The Voice of God is heard in Paradise

On the last page of The Sign of Jonas, Merton gives us this:

What was vile has become precious. What is now precious was never vile. I have always known the vile as precious: for what is vile I know not at all.

What was cruel has become merciful. What is now merciful was never cruel. I have always overshadowed Jonas with My mercy, and cruelty I know not at all. Have you had sight of me, Jonas My child? Mercy within mercy within mercy. I have forgiven the universe without end, because I have never known sin.

What was poor has become infinite. What is infinite was never poor. I have always known poverty as infinite: riches I love not at all. Prisons withn prisons within prisons. Do not lay up for yourselves ecstasies upon earth, where time and space corupt, where the minutes break in and steal. No more lay hold on time, Jonas, My son, lest the rivers bear you away.

What was fragile has become powerful. I loved what was most frail. I looked upon what was nothing. I touched what was without substance, and within what was not, I am.

There are drops of dew that show like sapphires in the grass as soon as the great sun appears, and leaves stir behind the hushed flight of an escaping dove.