This weekend we take our pearl of wisdom from the Catholic Trappist monk, Thomas Merton. His book New Seeds of Contemplation is a profound reflection on the pursuit of God and truth.
“Trees and animals have no problem. God makes them what they are without consulting them, and they are perfectly satisfied. With us it is different. God leaves us free to be whatever we like. We can be ourselves or not, as we please. We are at liberty to be real, or to be unreal. We may be true or false, the choice is ours. We may now wear one mask and now another, and never, if we so desire, appear with our own true face. But we cannot make these choices with impunity. Causes have effects, and if we lie to ourselves and to others, then we cannot expect to find truth and reality whenever we happen to want them. If we have chosen the way of falsity we must not be surprised that truth eludes us when we finally come to need it!”
Merton reminds us that, to know the truth, we must begin with a willingness to be true to ourselves. We must recognise ourselves, not for what we want to be, but in who God created us to be. We must therefore sacrifice the false facades that we build to gain acceptance from others and seek instead to live in the truth of God.
Ask God to deconstruct your false identity and reveal who you are in him.
Read 2 Corinthians 5:16-21.
