January 18
“Pray with your whole being even though you think it has no savor for you. For such prayer is very profitable even though you feel nothing, though you see nothing, even though it seems impossible to you. It is in dryness and barrenness, in sickness and feebleness that your prayer is most pleasing to me, even though you think that it has little savor for you.”
Julian of Norwich
Revelations of Divine Love
January 17
“Pray simply. Do not expect to find in your heart any remarkable gift of prayer. Consider yourself unworthy of it. Then you will find peace. Use the empty cold dryness of your prayer as food for your humility. Repeat constantly: I am not worthy; Lord, I am not worthy! But say it calmly, without agitation.”
-St. Macarius of Optina
January 16
“You don’t know how to pray? Put yourself in the presence of God, and as soon as you have said, ‘Lord, I don’t even know how to pray!’ you can be sure you have already begun.”
-St. Josemaria Escriva
January 15
“Do not distress yourself about your prayers. It is not always necessary to employ words, even inwardly, it is enough to raise your heart and let it rest on our Lord, to look lovingly up toward this divine Lover of our souls for between lovers the eyes speak more eloquently than the tongue.”
-St. Francis De Sales
January 14
“To pray well you must think of Jesus on the cross. Surely you can see how impossible it is to be distracted when you see your Brother crucified?”
-St. Andre of Montreal
January 13
“How to pray? This is a simple matter. I would say: Pray any way you like, so long as you do pray.”
-St. Pope John Paul the Great
January 12
“Prayer is both a gift of grace and a determined response on our part. It always presupposes effort.”
-Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2725
January 11
“We must pray literally without ceasing – without ceasing; in every occurrence and employment of our lives. You know I mean that prayer of the heart which is independent of place or situation, or which is, rather, a habit of lifting up the heart to God, as in a constant communication with Him.”
-St. Elizabeth Seton
January 10
Like St. Teresa, with five pennies and God, I can accomplish many great things.
-St. Frances Cabrini
January 9
"What are our real trials? By what name shall we call them? One cuts herself out a cross of pride; another, one of causeless discontent; another, one of restless impatience or peevish fretfulness. Yet we know certainly that our God calls us to a holy life, that he gives us every grace, every abundant grace; and though we are weak of ourselves, this grace is able to carry us through every obstacle and difficulty.”
-From a conference by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
