Midweek Meditation: Desiring God

Here is another prayer that we can learn from Thomas Merton. Sometimes, when we pray, we tend to be so full of ourselves, filled with wanting our material wants be met. In doing so, we miss out the joy and delight of prayer: Desiring God.

"O my God, I don't care about anything; 
All I know is that I want to love You.
I want my will to disappear in Your will.
I want to be one spirit with You.
I want to become all Your desires and thoughts.
I want to live in the middle of Your Trinity 
and praise You with all the flames of Your own praise.

O my God, knowing all this, 
why do You leave me alone in my selfishness and in my vanity and pride,
instead of drawing me into the midst of Your love?
My God, do not delay any longer 
to make me a saint and to make me one with You,
and do not delay to live in me.
And if it requires a sacrifice, 
You will give me the courage to make all sacrifices.
You will consumer me in Your own immense love.
So do not be afraid of my weakness, O God,
because You can do everything.
I believe in Your love above all things.
I have forgotten everything else (that is, I want to).
I live for Your love, if You will only make me live so."

(Thomas Merton, Dialogues with Silence, New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2001, p31)

Pray not to seek earthly treasures. Pray for the heavenly Kingdom be done, and trust God to provide our earthly needs. One more thing. When we pray, we are actually doing heart surgery. We let the Spirit of God prompt us about where our desires are. For God? Or for the fulfilment of our wants?


conrade