-john-paul-ii/and-christ-through-his-own-salvific-suffering-is-very-much-present-in/) [Pope John Paul II](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-john-paul-ii/) > [Perhapsthemost sublimeinsights oftheJewishprophets and the Christian gospel is the knowledge that since perfection is love, the apprehension of perfection is at once the means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/perhapsthemost-sublimeinsights-ofthejewishprophets-and-the-christian/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [ What are you for? It may be, to a degree, consoling that white brothers and sisters did not vote for \[Donald\] Trump, and do… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-eric-dyson/what-are-you-for-it-may-be-to-a-degree-consoling-that-white-brothers/) [Michael Eric Dyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-eric-dyson/) ## More by Thomas Merton > [“Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep, inexpressible certitude…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/let-no-one-hope-to-find-in-contemplation-an-escape-from-conflict-from/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [If nothing that can be seen can either be God or represent Him to us as He is, then to find God we must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/if-nothing-that-can-be-seen-can-either-be-god-or-represent-him-to-us/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [It is almost impossible to overestimate the value of true humility and its power in the spiritual life. For the beginning of humility is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/it-is-almost-impossible-to-overestimate-the-value-of-true-humility/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [We are not perfectly free until we live in pure hope. For when our hope is pure, it no longer trusts exclusively in human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/we-are-not-perfectly-free-until-we-live-in-pure-hope-for-when-our/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [The desire to kill is like the desire to attack another with an ingot of red -hot iron: I have to pick up the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-desire-to-kill-is-like-the-desire-to-attack-another-with-an-ingot/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [To enter into the realm of contemplation one must in a certain sense die: but this death is in fact the entrance to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/to-enter-into-the-realm-of-contemplation-one-must-in-a-certain-sense/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [The mission of Christian humility in social life is not merely to edify, but to keep minds open to many alternatives. The rigidity of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-mission-of-christian-humility-in-social-life-is-not-merely-to/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [Peace cannot be built on exclusivism, absolutism, and intolerance. But neither can it be built on vague liberal slogans and pious programs gestated in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/peace-cannot-be-built-on-exclusivism-absolutism-and-intolerance-but/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [Things that are good are good, and if one is responding to that goodness one is in contact with a truth from which one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/things-that-are-good-are-good-and-if-one-is-responding-to-that/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [Love winter when the plant says nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/love-winter-when-the-plant-says-nothing/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-logic-of-worldly-success-rests-on-a-fallacy-the-strange-error/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [“The wisdom of the flesh is a judgement that the ordinary ends of our natural appetites are the goods to which the whole of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-wisdom-of-the-flesh-is-a-judgement-that-the-ordinary-ends-of-our/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [I will no longer wound myself with the thoughts and questions that have surrounded me like thorns: that is a penance You do not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/i-will-no-longer-wound-myself-with-the-thoughts-and-questions-that/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [If you write for God you will reach many men and bring them joy. If you write for men--you may make some money and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/if-you-write-for-god-you-will-reach-many-men-and-bring-them-joy-if/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [“Contemplation means rest, suspension of activity, withdrawal into the mysterious interior solitude in which the soul is absorbed in the immense and fruitful silence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/contemplation-means-rest-suspension-of-activity-withdrawal-into-the/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Explore all 851 Thomas Merton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) ## More Consoling quotes > [ What are you for? It may be, to a degree, consoling that white brothers and sisters did not vote for \[Donald\] Trump, and do… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-eric-dyson/what-are-you-for-it-may-be-to-a-degree-consoling-that-white-brothers/) [Michael Eric Dyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-eric-dyson/) > [Perhapsthemost sublimeinsights oftheJewishprophets and the Christian gospel is the knowledge that since perfection is love, the apprehension of perfection is at once the means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/perhapsthemost-sublimeinsights-ofthejewishprophets-and-the-christian/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [And Christ, through His own salvific suffering, is very much present in every human suffering, and can act from within that suffering by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-john-paul-ii/and-christ-through-his-own-salvific-suffering-is-very-much-present-in/) [Pope John Paul II](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-john-paul-ii/) > [She had always been a reader… but now she was obsessed. Since her discovery of the book hoard downstairs from her job, she’d been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-erdrich/she-had-always-been-a-reader-but-now-she-was-obsessed-since-her/) [Louise Erdrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-erdrich/) > [At every moment in our lives we need compassion, but what more urgent moment could there be than when we are dying? What more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sogyal-rinpoche/at-every-moment-in-our-lives-we-need-compassion-but-what-more-urgent/) [Sogyal Rinpoche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sogyal-rinpoche/) > [I think there is something very consoling in feeling lost in space but also feeling grounded, and seeing that all of this is part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-tillmans/i-think-there-is-something-very-consoling-in-feeling-lost-in-space/) [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) > [Talking about your feeling with someone who is willing to listen can be enormously consoling, especially if that person has experienced a death similar…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/candy-lightner/talking-about-your-feeling-with-someone-who-is-willing-to-listen-can/) [Candy Lightner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/candy-lightner/) > [When it comes to spiritual teachers, there are those safe, gentle, consoling, soothing, caring; and there are the outlaws, the living terrors, the Rude…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-wilber/when-it-comes-to-spiritual-teachers-there-are-those-safe-gentle/) [Ken Wilber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-wilber/) > [“. . . In all parts of our globe, fanatics have cut each other's throats, publicly burnt each other, committed without a scruple and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baron-d-holbach/in-all-parts-of-our-globe-fanatics-have-cut-each-other-s-throats/) [Baron D'Holbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/baron-d-holbach/) > [False beliefs can be every bit as consoling as true ones, right up until the moment of disillusionment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/false-beliefs-can-be-every-bit-as-consoling-as-true-ones-right-up/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [It can be consoling to think your children are in heaven. You have got to understand that that doesn't make it true. Many people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/it-can-be-consoling-to-think-your-children-are-in-heaven-you-have-got/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [I'm not interested in provoking people, but only in trying to be consoling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-kippenberger/i-m-not-interested-in-provoking-people-but-only-in-trying-to-be/) [Martin Kippenberger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-kippenberger/) > [A consoling thought: what matters is not what we do, but the spirit in which we do it. Others suffer too; so much so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-pavese/a-consoling-thought-what-matters-is-not-what-we-do-but-the-spirit-in/) [Cesare Pavese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-pavese/) > [Consoling a miserable soul, wiping the tears of a crying person is greater than any worldly achievement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mata-amritanandamayi/consoling-a-miserable-soul-wiping-the-tears-of-a-crying-person-is/) [Mata Amritanandamayi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mata-amritanandamayi/) > [I wish I could live underwater. Maybe then my skin would absorb the sea’s consoling silence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cristina-garc-a/i-wish-i-could-live-underwater-maybe-then-my-skin-would-absorb-the/) [Cristina Garcia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cristina-garc-a/) [Browse all 101 Consoling quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consoling/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Therefore, doing the Stations of the Cross was still more laborious than consoling, and required a sacrifice. It was much the same with all my devotions. They did not come easily or spontaneously, and they very seldom brought with them any strong sensible satisfaction. 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