Hi Dear ones,
I can't believe it has taken me so long to welcome you to my new site! What horrible hospitality! My friend Linda and I have set a banquet for you at www.athirstforGod.com where we hope you will enjoy more of Jesus!
Click here for the site: www.athirstforGod.com
Click here for all the posts thus far: http://www.athirstforgod.com/all/
I look forward to continuing to journey with you,
Summer Joy
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Monday, May 16, 2011
fact faces off with emotions
The presence of God is not the same as the sense of the presence of God. The latter may be due to imagination; the former may be attended with no "sensible consolation." The act which engenders a child ought to be, and usually is, attended by pleasure. But it is not the pleasure that produces the child. Where there is pleasure there may be sterility: where there is no pleasure the act may be fertile. And in the spiritual marriage of God and the soul it is the same. It is the actual presence, not the sensation of the presence, of the Holy Ghost which begets Christ in us. The sense of the presence is a super-added gift for which we give thanks when it comes.
CS Lewis in Letters to An American Lady
CS Lewis in Letters to An American Lady
Friday, May 13, 2011
Prayer conversation about loneliness for God
Last night You gave me the privilege of being on the edge of heaven and hell and healing for the women of our Journey group designed by Terry Wardle at church. As I made a quick run through Wal-Mart at 9 last night after group, I was shaking my head in amazement at Your powerful intervention. I approach each Tuesday night with fear and trembling and You always show up. These women are drawing near to You and You never pull away. You never disappoint. We leaders intercede and watch the Holy Spirit tunnel his way into their newly opened doors. We watch them begin to believe that You love them and redeem their memories that had lied to them that that they were alone and always would be.
So I got home last night exhausted from the ministry and with a bit of an ache of loneliness. Andrew, after putting the kids to sleep, was asleep on the couch and I joined him after putting the groceries in the fridge. I rubbed his back while watching a tv show, his snoring competing for vocal power with the singing contest. I helped him get to bed during a commercial.
After the show was over, still not tired after the adrenaline rush of that night’s ministry time, I surfed the channels. Eventually I found myself hovering over the religious channel which I rarely find satisfying and then it struck me. I realized what I was looking for and turned off the set. I wanted You, pure and unadulterated. No other counterfeit would do. I got my computer out which is how I often journal and simultaneously search scriptures these days and just as I was opening a new document, I heard a huge bang in the nursery upstairs. Then all three started crying. At this moment, I have a choice to make: Frustration or acceptance, anger or love. Sometimes it seems like spiritual warfare when there is immediate interruption of long awaited time with You. I chose love which is easy to do after a night away.
Madeline had fallen off her bed and I found her huddled in that sleep-waking state confused and moaning. I helped her back up on her pink sheets and she quickly cuddled with her blanket. I opened the window and enjoyed the breeze for a moment while whispering to her and running my fingers over her back. The eldest, up on the top bunk, situated himself with his bean-stuffed duck and went back to sleep.
But it was Baby in the adjoining room who kept yelling out for attention. I pushed Madeline’s legs aside, with a ”Good night my little Pearl” in order to care for the littlest one. As I walk through the room, I see Xavi standing up in his bed crying. “Do you need a little mommy time?” “Ya,” he says, with his head down and his eyes still closed. I pick him up in his jammies and blanket and bring him downstairs settling on the couch with this little one cuddled into my body. And then what happened next? The gift of the day. The full Presence of You, came powerfully into my loneliness and filled me with exactly what I had been looking for but was unable in myself to pursue. Waves of love and companionship, joy and rest covered me and I basked like a cat in Your powerful light. The gift that I found in that moment was that I was not able to read, to search the Scriptures or to learn anything which is often an avenue to You though sometimes becomes the idol as well. All I was able to do in that moment of cuddling that precious one who quickly fell asleep next to me, was to enjoy You. I was stuck in the gorgeousness of silence. I couldn’t ruin it by trying like Peter at the Transformation to figure out the “perfect” thing to say, even if I had wanted to, Your presence was too heavy, all-consuming. I had wanted all day to be with You but was unable in myself to accomplish it. I was helpless but came to the God for whom nothing is impossible.
