Seeking God

Seeking God in Prayer
(Taken from Divine Intimacy)

"Every rule of religious life, even of a simple secular institute, prescribes certain hours for prayer, during which every occupation must be firmly laid aside, and one must retire into solitude in order to renew one's spirit by means of a more direct and more intense contact with God."

"Without these prayerful intervals, it is a real illusion to pretend to live a spiritual life - not only a serious one, but even the most elementary one. Every activity, no matter how important or urgent it is, must therefore be suspended at the prescribed time, so that all the strength of the soul may be concentrated in the supreme activity of prayer."

"These hours are sacred."

"A soul consecrated to God cannot, of its own initiative, subtract even a small part of this time under pain of seeing its spiritual life weaken. The time of prayer is the time to apply Jesus' great commandment: "Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God" (ibd. 6, 33), this kingdom that we now know is within us."

"In order to find it, we must have these moments of retirement, solitude, total avoidance of creatures, of business and occupations."

"During these blessed minutes we can and should effectively "go forth" from all things and "withdraw ourselves" from all creatures to seek God hidden within us." Divine Intimacy pg. 35, chpt 12:1 by Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.