Pure Prayer is Given to One Out of a Thousand; Contemplative Prayer, Across the Generations, to Barely One

Regarding contemplation, we find in none of the fathers that one could enter into it by one’s own effort and, consequently, do anything on one’s own part to enter it. Contemplation, according to their words, was given precisely to those who had already succeeded in cleansing their heart completely and had united themselves deeply with the Lord. Out of a thousand, one succeeds in attaining pure prayer; and spiritual prayer, or what is the same thing, contemplative prayer, across the generations is barely found in one who possesses it. (16, 215)