The Well That Overflows

In his journal, Thomas Merton once described watching a brother at Gethsemani Abbey carry water to the guest house. The monk moved with such unhurried presence that the simple task seemed almost liturgical — each step a prayer, each moment an offering poured out in silence. Paul writes to the Galatians, "Through love, serve one another." But the contemplative tradition asks us to notice the order: love first, then service.…