Thomas Merton Quotes

Of all the thoughts of God that are Borne inward unto souls afar, Along the Psalmist's music deep, Now tell me if that any is. For gift or grace, surpassing this-- He giveth His beloved sleep.

I'd like to learn to meditate with more enthusiasm. I can sit down and get quiet for 20 minutes, but it just has not been a part of my Christianity at all.

Grace is available for each of us every day - our spiritual daily bread - but we've got to remember to ask for it with a grateful heart and not worry about whether there will be enough for tomorrow.

Me, I'm spiritually retarded, I need to be knee deep in water with a fly rod in my hands, that's about as close to God as I get.

When you meditate or pray... both are forms of meditation... you give up control and find the answer and you open yourself to receive God's gift, the universal force, or whatever that is.

A holy day, after all, is a day for considering everything you otherwise think too little about.

I can't make nobody believe in God. I can't tell you. But you got to experience it for yourself. When you find the true meaning of a spiritual gift, of what God give you? Nothing on this planet can give you that much joy.

I believe that meditation is the highest spiritual practice, the pathway to God.

Embrace silence since meditation is the only way to truly come to know your Source.

. . . in the spiritual life you must practice. And the only way to practice is by trying to solve your problems with prayer. This develops your spiritual power and it also trains you to use that spiritual power in the most effective way.

Above all, live in the present moment and God will give you all the grace you need.

Silence gives us a new outlook on everything. We need silence to be able to touch souls. The essential thing is not what we say but what God says to us and through us.

Waiting time is not wasting time. Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life.

Contemplation: I read a lot of books on philosophy and religion, and try to keep always growing in that part of my life, because without having a spiritual grounding, I think you can get really swayed by the winds of all the praise or the criticism; it's all very, kind of, up and down. Try to stay up and focused.

One must learn an inner solitude, where or with whomsoever he may be. He must learn to penetrate things and find God there, to get a strong impression of God firmly fixed on his mind.

The winds of grace blow all the time. All we need to do is set our sails.

Meditation is listening to the divine within

A primary goal of the spiritual life is to learn to quiet the mind through prayer and meditation, through spiritual practice, so that we can hear what in both Judaism and Christianity, is called the small, still voice within.

The Simple Path Silence is Prayer Prayer is Faith Faith is Love Love is Service The Fruit of Service is Peace

God's acceptance of us cannot be gained by our successes nor forfeited by our failures.

I also understood that God's love shows itself just as well in the simplest soul which puts up no resistance to His grace as it does in the loftiest soul.

The movement of grace toward gratitude brings us from the package of self-obsessed madness to a spiritual awakening.

The greatest help to spiritual life is meditation.

The ancient spiritual tradition is that God gives himself fully to us in silence and solitude.

Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God.