June 11th
St Chantal on Prayer
"Speak Lord..."

In prayer one must hold fast and never let go because in this game, he who gives up, loses all.  If it seems that no one is listening to you, then cry out still louder.  If you are driven out of one door, go back in by the other.  If you are told, as was the Canaanite woman, that you do  not deserve the grace for which you are asking, then reply like her that you lay no claim to unusual favors, but only hope to eat the crumbs which fall from the divine table.

Since God is infinitely above all things, the soul must in its turn raise itself infinitely to attain Him.  The heavenly Bridegroom speaking to His bride, when she turns to Him in prayer, compares her to a pillar of smoke which  mounts up towards the sky without finding anything which can hinder its climb.