Let me say this before rain becomes a utility that they can plan and distribute for money. By "they" I mean the people who cannot understand that rain is a festival, who do not appreciate its gratuity, who think that what has no price has no value, that what cannot be sold is not real, so that the only way to make something actual is to place it on the market. The time will come when they will sell you even your rain. At the moment it is still free, and I am in it. I celebrate its gratuity and its meaninglessness.
Thomas MertonTrue contemplation is not a psychological trick but a theological grace. It can come to us ONLY as a gift, and not as a result of our own clever use of spiritual techniques.
Thomas MertonHow do you expect to arrive at the end of your own journey if you take the road to another man's city?
Thomas MertonIn the devil's theology, the important thing is to be absolutely right and to prove that everybody else is absolutely wrong.
Thomas MertonIt is in the ordinary duties and labors of life that the Christian can and should develop his spiritual union with God.
Thomas MertonBecause You have called me here not to wear a label by which I can recognize myself and place myself in some kind of a category. You do not want me to be thinking about what I am, but about what You are. Or rather, You do not even want me to be thinking about anything much: for You would raise me above the level of thought. And if I am always trying to figure out what I am and where I am and why I am, how will that work be done?
Thomas Merton