To Be a Saint
Reading Echoing Silence, and I find this question, posed from Robert Lax to Thomas Merton...
What do you want to be, anyway?
"A good Catholic," says Merton. It's a lame answer, he knows. And Lax does not accept it.
You should say... you want to be a saint.
"I can't be that," says Merton. And knows straightaway that this is cowardice. This is to say, "I am satisfied to save my soul, to keep out of mortal sin, but... I do not want to give up my sins and my attachments."
What do you want to be, anyway? I hear You, ancient Friend, ask the same.
Put the brave words in my mouth... "I want to be a saint."
What do you want to be, anyway?
"A good Catholic," says Merton. It's a lame answer, he knows. And Lax does not accept it.
You should say... you want to be a saint.
"I can't be that," says Merton. And knows straightaway that this is cowardice. This is to say, "I am satisfied to save my soul, to keep out of mortal sin, but... I do not want to give up my sins and my attachments."
What do you want to be, anyway? I hear You, ancient Friend, ask the same.
Put the brave words in my mouth... "I want to be a saint."
Labels: prayer of supplication
posted by L.L. Barkat at
6:14 PM
2 Comments:
Talk about convicting. That is a scary thing to say
Powerful and moving.
Thank you.
I have felt the presence of God.
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