Thursday, July 16, 2009

Mercy

“Blessed are they that mourn.” Can this be true? Is there any greater wretchedness than to taste the dregs of our own insufficiency and misery and hopelessness, and to know that we are certainly worth nothing at all? Yet it is blessed to be reduced to these depths if, in them, we can find God. Until we have reached the bottom of the abyss, there is still something for us to choose between all and nothing. There is still something in between. We can still evade the decision. When we are reduced to our last extreme, there is no further evasion. The choice is a terrible one. It is made in the heart of darkness, but with an intuition that is unbearable by its angelic clarity: when we who have been destroyed and seem to be in hell miraculously choose God.
--- No Man is an Island, Thomas Merton
Shawie

3 Grateful Heart's Words:

Debbie Petras said...

It's when I reach the bottom and end of myself, that I realize my need for God. People often think that they are bringing Him their strengths so He can work with them. But He doesn't need our strength. He desires our willingness to lay down our "selves" and trust Him to work in and through us. It works better that way!

I've missed visiting you Shawie. It's been a busy week but I hope to read the posts I missed. I hope you are well.

The Pope said...

To complete God's words in the Eight Beatitudes, He said:

“Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4)

People who mourn their own failure to obey the commandments of God, and who mourn that they have hurt or injured their other people whom they should rightly have blessed; as the turn unto the Lord, with a broken heart and contrite spirit, they will be comforted.

Life is Beautiful. Keep on believing.

God bless you.

Mel Avila Alarilla said...

Yes, it is in moments of extreme sorrow can we discover that it is really impossible to live without God, that our life is like a mist that can suddenly burst anytime. That is the time when we can realize our total helplessness and total dependency on God. The Bible says, without God we can do nothing. Thanks for the post. God bless you always.