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Thought I'd stick this up here. Just in case anyone has bothered to drop by. It's a prayer from Thomas Merton's Thoughts In Solitude.
Let this be my only consolation, that wherever I am You, my Lord, are loved and praised.
The trees indeed love you without knowing you. The tiger lilies and corn flowers are there, proclaiming that they love you, without being aware of your presence. The beautiful dark clouds ride slowly across the sky musing on you like children who do not know what they are dreaming of, as they play.
But in the midst of them all, I know you, and I know of your presence. In them and in me I know of the love which they do not know, and, what is greater, I am abashed by the presence of your love in me. O kind and terrible love, which you have given me, and which could never be in my heart if you did not love me! For in the midst of these beings which have never offended you, I am loved by you, and it would seem most of all as one who has offended you. I am seen by you under the sky, and my offenses have been forgotten by you - but I have not forgotten them.
Only one thing I ask: that the memory of them should not make me afraid to receive into my heart the gift of Love - which you have placed in me. I will receive it because I am unworthy. In doing so I will only love you all the more, and give your mercy greater glory.
Remembering that I have been a sinner, I will love you in spite of what I have been, knowing that my love is precious because it comes from your own Son, but precious even more because it makes me your son.
| posted by Matt | 10:20 PM | |