The Well Beneath Words

In the monastery at Gethsemani, Thomas Merton once described a moment during centering prayer when every thought finally fell silent — not the silence of emptiness, but the silence of a room so full of Presence that language simply stepped aside. He called it being "found by God in the depths where we did not know we existed." This is the love John speaks of when he writes, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God."…