It is clear, then, that to love others well we must first love the truth.
The truth we must love in loving our brothers is the concrete destiny and sanctity that are willed for them by the love of God.
The truth I must love in my brother is God Himself, living in him. I must seek the love of the Spirit of God breathing in him.
— Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island
We will see that we are human, like everyone else, that we all have weaknesses and deficiencies, and that these limitations of ours play a most important part in all our lives. It is because of them that we need others and others need us.
— Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island
What do I mean by loving ourselves properly? I mean, first of all, desiring to live, accepting life as a very great gift and a great good, not because of what it gives us, but because of what it enables us to give to others.
— Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island
To find “ourselves” then is to find not only our poor, limited, perplexed souls, but to find the power of God that raised Christ from the dead and “built us together in Him unto a habitation of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22).
— Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island
I cannot discover God in myself and myself in Him unless I have the courage to face myself exactly as I am, with all my limitations, and to accept others as they are, with all their limitations.
— Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island
Do I have the courage to admit, to accept, to own how broken I am?
Will I let myself feel it, not just assent to it?
Though it feel scary as hell and shameful as sin, for the prospect of finding God in there somewhere, loving me and holding me, am I willing to do it?
Am I willing to do it as many times as it takes…for the love of God?
Am I willing to try again if it was too much for me last time?
Maybe then, just maybe, I might see you in a different light, knowing you are facing the same fears, the same questions, the same choices…the same God.
Maybe, just maybe, I might meet you where you are, accept you, even love you, as you are.
Grace and peace to us…
becoming flame 