Status Updates From The Ways of Mental Prayer

Very presumptuous is he who believes himself to be inspired & presumes to lay down the law for himself & others! Very foolish he, who welcomes inspirations but little conformable to common sense & faith! "This person," says St. Teresa, speaking of herself, "never regulated her conduct by the inspirations she received in prayer; when her confessors told her to do the opposite, she obeyed w/o the least repugnance."

God communicates to the soul a most vivid knowledge of His amiable qualities; this light sharpens her desires & her torment. The pain is so great the body is tortured by it; but of this the soul has no perception at the moment, so much more poignant is this wound of the spirit.

Of Affective Prayer - To be acquainted with meditation alone, whose method we have just explained, would be regrettable. As time goes on, and we make progress, we shall feel drawn to a more simple form of prayer, in which the mind begins to be silent in order to let the heart speak.

On the part of the understanding there is 1° ignorance of the supernatural life. The remedy is the word of God which we can find in instructions and in pious reading. To listen attentively to the word of God or to read it carefully is already a beginning of meditation.