June 10, 2024
“All men seek peace first of all with themselves. That is necessary
because we do not naturally find rest even in our being. We have to learn to commune
with ourselves before we can communicate with other men and with God. A man who
is not at peace with himself necessarily projects his interior fighting into the
society of those he lives with, and spreads a contagion of conflict all around
him. Even when he tries to do good to others his efforts are hopeless, since he
does not know how to do good to himself. In moments of wildest idealism he may
take int into his head to make other people happy: and in doing so he will overwhelm
them with his own unhappiness. He seeks to find himself somehow in the work of
making others happy. Therefore, he throws himself into the work As a result he
gets out of the work all that he puts into it: his own confusion, his own disintegration,
his own unhappiness.” Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island
Sometimes we feel like we are floating comfortably on a raft
down a calm river, at peace and at home with ourselves. Other times we feel
like we are in class IV rapids, grasping at little inner tubes as they float
by, trying to survive, pulling in lifelines where we can.
Today we will get ourselves back on the raft through our
pause, and then discern the stake of the tent that we need to strengthen to be
able to come back to peace and rest.

Photo by Vicko Mozara on Unsplash

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