God wishes you to have recourse to Him and to make Him the confidant of all your trouble… Do not withdraw yourself from His hands, however painful His remedies may be. Ask Him not to do your will in what He does, but to do His own.
–Saint John of Avila (1500-1569)
He who labors as he prays lifts his heart to God with his hands.
–Saint Benedict (480-547)
Everyone is capable of inward contemplative prayer, and it is a terrible shame that almost all people have it in their heads not to do it. We are all called to this prayer as we are all called to eternal life. Contemplative prayer is nothing more than heartfelt affection and love. What is necessary is to love God and to focus on him.
–Jean Guyon (1648-1717)
God wills that our desire should be exercised in prayer, that we may be able to receive what He is prepared to give.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)
Formerly, I had never heard anyone speak to me of a totally spontaneous intimacy in relations with God. However, at the bottom of my heart I thought that a soul can be intimate with God by using all ways to express its love for him; that it can converse with him by using no matter what sort of ordinary words, according to its needs and circumstances. Of course it is not a waste of time to recite prayers; however, it might be that it is not so profitable as a conversation of the soul conversing gently with God in terms which spring spontaneously from the heart.
–Francois-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuân (1928-2002)
Pray with words, pray with your sighs, pray with your desires. Of these three ways of praying, you will be able to use the latter two more easily.
–Francois-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuân (1928-2002)
