Charity is without fear: having given all that it has, it has nothing left to lose. Thomas Merton More Quotes by Thomas Merton More Quotes From Thomas Merton Our idea of God tells us more about ourselves than about Him. Thomas Merton wisdomideas In Silence God ceases to be an object and becomes an experience. Thomas Merton ceaseobjectssilence The spiritual life is first of all a life. It is not merely something to be known and studied, it is to be lived. Thomas Merton spirituallife-isfirsts Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real. Thomas Merton fake-peoplewisdominspirational Before we can realize who we really are, we must become conscious of the fact that the person we think we are, here and now, is at best an impostor and a stranger. Thomas Merton awakeningfactsthinking For perfect hope is achieved on the brink of despair, when instead of falling over the edge, we find ourselves walking on air. Thomas Merton spiritualairfall We cannot achieve greatness unless we lose all interest in being great. Thomas Merton achievegreatnessinterest A man who fails well is greater than one who succeeds badly. Thomas Merton succeedwisdommen Love is not a matter of getting what you want. Quite the contrary. The insistence on always having what you want, on always being satisfied, on always being fulfilled, makes love impossible. Thomas Merton getting-what-you-wantmaking-lovelove-is It is easy enough to tell the poor to accept their poverty as Gods will when you yourself have warm clothes and plenty of food and medical care and a roof over your head and no worry about the rent. But if you want them to believe youtry to share some of their poverty and see if you can accept it as Gods will yourself! Thomas Merton roof-over-your-headwarbelieve A faith that is afraid of other people is no faith at all. Thomas Merton people There is in all visible things an invisible fecundity, a dimmed light, a meek namelessness, a hidden wholeness. This mysterious unity and integrity is wisdom, the mother of us all, "natura naturans." There is in all things an inexhaustible sweetness and purity, a silence that is a fountain of action and joy. It rises up in wordless gentleness, and flows out to me from the unseen roots of all created being. Thomas Merton naturemotherintegrity We stumble and fall constantly, even when we are most enlightened. Thomas Merton enlightenedcouragefall We too often forget that faith is a matter of questioning and struggle before it becomes one of certitude and peace. You have to doubt and reject everything else in order to believe firmly in Christ, and after you have begun to believe, your faith itself must be tested and purified. Christianity is not merely a set of forgone conclusions. Faith tends to be defeated by the burning presence of God in mystery, and seeks refuge from him, flying to comfortable social forms and safe convictions in which purification is no longer an inner battle but a matter of outward gesture. Thomas Merton strugglefaithbelieve We are not converted only once in our lives but many times and this endless series of conversions and inner revolutions leads to our transformation. Thomas Merton endlesstransformationrevolution For although God is right with us and in us and out of us and all through us, we have to go on journeys to find him. Thomas Merton journeygoes-on We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being. As a result, men are valued not for what they are but for what they do or what they have - for their usefulness. Thomas Merton courageinspirationalmen It is my belief, that we should not be too sure of having found Christ in ourselves until we have found him also in that part of humanity that is most remote from our own. Thomas Merton awarenessbeliefhumanity The purpose of our lives is to find the purpose of our lives. Thomas Merton our-livespurposelife-is Love in fact is the spiritual life, and without it all the other exercises of the spirit, however lofty, are emptied of content and become mere illusions. Thomas Merton spiritualexerciselove
