Dialogues with Silence Quotes

“Your brightness is my darkness. I know nothing of You and, by myself, I cannot even imagine how to go about knowing You. If I imagine You, I am mistaken. If I understand You, I am deluded. If I am conscious and certain I know You, I am crazy. The darkness is enough.”
― Thomas Merton, Dialogues with Silence: A Personal Devotional Journey Through Prayers and Artistic Expressions of the Renowned Spiritual Writer Thomas Merton. A Great Christmas Gift

“I need my heart to be moved by you.”
― Thomas Merton, Dialogues with Silence: A Personal Devotional Journey Through Prayers and Artistic Expressions of the Renowned Spiritual Writer Thomas Merton. A Great Christmas Gift

“And when I thought there was no God and no love and no mercy, you were leading me all the while into the midst of His love and His mercy and taking me, without my knowing anything about it, to the house that would hide me in the secret of His Face.”
― Thomas Merton, Dialogues with Silence: A Personal Devotional Journey Through Prayers and Artistic Expressions of the Renowned Spiritual Writer Thomas Merton. A Great Christmas Gift

“My God, it is to You alone that I can talk because nobody else will understand. I cannot bring anyone on this earth into the cloud where I dwell in Your light—that is, in Your darkness where I am lost and abashed. I cannot explain to anyone the anguish which is Your joy, nor the loss which is the possession of You, nor the distance from all things which is the arrival in You, nor the death which is the birth in You, because I do not know anything about it myself. All I know is that I wish it were over—I wish it were begun. You have contradicted everything. You have left me in no-man’s land. You have got me walking up and down all day under those trees, saying to me over and over again: “Solitude, solitude.” And You have turned around and thrown the whole world in my lap. You have told me, “Leave all things and follow me,” and then You have tied half of New York to my foot like a ball and chain. You have got me kneeling behind that pillar with my mind making a noise like a bank. Is that contemplation?”
― Thomas Merton, Dialogues with Silence: A Personal Devotional Journey Through Prayers and Artistic Expressions of the Renowned Spiritual Writer Thomas Merton. A Great Christmas Gift