Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice.
Interpretation
Achieving peace requires significant effort and personal sacrifice.
This quote by Thomas Merton emphasizes that the pursuit of peace is not a passive or easy endeavor; rather, it necessitates courageous actions and the willingness to make difficult sacrifices. It underscores the idea that true peace often comes at a cost and demands commitment and hard work from those who seek it.
In practice
In a speech advocating for social justice, one might say, 'As Thomas Merton reminds us, peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice.'
The devil is no fool. He can get people feeling about heaven the way they ought to feel about hell. He can make them fear the means of grace the way they do not fear sin. And he does so, not by light but by obscurity, not by realities but by shadows; not by clarity and substance, but by dreams and the creatures of psychosis. And men are so poor in intellect that a few cold chills down their spine will be enough to keep them from ever finding out the truth about anything.
Our vocation is not simply to be, but to work together with God in the creation of our own life, our own identity, our own destiny....To work out our identity in God.
Conscience is the light by which we interpret the will of God in our own lives.
You are made in the image of what you desire.
But if you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I think I am living for.
I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.
Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people.
Negotiation and discussion are the greatest weapons we have for promoting peace and development.
The Government chose to give peace a chance. The Government chose to do something to achieve it.
Peace is the best time for improvement and preparation of every kind; it is in peace that our commerce flourishes most, that taxes are most easily paid, and that the revenue is most productive.
I cease not to advocate peace; even though unjust it is better than the most just war.
Could I have but a line a century hence crediting a contribution to the advance of peace, I would yield every honor which has been accorded by war.
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