Side door

St Mary's Cathedral. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock."

I've been taking a three-week course in the writings of Thomas Merton on contemplation. Merton was a Trappist monk, mystic, prolific writer, artist, and photographer whose life was cut prematurely short in Bangkok just as he was about to share a deeper understanding of his Catholic God that found common ground with the understanding of the great Eastern religions.

I have been copying quotes from an essay in his 1961 book 'New Seeds of Contemplation' into my journal. Here are a few excerpts.

If I were looking for God, every moment would sow seeds of God's life in my will [or, I noted, God's will in my life] that would one day spring up in a tremendous harvest.

In all that happens, my one desire and joy should be to know, Here is the thing that God has willed for me. In giving myself I shall find God, who is life everlasting. By accepting all things [as] from God I receive God's joy into my soul.

I obey God if I am true to the task I perform, carefully and well, with love and respect, thus uniting myself to God's will in my work. In this way I become God's instrument. God works through me.


Here endeth the lesson. :)