“Merton Monday” “…the clear-sighted recognition and mature acceptance of our own limitations is called ‘compunction.’

“Merton Monday”

“…the clear-sighted recognition and mature acceptance of our own limitations is called ‘compunction.’  Compunction is a spiritual grace, an insight into our own depths which, in one glance, sees through our illusions about ourselves, sweeps aside our self-deceptions and daydreams, and shows us ourselves exactly as we are.  But at the same time it is a movement of love and freedom, a liberation from falsity, a glad and grateful acceptance of the truth, with the resolution to live in contact with the deep spiritual reality which has been opened up to our vision: the reality of God’s will in our own lives.”

Thomas Merton – The Silent Life