Monday, April 19, 2010

Double Minded

Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude (New York: Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, 1956)

Without courage we can never attain to true simplicity. Cowardice keeps us "double minded" - hesitating between the world and God. ...And this hesitation makes true prayer impossible - it never quite dares to ask for anything, or if it asks, it is so uncertain of being heard that in the very act of asking, it surreptitiously seeks by human prudence to construct a make-shift answer. pg. 24

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Deception

David Loy, Tricycle Magazine The Nonduality of Good Evil, Spring 2002

... if you want to hurt someone, it is important to demonize them first - in other words, fit them into your good-versus-evil story. That is why the first casualty of all wars is truth.

Monday, April 12, 2010

The Grace We Need Is Here

Thomas Merton, Life and Holiness (New York: Image, 1963).


If we are called by God to holiness of life, and if holiness is beyond our natural power to achieve (which it certainly is) then it follows that God himself must give us the light, the strength, and the courage to fulfill the task he requires of us. He will certainly give us the grace we need. If we do not become saints it is because we do not avail ourselves of his gift. p. 17.