Naast het boek van Joseph Allen lees ik een boekje van Thomas Merton over geestelijke begeleiding en meditatie. Het is heel helder geschreven en een mooie combinatie van ernst en relativering.
Een mooi gebed van Merton:
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 understand myself.
And the fact that I think I am following.
Your will does not mean I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
Does in fact please you.
And I hope I have the 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 troubles alone.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really understand myself.
And the fact that I think I am following.
Your will does not mean I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
Does in fact please you.
And I hope I have the 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 troubles alone.
Thomas Merton
Dag Martin,
BeantwoordenVerwijderenvia je reactie aan mij kwam ik op deze weblog. Goed initiatief!
Toen je woensdag het raadsel opgaf van het citaat van Kierkegaard, moest ik denken aan Merton. Op de dag van de theologencursus werd Merton genoemd in verband met een citaat over stil zijn en luisteren.
Groeten, Simone Visser.