The story...
The life of a monk, I'll never experience. I do aspire to have the ability to write honestly and robustly about the actualities of my life and faith. My ability to communicate my reality is hampered by my: limited communication skills; ability to understand my own heart; the few people I share the reality of my faith with; and the interference that my "self" causes.
I'm so thankful for the faithful life of Thomas Merton - his honest description of his life journey, his faithful walk in Christ, and his ability to describe it so accurately and succinctly. Contemplating his paragraph copied and cited below is helpful. I'm not able to add to what he so succinctly presents - just for today.
Just for today...
"To consider persons and events and situations only in the light of their effect upon myself is to live on the doorstep of hell. Selfishness is doomed to frustration, centered as it is upon a lie. To live exclusively for myself, I must make all things bend themselves to my will as if I were a god. But this is impossible. Is there any more cogent indication of my creaturehood than the insufficiency of my own will? For I cannot make the universe obey me. I cannot make other people conform to my own whims and fancies. I cannot make even my own body obey me. When I give it pleasure, it deceives my expectation and makes me suffer pain. When I give myself what I conceive to be freedom, I deceive myself and find that I am the prisoner of my own blindness and selfishness and insufficiency." Merton, Thomas, No Man is an Island (1955) (p. 24)
"I will not resist the impact of a new idea. It may be just the one I've needed without being aware of it. I will make my mind more flexible and receptive to new points of view." One Day at a Time (p. 200)
"... I can plant a seed in fertile soil, but I don't help the plant to grow by tugging at the seed in hope that it will sprout. I have to let the process unfold at its own pace." Courage to Change (p. 200)
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