This seems to be one of the answers to the Struggle for that daily, hourly companionship. The truth that I have a hard time living and believing is that You are here. You have promised that You will never leave me or forsake me. LeAnne Payne rightly says that we need to say that to ourselves over and over whether any type of feeling accompanies the truth or not. She wisely taught people that they needed to identify the truth that “You are here” all day long throughout all their ordinary activities.
In fact, I think I hinder You when I feel as if all the stars need to align in order to create the perfect welcome for Your Presence. It seems like all You want to hear is the call of desire, the acknowledgement of hunger and the pursuit. When I acknowledge that I am not enough, that I hunger and thirst for You, that alone seems to open me up to You. The New Living Translation says it this way: “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” I need to create a void in order to be filled, to open my ears to listen in order to hear, to open my empty hands in order to receive a gift. One of the secrets of daily companionship is the need to create open spaces which are open only to You. While we are so busy trying to fill ourselves with You, You desire to come as gift, not at our demanding, but at our openness, at our need.
So I got home last night exhausted from the ministry and with a bit of an ache of loneliness. Andrew, after putting the kids to sleep, was asleep on the couch and I joined him after putting the groceries in the fridge. I rubbed his back while watching a tv show, his snoring competing for vocal power with the singing contest. I helped him get to bed during a commercial.
After the show was over, still not tired after the adrenaline rush of that night’s ministry time, I surfed the channels. Eventually I found myself hovering over the religious channel which I rarely find satisfying and then it struck me. I realized what I was looking for and turned off the set. I wanted You, pure and unadulterated. No other counterfeit would do. I got my computer out which is how I often journal and simultaneously search scriptures these days and just as I was opening a new document, I heard a huge bang in the nursery upstairs. Then all three started crying. At this moment, I have a choice to make: Frustration or acceptance, anger or love. Sometimes it seems like spiritual warfare when there is immediate interruption of long awaited time with You. I chose love which is easy to do after a night away.
Madeline had fallen off her bed and I found her huddled in that sleep-waking state confused and moaning. I helped her back up on her pink sheets and she quickly cuddled with her blanket. I opened the window and enjoyed the breeze for a moment while whispering to her and running my fingers over her back. The eldest, up on the top bunk, situated himself with his bean-stuffed duck and went back to sleep.
But it was Baby in the adjoining room who kept yelling out for attention. I pushed Madeline’s legs aside, with a ”Good night my little Pearl” in order to care for the littlest one. As I walk through the room, I see Xavi standing up in his bed crying. “Do you need a little mommy time?” “Ya,” he says, with his head down and his eyes still closed. I pick him up in his jammies and blanket and bring him downstairs settling on the couch with this little one cuddled into my body. And then what happened next? The gift of the day. The full Presence of You, came powerfully into my loneliness and filled me with exactly what I had been looking for but was unable in myself to pursue. Waves of love and companionship, joy and rest covered me and I basked like a cat in Your powerful light. The gift that I found in that moment was that I was not able to read, to search the Scriptures or to learn anything which is often an avenue to You though sometimes becomes the idol as well. All I was able to do in that moment of cuddling that precious one who quickly fell asleep next to me, was to enjoy You. I was stuck in the gorgeousness of silence. I couldn’t ruin it by trying like Peter at the Transformation to figure out the “perfect” thing to say, even if I had wanted to, Your presence was too heavy, all-consuming. I had wanted all day to be with You but was unable in myself to accomplish it. I was helpless but came to the God for whom nothing is impossible.
This seems to be one of the answers to the Struggle for that daily, hourly companionship. The truth that I have a hard time living and believing is that You are here. You have promised that You will never leave me or forsake me. LeAnne Payne rightly says that we need to say that to ourselves over and over whether any type of feeling accompanies the truth or not. She wisely taught people that they needed to identify the truth that “You are here” all day long throughout all their ordinary activities.
