Page:Thecompleteascet01grimuoft.djvu/445



The life  of  a  religious  must  be  a  life  of  prayer. It is difficult,  or  to  speak  more  correctly,  it  is  morally  impossible for  a  religious,  who  is  not  a  lover  of  mental  prayer, to be  a  good  religious. If you  see  a  tepid  religious,  say that she  does  not  make  mental  prayer  and  you  will  say the truth. The devil  labors  hard  to  make  religious  lose the love  for  meditation;  and  should  he  conquer  them  in this,  he  will  gain  all. St. Philip  Neri  used  to  say,  "A religious  without  mental  prayer  is  a  religious  without reason." I add:  she  is  not  a  religious,  but  the  corpse  of a  religious. Let us  examine  what  makes  mental  prayer so necessary.

I. In  the  first  place,  without  mental  prayer  a  religious is without  light. They, says  St.  Augustine,  who  keep their eyes  shut,  cannot  see  the  way  to  their  country. The eternal  truths  are  all  spiritual  things  that  are  seen, not with  the  eyes  of  the  body,  but  with  the  eyes  of  the mind, that  is,  by  reflection  and  consideration. Now, they who  do  not  make  mental  prayer  do  not  see  these truths, nor  do  they  see  the  importance  of  eternal  salvation, and  the  means  that  they  must  adopt  in  order  to obtain  it. The loss  of  so  many  souls  arises  from  the neglect of  considering  the  great  affair  of  our  salvation, and what  we  must  do  in  order  to  be  saved.  With desolation,  says  the  prophet  Jeremias,  is  all  the  land  made  deso-