This compelling love, steeped in silence, is required of every soul. This obedience to the present moment is, moreover, an act whereby they dedicate themselves totally to the external will of God as a matter of course. This is their rule, method, law and way. Pure, simple and sure, it is a straight path along which souls walk with courage and faith, looking neither to the right nor the left, unconcerned with everything else.
~~Jean-Pierre de Caussade, The Sacrament of the Present Moment
A little lifting-up of the heart is enough; a short remembrance of God, an interior act of worship, made in haste and sword in hand, are prayers which, short as they may be, are nevertheless most pleasing to God.
~~unknown
The future, good or ill, was not forgotten, but ceased to have any power over the present. Health and hope grew strong in them, and they were content with each good day as it came, taking pleasure in every meal, and in every word and song.
~~J.R.R.Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
So whatever form of prayer, meditation, or activity leads you to the highest and purest desire for Him, and to the deepest experience of Him, will be the means by which you may best seek and find Him.
~~Walter Hilton, The Ladder of Perfection, 57.
We do not want to be beginners. But let us be convinced of the fact that we will never be anything else but beginners, all our life!
~Thomas Merton, Contemplative Prayer.
That our thoughts spoil everything all the trouble begins with them. We must be careful to reject them immediately [when] we see that they are neither necessary to our occupation at the moment nor conducive to our salvation, and return to our communion with God, wherein is our only good.
~Br. Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God
It is only when one makes a relentless and unswervingly concrete commitment to prayer that it becomes possible for God even to begin to act significantly in that life.
~Fr. John-Julian, “The Dance of the 13 Veils”
This realization of your own unworthiness will drive out of your heart people’s affairs and criticism of their actions, and will compel you to look at yourself alone, as though there were no one in existence but God and yourself.
~Walter Hilton, The Ladder of Perfection.
Practicing Present-ness.
“Growth in prayer is growth in simplicity, and as the powers of the soul become united with the will in the act of love, which is prayer, [the] method of operation alters and becomes less deliberate, until [those in prayer] appear to be doing nothing, a fact which often causes much heart-searching to the inexperienced.”
~FP Harton, The Elements of the Spiritual Life.
Practicing Present-ness.
“That our thoughts spoil everything, all the trouble begins with them. We must be careful to reject them immediately [when] we see that they are neither necessary to our occupation at the moment nor conducive to our salvation, and return to our communion with God, wherein is our only good.”
~Br. Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God.
Practicing Present-ness.
“The heroic minute. It’s time to get up, on the dot! Without hesitation, a supernatural thought and . . . up! The heroic minute; here you have a mortification that strengthens your will and does not weaken your body.”
~Josemaria Escriva, The Way, #206.
