What Thomas Merton sought was an awareness of “the presence of God in this present life.” His abiding witness in his several vocations is that men and women might find their deepest freedom in God; and, holding firm to the central mystery of Christian faith, he acknowledged that “in order to become myself I must cease to be what I always thought I wanted to be….and in order to live I have to die.” In his refusal to conform, to give way, to settle for a quiet life, he continues to encourage those who go beyond the conventions of life and dare to claim for themselves the freedom of the sons and daughters of God.
— from The Art of Thomas Merton: A Divine Passion in Word and Vision
