“Lord, I don't know how to pray!”
You write: 'To pray is to talk with God. But about what?' About what? About Him, about yourself: joys, sorrows, successes and failures, noble ambitions, daily worries, weaknesses! And acts of thanksgiving and petitions: and Love and reparation. In a word: to get to know him and to get to know yourself: 'to get acquainted!' (The Way, 91)
“Practice meditation for a fixed period and at a fixed time”
Practice meditation for a fixed period and at a fixed time. Otherwise we would be putting our own convenience first; that would be a lack of mortification. And prayer without mortification is not at all effective. (Furrow, 446)
“We have to meditate on the life of Jesus”
I advised you to read the New Testament and to enter into each scene and take part in it, as one more of the characters. The minutes you spend in this way each day enable you to incarnate the Gospel, reflect it in your life and help others to reflect it. (Furrow, 672)
“The way to cut short all the evils we suffer is to pray”
The way to cut short all the evils we suffer is to pray. (The Forge, 76)
“A saint, without prayer?”
If you don't keep in touch with Christ in prayer and in the Bread, how can you make him known to others? (The Way, 105)
“To meditate for a while each day... befits conscientious Christians”
You go on attending some classes daily, merely because in them you acquire a certain rather limited knowledge. How is it then that you are not constant in going to the Master, who is always ready to teach you the science of interior life, with its eternal content and savour? (Furrow, 663)
“Have I talked to him?”
It is possible that you might be frightened by this word: meditation. It makes you think of books with old black covers, the sound of sighs and the irksome repetition of routine prayers. But that is not meditation. To meditate is to consider, to contemplate God as your Father, and yourself as his son in need of help. And then to give him thanks for all that he has given you and for all that he will give you. (Furrow, 661)
“Try to enter in on the scene taking part as just one more person there”
How I wish your bearing and conversation were such that, on seeing or hearing you, people would say: This man reads the life of Jesus Christ. (The Way, 2)
“The great Friend who never lets you down”
You seek the company of friends who, with their conversation and affection, with their friendship, make the exile of this world more bearable for you. There is nothing wrong with that, although friends sometimes let you down. But how is it you don't frequent daily with greater intensity the company, the conversation, of the great Friend, who never lets you down? (The Way, 88)
“How beautiful it is to be God’s jester!”
At times, someone has told me: ``Father, I feel tired and cold; when I pray or fulfill some other norm of piety, I seem to be acting out a farce.'' To that friend, and to you, if you are in the same boat, I answer: A farce? What an excellent thing, my child! Act out that farce! The Lord is your audience - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Blessed Trinity is contemplating us in those moments when we are ``acting out a farce''.