July 1st
St Chantal on Prayer
Keep Your Eyes Upon God

Faith without works is never enough.  It is not a feeling of faith or of hope which will save us, but rather what we do supported by the mercy of God.  Now in actual fact you do possess these precious theological virtues, and your works make this plain by the faithfulness with which you observe the law of God and our laws.  To conduct oneself in this fashion is to have faith of the right kind, because feelings of affection for the virtues are not within our power, but we can always work at them.  At the moment this is what God asks of you, while He holds you in this state of general interior suffering and in a privation of every sort of enlightenment and knowledge.  But throughout all this it lies within our power to work away at the virtues.  It is to this task that you are giving yourself at present.  God is pleased with you because you are accomplishing His holy will.  In the general interior martyrdom which God is making you endure, what you are doing is quite enough.  So, give no thought any further to your troubles nor to your confusion of mind, nor to the fears and anxieties which all these efforts are causing, however violent and frightening they may seem.  In place of this, hold your gaze upon God in patience and let Him do what He wills.  This is the instruction of our blessed father, and a great piece of teaching it is.