Quote for the Night: Delight in Prayer

[Shin]

'O most loving Redemer, dost thou then love us not only in thy sufferings and ignominies but also in thy heavenly glory? Hence it was that the Holy Ghost chose to appear in the form of fiery tongues: And there appeared to them parted tongues, as it were of fire. Acts, ii. 3. And hence, the Church instructs us to pray: "May the Holy Ghost, we beseech thee, O Lord," inflame us with that fire which our Lord Jesus Christ came to cast upon the earth, and which he "ardently desired should be enkindled." This was the holy fire which has inspired the saints to do such great things for God, to love their enemies, to desire contempt, to renounce all worldly goods, and to embrace with cheerfulness, even torments and death. Love cannot remain idle, and never says: "It is enough." The soul that loves God, the more she does for her beloved, desires the more to do tor him, in order to please him the more, and to draw down his love the more. This holy love is enkindled in mental prayer: In my meditation a fire shall flame out. Ps. xxxviii. If therefore we desire to be on fire with the love of God, we must delight in prayer; this is the blessed furnace in which this divine ardour is enkindled.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori