of God's will that their familiarity has bred an apparent contempt. It has
made them forget that God's will is more than a concept. It is a terrible
and transcendent reality, a secret power which is given to us, from moment
to moment, to be the life of our life and the soul of our own soul's life. It is
the living flame of God's own Sort, in Whom our own soul's flame can
play, if it wills, like a mysterious angel. God's will is not an abstraction,
not a machine, not an esoteric system. It is a living concrete reality in the
lives of men, and our souls are created to burn as flames within His flame.
The will of the Lord is not a static center drawing our souls blindly toward
itself. It is a creative power, working everywhere, giving life and being and
direction to all things, and above all forming and creating, in the midst of
an old creation, a whole new world which is called the Kingdom of God.
What we call the "will of God" is the movement of His love and wisdom,
ordering and governing all free and necessary agents, moving movers and
causing causes, driving drivers and ruling those who rule, so that even those
who resist Him carry out His will without realizing that they are doing so.
In all His acts God orders all things whether good or evil, for the good of
those who know Him and seek Him and who strive to bring their own
freedom under obedience to His divine purpose. All that is done by the
will of God in secret is done for His glory and for the good of those whom
He has chosen to share in His glory.
Who is Thomas Merton? Merton (January 31, 1915 to December 10, 1968) was
a Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethemani, in the U.S. state of Kentucky.
Merton wrote many books, essays and reviews on spirituality. He was an avid
supporter of interfaith understanding and spoke with the Dalai Lama, Thich
Nhat Hanh and D.T. Suzuki.
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