April 12, 2010

our absolute dependence

photo by Lee Keefer

“Prayer is the movement of trust,
of gratitude, of adoration, or of sorrow,
that places us before God,
seeing both Him and ourselves
in the light of His infinite truth,
and moves us to ask Him
for the mercy, the spiritual strength,
the material help, that we all need.
The man whose prayer is so pure
that he never asks God for anything
does not know who God is,
and does not know who he is himself:
for he does not know his own need of God.
All true prayer somehow confesses
our absolute dependence
on the Lord of life and death.
It is, therefore, a deep and vital contact
with Him whom we know not
only as Lord but as Father.
It is when we pray truly that we really are.
Our being is brought to a high perfection by this.”
- Thomas Merton