Breath of Life

“Prayer is essentially God’s work. Our part is to give time, do our best to keep attention, surrender ourselves as best we can. Then we can be sure that God works. Faith does not ask for signs, for tokens. When we really grasp that prayer is essentially God’s business, not ours, we will never talk of failure, no matter how unsatisfactory prayer seems to us.”

“When God is communicating himself to the soul, the mind’s natural field of vision has too narrow a range, and we have to engage by believing, not by focusing. Were faith to open us merely to a world of sharper ideas or more vivid impressions, then its light would indeed look bright. As it opens us to God, its light blinds us. Faith, then, is dark, not because God is distant, but because he is eye-close, soul-close.”

“I assure you, God is much better than you believe.”

“The whole meaning of our existence and the one consuming desire of the heart of God is that we should let ourselves be loved.”

“It should be known that if anyone is seeking God, the Beloved is seeking that person much more.”

“The Father spoke one Word, which was his Son, and this Word he speaks always in eternal silence, and in silence must it be heard by the soul.”

“The holiest, most ordinary, and most necessary practice of the spiritual life is that of the presence of God.”

“May the God who is all love be your unchanging dwelling place, your cell and your cloister in the midst of the world; remember that he dwells in the deepest centre of your soul.”

“When you look back over the day and see how fragmentary everything has been and how much you planned that has gone undone and all the reasons you have to be embarrassed and ashamed: just take everything exactly as it is, put it in God’s hands and leave it with Him.”

“However quietly we speak, God is so near that He will hear us. We need no wings to go in search of God, but have only to find a place where we can be alone and look upon Him present within us.”