Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton, O.C.S.O.was an American Catholic writer and mystic. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was a poet, social activist, and student of comparative religion. In 1949, he was ordained to the priesthood and given the name Father Louis...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth31 January 1915
CityPrades, France
CountryUnited States of America
mean saint
For me to be a saint means to be myself.
keys understanding enemy
It is when we love the other, the enemy, that we obtain from God the key to an understanding of who He is, and who we are.
wisdom ambition way
Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already am. That I will never fulfill my obligation to surpass myself unless I first accept myself, and if I accept myself fully in the right way, I will already have surpassed myself.
peace war fall
Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God's eyes. If only they could see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time, there would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed . . . I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other.
prayer answers littles
What is the use of praying if at the very moment of prayer, we have so little confidence in God that we are busy planning our own kind of answer to our prayer?
appreciation liberty definitions
The only true liberty is in the service of that which is beyond all limits, beyond all definitions, beyond all human appreciation: that which is All, and which therefore is no limited or individual thing: The All is no-thing, for if it were to be a single thing separated from all other things, it would not be All.
wisdom prayer want
We do not want to be beginners [at prayer]. but let us be convinced of the fact that we will never be anything but beginners, all our life!
being-yourself saint
To be a saint is to be yourself.
christian spiritual unions
It is in the ordinary duties and labors of life that the Christian can and should develop his spiritual union with God.
faith inspiration men
Be human in this most inhuman of ages; guard the image of man for it is the image of God.
ideas people stronger
People have no idea what one saint can do: for sanctity is stronger than the whole of hell.
wisdom answers creation
In our creation, God asked a question and in our truly living; God answers the question.
light events hell
To consider persons and events and situations only in the light of their effect upon myself is to live on the doorstep of hell.
inspiring life-changing moon
What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest are not only useless, but disastrous.