Page:Complete ascetical works of St Alphonsus v6.djvu/344

342 wrote: "He gave all to thee, and kept nothing for himself." God has bestowed his entire self upon thee; there is, then, no excuse for thee to behave reservedly with God. He has even died for us all, says the Apostle, in order that each one of us may live only for him who died for us: Christ died for all; that they also who live may not now live to themselves, but unto Him who died for them.

The third means of becoming a saint is mental prayer. John Gerson writes: "That he who does not meditate on the eternal truths cannot, without a miracle, lead the life of a Christian. The reason is, because without mental prayer light fails us, and we walk in the dark. The truths of faith are not seen by the eyes of the body, but by the eyes of the mind, when we meditate; he that fails to meditate on them, fails to see them, and therefore walks in the dark; and being in the dark, he easily grows attached to sensible things, for the sake of which he then comes to despise the eternal." St. Teresa wrote as follows to the Bishop of Osma: "Although we seem to discover in ourselves no imperfections; yet, when God opens the eyes of the soul, which he is wont to do in prayer, then they plainly appear." And St. Bernard had before said, that he who does not meditate "does not abhor himself, merely because he does not know himself." "Prayer," says the saint, "regulates the affections, directs the actions," keeps the affections of the soul in order, and directs all our actions to God; but without prayer the affections