Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy.
Meaning
Merton wrote this to the activist Dorothy Day while thinking about how to serve people without sorting them into deserving and undeserving. Love here is a task, not a reward. In practice, offer patience to a difficult coworker or relative without first demanding they earn it.
Source: Letter to Dorothy Day, quoted in Catholic Voices in a World on Fire (2005)
About the author
Thomas Merton (1915–1968) was an American Trappist monk, writer and poet. He is best known for his autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain and for his writing on contemplation, peace and interfaith dialogue.
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