June 5th
St Chantal on Prayer
Mental Prayer

The great method for mental prayer is simply this:  that there is none when the Holy Spirit has taken charge of the person who is meditation, for then He does with the soul as it pleases Him, and all rules and methods vanish away.  In the hands of God the soul must become like clay in the hands of a potter, who from it can form any sort of dish; or, if you like, the soul must become like soft wax receptive to the impression of a seal, or like a blank sheet upon which the Holy Spirit writes His divine will.  If, when entering upon prayer, we could make ourselves a mere capacity for receiving the spirit of God, this would suffice for all  method.  Prayer must be carried on by grace, and not by deliberate art.  Enter into your prayer by faith, remain in it in hope, and do not abandon it except by virtue of that charity which asks only to work and to endure.