For You Alone

Give me the strength that waits upon You in silence and peace.
Give me humility in which alone is rest,
and deliver me from pride which is the heaviest of burdens.
And possess my whole heart and soul with the simplicity of love.
Occupy my whole life with the one thought and the one desire of love,
that I may love not for the sake of merit,
not for the sake of perfection,
not for the sake of virtue,
not for the sake of sanctity,
but for You alone.
For there is only one thing that can satisfy love and reward it, and that is You alone.
-- Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

Let my eyes see nothing in the world but Your glory,
and let my hands touch nothing that is not for Your service.
-- Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation