June 16th
St Chantal on Prayer
States of Prayer

The spells of dryness which we experience in prayer are caused by nothing but our warmth of love for God.  Anyone who is in love finds it easy to hold attention on that which is loved.  If our mind refuses to pronounce a word, let us make our hearts speak for us.  Suppose we were to say nothing more to God than this, that we love Him, that He is worthy of our love -- that would be enough.  With Him there is no need for long speeches.  In heaven the angels utter no other word than this:  Holy.  This is their entire prayer, and in the region of eternal bliss they are occupied with this single word as an act of homage to the single Word of God who lives eternally.

God is light and darkness, both at once.  He is light or darkness, as He pleases, to whom He pleases.  If it is His will to be darkness for you, then look for nothing better.  We shall be treating the things of God with greater reverence if we gaze upon them only in the shadows and darkness of faith without wishing to see  clearly into them; I might even say by the light of grace, because there is more respect in our humbling ourselves before the mysteries of God, than in the attempt to raise ourselves to the level of these mysteries by the use of our understanding.