Nothing Like You ever Found

In his writing, A Letter on the Contemplative Life, Thomas Merton offers words of encouragement from those who have given their lives to prayer and contemplation. He remarks:

“Nothing can change God’s love for me, since my very existence is the sign that God loves me and the presence of his love creates and sustains me….” 

“The message of hope the contemplative offers you, then, brother, is not that you need to find your way through the jungle of language and problems that today surround God; but that whether you understand or not, God loves you, is present to you, lives in you, dwells in you, calls you, saves you, and offers you an understanding and light which are like nothing you ever found in books or heard in sermons.”

Merton further encourages us in our own lives of prayer, writing that if we “dare to penetrate our own silence and dare to advance without fear into the solitude of our own hearts… then (we) will truly recover the light and the capacity to understand what is beyond words and beyond explanations…”

It is hard to sit in silence to listen for God’s voice. But those who make a practice of it find a centering and grounding that is noticeable and compelling. If you decide to try it, start small, one to two minutes each morning. Notice your breath. Notice your own presence. Remember that God’s Spirit is in you and around you. After a few weeks, slowly add time to the silence. Build from there. 

Let us pray: God of Grace, we do want to be the kind of people who live a centered, balanced life. We long for your healing, for your guidance, and for your love. Help us carve out time for you. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.