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Thomas Merton Quotes about Perfection

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We cannot possess the truth fully until it has entered into the very substance of our life by good habits, and by a certain perfection of moral activity.

We cannot possess the truth fully until it has entered into the very substance of our life by good habits, and by a certain perfection of moral activity.

Thomas Merton
Perfection, Substance, Moral

Our happiness consists in sharing the happiness of God, the perfection of His unlimited freedom, the perfection of His love.

Thomas Merton
Perfection, His Love, Unlimited
Thomas Merton (1998). “The Seven Storey Mountain”, p.434, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Business is not the supreme virtue, and sanctity is not measured by the amount of work we accomplish. Perfection is found in the purity of our love for God, and this pure love is a delicate plant that grows best where there is plenty of time for it to mature

Thomas Merton
Love Is, Perfection, Our Love
Thomas Merton (1960). “Spiritual Direction and Meditation”, p.85, Liturgical Press

What is 'grace'? It is God's own life, shared by us. God's life is love. Deus caritas est. By grace we are able to share in the infinitely selfless love of Him Who is such pure actuality that He needs nothing and therefore cannot conceivably exploit anything for selfish ends. Indeed, outside of Him there is nothing, and whatever exists exists by His free gift of its being, so that one of the notions that is absolutely contradictory to the perfection of God is selfishness.

Thomas Merton
Selfish, Free Gifts, Perfection
Thomas Merton (1998). “The seven storey mountain”, Harcourt

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