In fact, I think I hinder You when I feel as if all the stars need to align in order to create the perfect welcome for Your Presence. It seems like all You want to hear is the call of desire, the acknowledgement of hunger and the pursuit. When I acknowledge that I am not enough, that I hunger and thirst for You, that alone seems to open me up to You. The New Living Translation says it this way: “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” I need to create a void in order to be filled, to open my ears to listen in order to hear, to open my empty hands in order to receive a gift. One of the secrets of daily companionship is the need to create open spaces which are open only to You. While we are so busy trying to fill ourselves with You, You desire to come as gift, not at our demanding, but at our openness, at our need.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Maundy Thursday Sermon
Tonight by humbling himself before his disciples, Jesus gives a command to serve each other as we have seen him serve his disciples…but in doing this, Jesus, (the one who the next night is about to give his very existence for the salvation of the world) teaches us the ultimate lifestyle of grace.
He teaches us two main things and they are interwoven: service and being served, loving big and risking all as well as receiving the big love of others. He teaches us about humbling ourselves and being willing to get dirty as well as humbling ourselves to let our own dirt wiped off.
Yet, what is that about…that we feel that we shouldn’t come to church unless we are “fine, thank you.” Sometimes we believe that we are only allowed in church if we have had a spiritual pedicure…we’ve tidied ourselves up, clipped our toenails and put on our especially sweet smelling shoes.
Do you hear this? Jesus, who died for us while we were still sinners teaches us to get in there…to get our hands dirty with each other (imperfect, dirty, sinful people) and be the ultimate community of grace.
Lets set the scene…
On the night before He died, Jesus stripped down to just his undergarments, put a towel around his waist, found a servant’s basin of water and knelt down to wash the feet of his disciples commanding them to do the same for each other…
Washing feet in those days was not a pretty sight…beyond the dust and dirt of the roads, there were road apples and the entire lack of a true sewer system. Feet truly stank. There was nothing nice to be said about the way the disciples’ feet had entered the upper room after a journey from Bethany.
Jesus had brought into his inner circle 12 men who like us were wounded, imperfect, sinful, uncaring and a jumble of humanity, just waiting to explode. There were those who were trying to climb over each other’s shoulder to try to get ahead (who would be the greatest in heaven?) along with the marginalized, the hungry next to the betrayers. He had eaten with and taught with, traveled with and slept in the same room with a man who had been a tax collector, a collaborator with the roman oppressive government as well as one who had been a rebel and asked them to become church…to love one another.
They were asked to love one another with all their foibles and wounds, their imperfections and failures. Their only commonality? They were all made in the image of God…
My daughter came to me recently while I was reading to her brother and placed a Snow White sticker on my sweater, just where a name tag would be stuck and said, “Mommy, you are a princess of the Most High God.”
I wish we all could wear stickers like that in church…you, my friend are a daughter of the Most High God…and you, my friend, you are a son, a Prince of the Most High God, adopted, loved, and accepted entirely as you are with an inheritance from your Abba Father that is immense! You are covered with His righteousness and nothing surprises him about you. Nothing, not even your sins and failures shock him. He knows you and loves you. Through the work of Jesus Christ which you have accepted, You are complete through union with Christ and forgiven. We are all made in the image of God, not a mistake.
You, my friends are desired by the God of the Universe to be His children. Our adoption ceremony? A cross and the wounds of forgiveness and a baptism, a saying yes, I want all you have to give, God.
We are all made in the image of God and desired children of the Most High.
Yet, what is it about church that makes us afraid to take that next step of vulnerability?
We are called to be grace-filled…overflowing with grace and shaken up with the truth of God’s grace in our lives…that we are sinners but who know that there is more of the story…that because of the cross and resurrection…we have a hope and a future.
“for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord in Jeremiah, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
Washing each others feet is more than just a nice image of servanthood, it is Jesus way of teaching us to get real with eachother…vulnerable, authentic and to show love to one who may need hope, encouragement, a little cleaning up…a little healthy correction, big love, freedom to express the pain of daily existence in a world that is not heaven yet.
To do all this with or without words- being willing to risk offering not just what we have to give but listening to what God desires to give, to be His hands, his feet, His Voice in the world...to risk getting dirty in the muck of each others lives.
TRANSITION
the great tragedy of God’s heart..that I know just breaks His heart…Churches are notorious for making people who know they are sinners feel uncomfortable.
“I’m fine” actually hurts the community because we believe that we need to have it altogether to be in church…and when we believe that, we subconsciously are posting a sign above the door of our church, saying, “Only perfect people are welcome.”
