My visit to EDS and the "Merton Prayer"

Today I had a chance to visit EDS (Episcopal Divinity School) in Cambridge, MA.  It was a great experience and I enjoyed talking to faculty members and students. This could be the place where I continue my studies and the next stage in the discernment of my vocation, to figure out where my path will lead me...to where....


As I was thinking of "where", I thought of one of my favorite writers: Thomas Merton. In his "Thoughts in Solitude" (Part Two, Chapter II) you will find fifteen lines (including a line about "where I am going") that have become known as "the Merton Prayer."

peace,

Mario :)

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My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.


- Thomas Merton, "Thoughts in Solitude"