Who Has the Aptitude for Contemplative Work?
The one who experiences God working in the depths of his spirit has the aptitude for contemplation and no one else.
Who Should Take up Contemplation?
These people, even if they have at one time been habitual sinners, should devote themselves to nourishing the grace of contemplative prayer.
Why Contemplative Prayer Is Work and Toil
Then why is this work so toilsome? The labor, of course, is in the unrelenting struggle to banish the countless distracting thoughts that plague our minds
Desire Him for His Sake and Not Good Gifts
LIFT up your heart to God with a gentle stirring of love, desire Him for His sake and not for any good gifts He can supply. Avoid thinking on anything but God. Think not on any of His Creation or their functions but only on God Himself, so that you desire nothing but Him. Cloud […]
Cultivate Study, Reflection, and Prayer
Anyone who aspires to contemplation ought to cultivate Study, Reflection, and Prayer, or to put it differently, reading, thinking, and praying.
Without Reading or Hearing God’s Word
Without reading or hearing God’s word, a man who is spiritually blind on account of habitual sin is simply unable to see the foul stain on his conscience.