What a crushing blow to our Christ, whose hands and feet we are supposed to be in this earth…The Jesus who died while we were still sinners
Jesus said that it was the sick that needed a doctor, and now, the dirty who need a foot washing…right before his death, he reminds the disciples that this humbling and this grace-living is their job.
The Pharisees were the ones in the Jewish community who pretended they were perfect…who had everything all figured out. It was that very self-righteous thought that they had it all figured out, thank you, that closed them off from the grace of God, because only the receptive …only the open and needy can receive the gift of grace.
So Jesus called them whitewashed tombs…filled with death on the inside, pretending with a pretty exterior that there was not a stench.
This my friends, in church, with our small groups, is where we need to be willing to show our warts and rough heels, our chipped toenails and imperfections.
“Confess your sins to each other and you will be healed.”
In Journey, we have been shocked at the amount of beautiful community that has been created. We’ve all been real with our stuff, supporting each other and listening and offering true life, while at the same time being extremely aware of our own utter need for Jesus, our own hunger to get out of our prisons of sin, our own failures. I came home last week and told Andrew that I believe everyone should do Journey before we are allowed to mix in the world…our early wounds need to be healed so they don’t geyser up into a painful life any longer, our lies need to be silenced by truth so that we don’t react by taking offense so easily when we get hurt.
Vulnerability has not hurt us, it has ushered in victory. The very command to wash each other’s feet tells us that we are going to have dirty feet and that they will need to be exposed in order to be washed.
The church was meant to be a place where we are washed, not given a new set of rules to live by, but a new relationship with Christ and with each other to be transformed by
The smoothest stones are the ones which have a chance to rub against other stones and get the rough edges rubbed off. But it hurts sometimes. There are wounds which can only be exposed with people who will not judge you and will not go anywhere when they see the real you. The church is a place where we should be willing to commit…to provide the best greenhouse for the Kingdom…a place where grace is the answer to heal our selfishness and utter need to self-protect.
This commitment was a huge revelation to me in college when we found a church that God was calling us to commit to but which included lots of people that rubbed me the wrong way…one guy was OCD and found in liturgy a type of bizarre shelter from the rest of the world and let us all know when we weren’t following the rules perfectly…another couple had so much immaturity that the man could barely hold an intelligent conversation. The rest of us were coming with emotional wounds, imperfect families and experiences of church where most of us bolted at discomfort, shoppers with our own agenda and that prevalent but normal…belief that the church served us. We prayed in each others’ homes, we ate at each others’ tables, we sinned and shared, failed each other and asked forgiveness and got back up again, we opened our hearts and truly learned to be church. It was a revelation. It was a picture that will forever stay in my heart. We were imperfect and that was ok, but we were church and there was grace. We were all working out our salvation with fear and trembling knowing we could not do it without the full body of Christ, fully engaged, without the hand across the aisle, the foot sitting up in the front, the mouth speaking truth at the altar…the wisdom of the Spirit moving through the whole church.
Acts says, “They committed themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer…”
The early church ate together, prayed together, learned together and lifted up the wine and bread together, humbling themselves to love big, even when it meant risking getting dirty. This, my dear friends, is our calling too, to get our hands in there and risk loving big, to risk opening our arms to imperfect people just like ourselves.
He teaches us two main things and they are interwoven: service and being served, loving big and risking all as well as receiving the big love of others. He teaches us about humbling ourselves and being willing to get dirty as well as humbling ourselves to let our own dirt wiped off.
Yet, what is that about…that we feel that we shouldn’t come to church unless we are “fine, thank you.” Sometimes we believe that we are only allowed in church if we have had a spiritual pedicure…we’ve tidied ourselves up, clipped our toenails and put on our especially sweet smelling shoes.
Do you hear this? Jesus, who died for us while we were still sinners teaches us to get in there…to get our hands dirty with each other (imperfect, dirty, sinful people) and be the ultimate community of grace.
