Another taste of Thomas Merton:
There is in all things an inexhaustible sweetness and purity, a silence that is a fount of action and joy. It rises up in wordless gentleness and flows out to me from the unseen roots of all created being, welcoming me tenderly, saluting me with indescribable humility.
- Thomas Merton
A friend last night described her experience watching an ant carry a huge crumb, a crumb bigger than the ant. The ant struggled to get up a hill, and then, turned around and walking backward carried the crumb to the top and then, without congratulating itself, headed back down, each step of the journey as important as the next.