Midweek Meditation: Seeking God

As we approach the middle of the week, I invite you to meditate upon this prayer of Thomas Merton. It is a prayer to help us look away from our self-seeking inclinations, and to desire God more and more. Like John's request, may I be less and less, so that God be more and more, in my mind, in my heart, in my soul, and in my strength.

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"My God, I give up my attachment to peace, the delight

and sweetness of contemplation of Your love and Your Presence.

I give myself to You to love Your will and Your honor alone.

I know that, if You want me to renounce the manner of my desiring You,

it is only in order that I may possess You surely

and come to union with You.

I will try from now on, with Your grace,

to make no more fuss about 'being a contemplative,'

about acquiring that perfection for myself.

Instead I will seek only You,

not contemplation and not perfection,

but You alone.

Then maybe I will be able to do the simple things

that You would have me do,

and do them well,

with a perfect and pure intention in all peace and silence and obscurity,

concealed even from my own self,

and safe from my poisonous self-esteem."

(Thomas Merton, Dialogues with Silence, New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2001, p39)

Amen. conrade