Sunday, February 11, 2007

Thomas Merton 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"


This prayer is one I used in devotions over a year and when I worked on my enigma variations series, I was going to use this on a notecards with one of the images. Then it occured to me that this was his work and his prayer and that I should/could speak to God with my own sentiments that might be similar to the ones Merton expressed, but yet my own. It's in the following post with Enigma Variation #9 as an illustration.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is really wonderful, but I love your prayer as well. Our lives are a mystery!