Never leave prayer because of dryness or difficulty. Remain before God entirely plunged in His holy love, detached from all desire for your own pleasure. It might help to send out little darts of love, such as, `O my God, my true Good, I am yours!’ and then remain in peace.
–Saint Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)
This, then, is your answer whenever you feel tempted to stop praying because it seems to be a waste of time: `I am here to please God.’
–Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)
When prayer becomes too self-centered, even if it is centered upon noble and holy desires, if the focus of our prayer is I, me, or my, we are going to be in difficulty.
–Armand M. Nigro, S.J. (1928-
For many of us prayer means nothing more than speaking with God. And since it usually seems to be a quite one-sided affair, prayer simply means talking to God. This idea is enough to create great frustrations. If I present a problem, I expect a solution; if I formulate a question, I expect an answer; if I ask for guidance, I expect a response. And when it seems, increasingly, that I am talking into the dark, it is not so strange that I soon begin to suspect that my dialogue with God is in fact a monologue. Then I may begin to ask myself: To whom am I really speaking, God or myself? The crisis of our prayer life is that our mind may be filled with ideas of God while our heart remains far from him.
–Henri Nouwen (1932-1996)
When you get no consolation in prayer, when you feel you are getting nowhere, that may be the best prayer you have ever said, because you are doing it not for your sake, but for God’s. Always seek the God of consolation; never seek the consolations of God. It is always that way round.
–Basil Hume (1923-1999)
The only “failure” in prayer is when we neglect it. The only “success” in prayer is the sense of God’s presence, or a deep peace and sense of well-being, a marvelous moment of inner freedom. When that comes, it is a special gift from God. We have no claim on it; we cannot demand it. Our part is to turn to him as best we can, trying to raise our minds and hearts to him.
–Basil Hume (1923-1999)
