Page:Prayerbookforrel00lasa 0.djvu/72

 I done  about  this  in  the  past? What shall  I  now  do,  and how?

Two remarks  are  here  most  important. The first  is, that care  must  be  taken  not  to  read  too  much,  but  to  stop when any  thought  strikes  the  mind. If the  reading  is prolonged,  if,  for  example,  in  a  short  prayer  of  half  an hour  you  were  to  read  for  ten  minutes,  the  exercise  would be changed  into  spiritual  reading. The second  remark is, that  you  must  not  be  distressed  if  you  find  the  mind torpid, and  if  only  one  or  two  very  simple  thoughts  present themselves. It is  by  no  means  necessary  to  have many thoughts,  or  to  indulge  in  deep  and  well  arranged reflections. The object  of  mental  prayer  is  not  to  preach a well  prepared  and  eloquent  sermon  to  yourself:  the object is  to  pray. If one  simple  thought  makes  you  pray, why distress  yourself  because  you  have  not  other  and more elaborate  thoughts? If you  wanted  to  reach  the top of  a  roof  you  would  not  trouble  yourself  because  your ladder was  a  short  one,  provided  it  was  long  enough  to land  you  safely  on  the  roof. The end  is  gained. If one simple reflection  enables  you  to  pray,  you  would,  in reality,  be  merely  distracting  yourself  from  prayer  in order  to  occupy  yourself  with  your  own  thoughts,  if  you were to  go  on  developing  a  lengthy  train  of  thought. This would  be  to  mistake  the  means  for  the  end,  and it is  a  very  common  mistake  and  the  cause  of  great discouragement. This mistake  will  be  evident  if  you remember that  while  you  are  following  out  a  line  of thought,  for  instance,  when  you  are  answering  the  questions suggested  above,  you  are  conversing  with  yourself.

It is  plain  therefore  that  as  your  object  is  to  converse with God,  you  should  not  remain  too  long  in  talking  to yourself,  and  that,  therefore,  if  you  feel  a  difficulty  in doing  this,  you  need  not  be  distressed. "The progress of  a  soul,"  says  the  enlightened  St.  Teresa,  "does  not consist  in  thinking  much  of  God,  but  in  loving  Him