Kingdom of God
By the Trappist monk Thomas Merton (in Open Questions):
“The kingdom of God is the kingdom of love. But if the possibility of a decent standard of living doesn’t exist and there is lack of freedom, justice and education in human society, how can we build this kingdom of love?”
“A starving man isn’t in conditions to think of God “” unless as an escape of his own problems, and this doesn’t seem to me an act of faith. There are saints who overcame their adversities, even under conditions considered impossible for ordinary men.”
“Nevertheless, the kingdom of God isn’t limited to saints, but to ordinary people like us. We have to seek “” even if for the sake of egoism “” to build a better world for our fellow men: our inner despair will diminish and our lives will begin to have more meaning. Living together with happy people will make everything easier for ourselves.”
