When a monk enters a monastery, what is asked of him is, “Are you truly seeking God?” The question isn’t, “Have you found God?” The question is, “Is he seeking God? Is his motivation highly involved on that search of who and what God is in relationship to us?” It’s not philosophical—it’s existential. And Merton, to me, was a great searcher. He was constantly unhappy, as all great searchers are. He was constantly ill at ease, he was constantly restless, as all searchers are—because that’s part of the search. And in that sense, he was the perfect monk. Contemplation isn’t satisfaction—it’s searching.
--Rembert Weakland, about Thomas Merton’s search for God, in his sermon at the conference on monasticism the morning after Merton’s death on December 10, 1968.
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