What to read today.
Chapter 3:Seeds of Contemplation
Questions for your personal reflection.
“So much depends on our idea of God!...Our idea of God tells us more about ourselves than about Him.”
What does your idea of God tell you about yourself?
Sharing with others: What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
The notion of “consenting to
God’s will” is to me equivalent to “saying an unqualified Yes to life”. I appreciate Merton’s related insights about work, which
happens to be one of my preoccupations. Merton says that I need merely be true
to the task I am performing at the moment, and to act with love and respect for
the nature of that task. I remind
myself that the task can have no monetary value, be mundane, even distasteful,
not productive of anything etc. This
is a lesson that keeps presenting itself.
Posted by Genevieve 
I think he is saying you have to become alive/awake to the world , and this awakening is the death or end of that other part of yourself that is concerned with worldly things as they affect or relate to yourself-hunger, success etc.
ReplyDeleteHe also wants us to be willing and joyful participants in all that we do
Question: Is this god directed, god guided or god experienced
post by william
Thanks William. I read your post after I added mine and I appreciate the way you have put things.
Deletefrom Second Thoughts
Posted by Second Thoughts
ReplyDeleteLast night I had a conversation with a young man about achievement. He took pleasure in what he considered to be the direct results of personal initiative, effort and will-power. In today’s chapter I think Merton is guiding us in another direction, one that is counter-cultural and not based on personal achievement. Merton says that every moment and every event of life on earth plants something in my soul, regardless of what I think, want or will. The consequences are obscure and veiled. My job is attention, acceptance, consent and openness plus responsiveness to the needs of others.
I wonder what will be planted in my soul today and whether I will be able to maintain a state of acceptance.