(From Irenaeus)
“If you are the work of God, wait patiently for the hand of your artist who makes all things at an opportune time…
Give to Him a pure and supple heart and watch over the form which the artist shapes you in…lest, in hardness, you lose the traces of his fingers.
By guarding this conformity, you will ascend to perfection…To do this is proper to the kindness of God, to have done is becoming human nature. If therefore, you hand over to Him what is yours, namely, faith in Him and submission, you will see his Skill and be a perfect work of God.”
(Merton, Journals, August 25-26, 1965, V284-85)