Lets set the scene…
On the night before He died, Jesus stripped down to just his undergarments, put a towel around his waist, found a servant’s basin of water and knelt down to wash the feet of his disciples commanding them to do the same for each other…
Washing feet in those days was not a pretty sight…beyond the dust and dirt of the roads, there were road apples and the entire lack of a true sewer system. Feet truly stank. There was nothing nice to be said about the way the disciples’ feet had entered the upper room after a journey from Bethany.
Jesus had brought into his inner circle 12 men who like us were wounded, imperfect, sinful, uncaring and a jumble of humanity, just waiting to explode. There were those who were trying to climb over each other’s shoulder to try to get ahead (who would be the greatest in heaven?) along with the marginalized, the hungry next to the betrayers. He had eaten with and taught with, traveled with and slept in the same room with a man who had been a tax collector, a collaborator with the roman oppressive government as well as one who had been a rebel and asked them to become church…to love one another.
They were asked to love one another with all their foibles and wounds, their imperfections and failures. Their only commonality? They were all made in the image of God…
My daughter came to me recently while I was reading to her brother and placed a Snow White sticker on my sweater, just where a name tag would be stuck and said, “Mommy, you are a princess of the Most High God.”
I wish we all could wear stickers like that in church…you, my friend are a daughter of the Most High God…and you, my friend, you are a son, a Prince of the Most High God, adopted, loved, and accepted entirely as you are with an inheritance from your Abba Father that is immense! You are covered with His righteousness and nothing surprises him about you. Nothing, not even your sins and failures shock him. He knows you and loves you. Through the work of Jesus Christ which you have accepted, You are complete through union with Christ and forgiven. We are all made in the image of God, not a mistake.
You, my friends are desired by the God of the Universe to be His children. Our adoption ceremony? A cross and the wounds of forgiveness and a baptism, a saying yes, I want all you have to give, God.
We are all made in the image of God and desired children of the Most High.
Yet, what is it about church that makes us afraid to take that next step of vulnerability?
We are called to be grace-filled…overflowing with grace and shaken up with the truth of God’s grace in our lives…that we are sinners but who know that there is more of the story…that because of the cross and resurrection…we have a hope and a future.
“for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord in Jeremiah, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
Washing each others feet is more than just a nice image of servanthood, it is Jesus way of teaching us to get real with eachother…vulnerable, authentic and to show love to one who may need hope, encouragement, a little cleaning up…a little healthy correction, big love, freedom to express the pain of daily existence in a world that is not heaven yet.
To do all this with or without words- being willing to risk offering not just what we have to give but listening to what God desires to give, to be His hands, his feet, His Voice in the world...to risk getting dirty in the muck of each others lives.
TRANSITION
the great tragedy of God’s heart..that I know just breaks His heart…Churches are notorious for making people who know they are sinners feel uncomfortable.
“I’m fine” actually hurts the community because we believe that we need to have it altogether to be in church…and when we believe that, we subconsciously are posting a sign above the door of our church, saying, “Only perfect people are welcome.”
What a crushing blow to our Christ, whose hands and feet we are supposed to be in this earth…The Jesus who died while we were still sinners
Jesus said that it was the sick that needed a doctor, and now, the dirty who need a foot washing…right before his death, he reminds the disciples that this humbling and this grace-living is their job.
The Pharisees were the ones in the Jewish community who pretended they were perfect…who had everything all figured out. It was that very self-righteous thought that they had it all figured out, thank you, that closed them off from the grace of God, because only the receptive …only the open and needy can receive the gift of grace.
So Jesus called them whitewashed tombs…filled with death on the inside, pretending with a pretty exterior that there was not a stench.
This my friends, in church, with our small groups, is where we need to be willing to show our warts and rough heels, our chipped toenails and imperfections.
“Confess your sins to each other and you will be healed.”
In Journey, we have been shocked at the amount of beautiful community that has been created. We’ve all been real with our stuff, supporting each other and listening and offering true life, while at the same time being extremely aware of our own utter need for Jesus, our own hunger to get out of our prisons of sin, our own failures. I came home last week and told Andrew that I believe everyone should do Journey before we are allowed to mix in the world…our early wounds need to be healed so they don’t geyser up into a painful life any longer, our lies need to be silenced by truth so that we don’t react by taking offense so easily when we get hurt.
