“May we not neglect the silenceprinted in the center of our being.It will not fail us.”-Thomas Merton
Tag Archives: Thomas Merton
Everything is Prayer
“Let me seek then, the gift of silence and solitude, where everything I touch is turned into a prayer: where the sky is my prayer, the birds are my prayer, the wind in the trees is my prayer…”-Thomas Merton
New Beginnings
And we always in all ways start anew. In each breath, each moment, in our choices to be present and to be kind, we create the world. Last night felt like New Year’s Eve and this morning like a new dawn – but each day is that – has the potential for that – regardless the angst outside ourselves. This I learn again and again…
“A new beginning! We must learn to live each day, each hour, yes, each minute as a new beginning, as a unique opportunity to make everything new. Imagine that we could live each moment as a moment pregnant with new life. Imagine that we could live each day as a day full of promises. Imagine that we could walk through the new year always listening to a voice saying to us: ‘I have a gift for you and can’t wait for you to see it! Imagine!”
-Henri J.M. Nouwen
“There is in us an instinct for newness, for renewal, for a liberation of creative power. We seek to awaken in ourselves a force which really changes our lives from within. And yet the same instinct tells us that this change is a recovery of that which is deepest, most original, most personal in ourselves. To be born again is not to become somebody else, but to become ourselves.”
-Thomas Merton
Both quotes were found in the first chapter of the Artist’s Rule by Christine Valters Painter, a Benedictine oblate and artist. This book provides a twelve week journey of contemplation and creative expression that I’m just embarking on. It is a deep dive. This book is on our Sapphire Girl’s book list if you’re interested – seems a good journey to delve into just now with new beginnings inherent and the quiet of winter about to unfold to express them in.
Precious Stillness
“Ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for awhile and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space…”
-Edward Abbey
“May we not neglect the silence printed in the center of our being. It will not fail us.”
-Thomas Merton
“Let us accept the invitation, ever open, from the Stillness, taste its exquisite sweetness, and heed its silent instruction.”
-Paul Brunton
The Poor, The Poets and Monks
“I stand before you tonight to represent the people who do not count: The poor, the poets, and monks. As long as there are people who are trying to realize the divine in themselves, there shall be hope in the world.”
—Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton distills the experience of being human in this life. He was a Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky.
As a writer, poet, activist and continual student of comparative religion, he wrote timeless words that continue to resonate and teach. The quote above is from the closing he gave to an interfaith conference in Calcutta in 1968. Thomas Merton transitioned from this life a few days after he spoke these words.
