Thomas Merton, writing in 1966

"Hear what comfortable words," says the priest, from the Book of Common Prayer, leading the congregation into deeper worship the old-fashioned way. Not with loud music, emotional exhortations, sentimental feel-good platitudes or technological legerdemain, but just the words of scripture.

You are fed up with words, and I don't blame you. I am nauseated by them sometimes. I am also, to tell the truth, nauseated by ideals and with causes. This sounds like heresy, but I think you will understand what I mean. It is so easy to get engrossed with ideas and slogans and myths that in the end one is left holding the bag, empty, with no trace of meaning left in it. And then the temptation is to yell louder than ever in order to make the meaning be there again by magic. Going through this kind of reaction helps you to guard against this. Your system is complaining of too much verbalizing, and it is right....

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