Million Different Voices

"It is only the infinite mercy and love of God that has prevented us from tearing ourselves to pieces and destroying His entire creation long ago. People seem to think that it is in some way a proof that no merciful God exists, if we have so many wars. On the contrary, consider how in spite of centuries of sin and greed and lust and cruelty and hatred and avarice and oppression and injustice, spawned and bred by the free wills of men, the human race can still recover, each time, and can still produce men and women who overcome evil with good, hatred with love, greed with charity, lust and cruelty with sanctity. How could all this be possible without the merciful love of God, pouring out His grace upon us? Can there be any doubt where wars come from and where peace comes from, when the children of this world, excluding God from their peace conferences, only manage to bring about greater and greater wars the more they talk about peace?...There is not a flower that opens, not a seed that falls into the ground, and not an ear of wheat that nods on the end of its stalk in the wind that does not preach and proclaim the greatness and the mercy of God to the whole world...The quietness and hiddenness and placidity of the truly good people in the world all proclaim the glory of God. All these things, all creatures, every graceful movement, every ordered act of the human will, all are sent to us as prophets from God...We refuse to hear the million different voices through which God speaks to us, and every refusal hardens us more and more against His grace -- and yet He continues to speak to us: and we say He is without mercy!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thomas Merton