Vulnerability has not hurt us, it has ushered in victory. The very command to wash each other’s feet tells us that we are going to have dirty feet and that they will need to be exposed in order to be washed.
The church was meant to be a place where we are washed, not given a new set of rules to live by, but a new relationship with Christ and with each other to be transformed by
The smoothest stones are the ones which have a chance to rub against other stones and get the rough edges rubbed off. But it hurts sometimes. There are wounds which can only be exposed with people who will not judge you and will not go anywhere when they see the real you. The church is a place where we should be willing to commit…to provide the best greenhouse for the Kingdom…a place where grace is the answer to heal our selfishness and utter need to self-protect.
This commitment was a huge revelation to me in college when we found a church that God was calling us to commit to but which included lots of people that rubbed me the wrong way…one guy was OCD and found in liturgy a type of bizarre shelter from the rest of the world and let us all know when we weren’t following the rules perfectly…another couple had so much immaturity that the man could barely hold an intelligent conversation. The rest of us were coming with emotional wounds, imperfect families and experiences of church where most of us bolted at discomfort, shoppers with our own agenda and that prevalent but normal…belief that the church served us. We prayed in each others’ homes, we ate at each others’ tables, we sinned and shared, failed each other and asked forgiveness and got back up again, we opened our hearts and truly learned to be church. It was a revelation. It was a picture that will forever stay in my heart. We were imperfect and that was ok, but we were church and there was grace. We were all working out our salvation with fear and trembling knowing we could not do it without the full body of Christ, fully engaged, without the hand across the aisle, the foot sitting up in the front, the mouth speaking truth at the altar…the wisdom of the Spirit moving through the whole church.
Acts says, “They committed themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer…”
The early church ate together, prayed together, learned together and lifted up the wine and bread together, humbling themselves to love big, even when it meant risking getting dirty. This, my dear friends, is our calling too, to get our hands in there and risk loving big, to risk opening our arms to imperfect people just like ourselves.
Monday, May 9, 2011
John Wesley's Radical Daily Prayer
John Wesley's Covenant Daily Prayer:
I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by you or laid aside by you,
enabled for you or brought low by you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
you are mine, and I am yours. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.
I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by you or laid aside by you,
enabled for you or brought low by you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
you are mine, and I am yours. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.
The Cloud of Unknowing on loving God
"He may well be loved, but not thought. By love can he be caught and held, but by thinking never."
Orthodox Way pg 17
Orthodox Way pg 17
St. John Chrysostom on what happens when we pray for our own needs
By prayer the soul is borne up to heaven and in a marvelous way embraces the Lord. This meeting is like that of an infant crying on its mother, and seeking the best of milk. The soul longs for its own needs and what it receives is better than anything to be seen in the world.Prayer is a precious way of communicating with God, it gladdens the soul and gives repose to its affections. You should not think of prayer as being a matter of words. It is a desire for God, an indescribable devotion, not of human origin, but the gift of God's grace. As Saint Paul says: we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.St. John Chrysostom Sermon #6 on Prayer
Anyone who receives from the Lord the gift of this type of prayer possesses a richness that is not to be taken from him, a heavenly food filling up the soul. Once he has tasted this food, he is set alight by an eternal desire for the Lord, the fiercest of fires lighting up his soul.
To set about this prayer, paint the house of your soul with modesty and lowliness and make it splendid with the light of justice. Adorn it with the beaten gold of good works and, for walls and stones, embellish it assiduously with faith and generosity. Above all, place prayer on top of this house as its roof so that the complete building may be ready for the Lord. Thus he will be received in a splendid royal house and by grace his image will already be settled in your soul.
Anyone who receives from the Lord the gift of this type of prayer possesses a richness that is not to be taken from him, a heavenly food filling up the soul. Once he has tasted this food, he is set alight by an eternal desire for the Lord, the fiercest of fires lighting up his soul.
To set about this prayer, paint the house of your soul with modesty and lowliness and make it splendid with the light of justice. Adorn it with the beaten gold of good works and, for walls and stones, embellish it assiduously with faith and generosity. Above all, place prayer on top of this house as its roof so that the complete building may be ready for the Lord. Thus he will be received in a splendid royal house and by grace his image will already be settled in your soul.
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