Thursday, July 5, 2012

Thomas Merton Prayer

  Feel free to to cut and paste and pray it yourself!

Thomas Merton's Prayer
MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
- Thomas Merton, "Thoughts in Solitude"


Thomas Merton was one of the most influential Catholic authors of the 20th century. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, in Kentucky, Merton was an acclaimed Catholic spiritual writer, poet, author and social activist. Merton wrote over 60 books, scores of essays and reviews, and is the ongoing subject of many biographies. Merton was also a proponent of inter-religious dialogue, engaging in spiritual dialogues with the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh and D. T. Suzuki. His life and career were suddenly cut short at age 53, when he was electrocuted stepping out of his bath.

5 comments:

Annie Jeffries said...

I posted this on my Catholic group on my Facebook page. Lovely prayer.

momto8 said...

I am trying to get my drank the kool aide liberal college son to read his books...that is a universal prayer! thank you.

Mary N. said...

Thank you! I love Thomas Merton and this prayer is beautiful. Like his poetry - he reaches into the heart of things.

Monica said...

Thanks for posting this beautiful and meaningful prayer!

Therese said...

Very nice prayer. Going to print it out.