What we need is the gift of God
which makes us able to find in ourselves
not just oursleves but Him;
and then our nothingness becomes His all.
This is not possible without the liberation
effected by compunction and humility.
It requires not talent,
not mere insight,
but sorrow,
pouring itself out
in love and trust.
Writing by Thomas Merton in Cicerstian Quarterly Review, #18 (1983). For verses: See Luke 15:11-32
Painting by N.C. Wyeth, “The Prodigal.”