Merton's Prayer

• "My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone."  ~ Thomas Merton

found on Wikiquote

Merton on Christian Love

The root of Christian love is not the will to love, but the faith that one is loved.  The faith that one is loved by God.  That faith that one is loved by God although unworthy -- or, rather, irrespective of one's worth!  In the true Christian vision of God's love, the idea of worthiness loses its significance.  Revelation of the mercy of God makes the whole problem of worthiness something almost laughable: the discovery that worthiness is of no special consequence (since no-one could ever, by himself, be strictly worthy to be loved with such a love) is a true liberation of the spirit.  And until this discovery is made, until this liberation has been brought about by the divine mercy, man is imprisoned in hate.  

~ Thomas Merton, from New Seeds of Contemplation