Thought for the Day – 8 November – Meditations with Saint A lphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Bishop, Confessor, Most Zealous Doctor of the Church
“How to Pray at All Times”
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)
IT IS EASY AND AGREEABLE
TO CONVERSE WITH GOD
Excerpt from Chapter Two
“… It is a great mistake to speak to God with diffidence – to appear before Him as a timid slave, trembling with alarm before his prince – it would be a still greater mistake, to think that conversing with God is wearisome and unpleasant.
Now, you are not required to apply your mind so constantly to prayer as to forget your ordinary work and recreation. ‘Praying always’ means that, without neglecting your ordinary occupations, you treat God as you treat the friends who love you and whom you love.
God is ever near you, even within you – In Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 18:28).
He who would speak to God has no door to open; God is pleased when you speak to Him without reserve.
Tell Him of your business, your plans, your griefs, your fears – of all which concerns you. Above all, do so (as I have already said) with confidence and entire freedom. For God is not wont to speak to the soul who does not speak to Him; in fact, being unaccustomed to speak to God, the soul would scarcely understand Him when He spoke.
It is the Will of God that we remember His surpassing Power and His rigorous Justice … but, on the contrary, He wishes that we should treat Him as a most affectionate friend, if we love Him and, that we should speak to Him confidingly and without restraint.”
AnaStpaul 