"Lord, teach us to pray...." Laziness and Cowardice

I usually have to read the writings of Thomas Merton at least twice before I understand it! But, that is a small price to pay for the blessings received from his inspirational words and thought. This selection comes from his reflections entitled "Thoughts in Solitude" and describes two of the great enemies of the spiritual life. Merton writes,

"Laziness and cowardice are two of the greatest enemies of the spiritual life. And they are most dangerous of all when they mask as 'discretion'. This illusion would not be so fatal if discretion itself were not one of the most important virtues of a spiritual man. Indeed, it is discretion itself that must teach us the difference between cowardice and discretion. If thine eye be simple... but if the light which is in thee be darkness...

"Discretion tells us what God wants of us and what God does not want of us. In telling us this, it shows us our obligation to correspond with the inspirations of grace and to obey all the other indications of God's will.

"Laziness and cowardice put our own present comfort before the love of God. They fear the uncertainty of the future because they place no trust in God.

"Discretion warns us against wasted effort: but for the coward all effort is wasted effort. Discretion shows us where effort is wasted and when it is obligatory.

"Laziness flies from all risk. Discretion flies from useless risk: but urges us on to take the risks that faith and the grace of God demand of us. For when Jesus said the kingdom of heaven was to be won by violence, He meant that it could only be bought at the price of certain risks.

"And sooner or later, if we follow Christ we have to risk everything in order to gain everything. We have to gamble on the invisible and risk all that we can see and taste and feel. But we know the risk is worth it, because there is nothing more insecure than the transient world. For this world as we see it is passing away. (1 Corinthians 7:31)

"Without courage we can never attain to true simplicity. Cowardice keeps us 'double minded' - hesitating between the world and God. In this hesitation, there is no true faith - faith that remains an opinion. We are never certain, because we never quite give in to the authority of an invisible God. This hesitation is the death of hope. We never let go of those visible supports which, we well know, must one day surely fail us. And this hesitation makes true prayer impossible - it never quite dares to ask anything, or if it asks, it is so uncertain of being heard that in the very act of asking it surreptitiously seeks by human prudence, to construct a make-shift answer. (cf James 1:5-8)

"What is the use of praying if at the very moment of prayer, we have so little confidence in God that we are busy planning our own kind of answer to our prayer?"

(Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude, pages 33-35)

Love One Another - Brian