If you have an ardent desire for the sensible love of God, a desire
that cannot but be pleasing to Him provided you are at the same time resigned to be deprived of it, remember that according to Saint John Chrysostom it can be obtained only by fidelity to prayer. God wishes, says the Saint, to make us realize by experience that we cannot have His love but from Himself, and that this love, which is the true happiness of our souls, is not to be acquired by the reflections of our minds or the natural efforts of our hearts, but by the gratuitous infusion of the Holy Ghost. Yes, this love is so great a good that God wishes to be the sole dispenser of it: He bestows it only in proportion as we ask it of Him, and ordinarily makes us wait for some time before He grants it.
There are few prayers better calculated to dispose the soul to receive this great grace than the XVI. and XVII. chapters of the IVth. Book, and XXI. and XXXIV. of the IIId. Book of [23]The Imitation.
For thanksgiving after Communion, read Chapters XXXIV., V., XXI., II. and X. of the III. Book of [24]The Imitation.
[27] Imitation, B. IV., c. VI.: "For if I do not appeal to Thee, I fly from life; and if I intrude myself unworthily I incur Thy displeasure."
[28] S. John, c. XII., v. 47: "For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world."
Index of Scripture References
Genesis
[25]1:11 [26]17:1
1 Kings
[27]19
Psalms
[28]32:5 [29]34 [30]40 [31]41 [32]43 [33]51:7 [34]51:19
[35]66 [36]86 [37]94:12 [38]100 [39]102 [40]121:1 [41]122
[42]127 [43]150 [44]150:5
Proverbs
[45]26:5 [46]30:21-23
Ecclesiastes
[47]3:7
Isaiah
[48]38:17
Matthew
[49]5:4 [50]5:15-16 [51]9:13 [52]10:27-32 [53]10:30 [54]10:30 [55]11:28 [56]11:29 [57]26:39
Mark
[58]2:17 [59]2:27 [60]8:3 [61]13:11
Luke
[62]5:8 [63]5:32 [64]6:32-34 [65]9:54 [66]10:16 [67]10:21 [68]10:41 [69]12:7 [70]14:17-18
John
[71]6:54 [72]6:57 [73]8:54 [74]12:47 [75]13:35 [76]20:23
Romans
[77]7:20 [78]8:15
1 Corinthians
[79]1:13 [80]10:13 [81]13:4-5
2 Corinthians
[82]3:12 [83]3:17 [84]12:9
1 Timothy
[85]2:9
2 Timothy
[86]2:14 [87]3:14 [88]3:16
Hebrews
[89]8:15
James
[90]1:2 [91]1:20 [92]3:14-15 [93]3:14-15
1 Peter
[94]5:7
1 John
[95]2:1 [96]2:9 [97]4:18
Revelation
[98]3:21 [99]21:4
Tobit
[100]12:13
Sirach
[101]6:14-16
Index of Pages of the Print Edition
[102]ii [103]iii [104]iv [105]v [106]vi [107]vii [108]1 [109]2
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