Chapter 78
On Prayer and the Interior Fire
78.2.1 May the mercy of God be with you!
78.3.1 Christ is risen!
78.4.1 I’ve been slow to answer you—please forgive me.
78.5.1 Your first question about this little flame... what is it? Answer: when God grants it, then you will know. Without tasting the sweetness of honey, one cannot know what that sweetness is. It’s the same here! It reveals itself through constant feeling toward God.[1]
78.6.1 You’ve explained well with the burning glass how the interior fire is kindled. So do that. How does one stand before the Lord with intellect and heart? As one stands before a sovereign—so it must be here too. The prophet says: I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand and so forth.[2] . In its present form, this foresight appears already after the fire has been received. To ask for this gift is not contrary to God. That this work ended badly for some is not the fault of grace, but of the one who received it and did not preserve it.
78.7.1 On money. As you have your own needs, satisfy them, and give the rest to the poor, and remain with nothing. The main thing is not to place your hope in money. Monasteries will survive, but the poor have a hard time of it.
78.8.1 You ask: “Isn’t it that little flame when you stand at prayer with reverence and a sense of your own nothingness?” – Yes, it is connected with that flame;[3] but in his presence it is inseparable. The inner fire comes without deliberation.[4] And always, almost entirely through the sacraments of confession and holy communion.
78.9.1 The fathers describe the artistic form of prayer practice as an external aid, and it is subordinate to the inner work.[5] But nowadays most people adopt only the outward side, not caring about the inward. The moment some warm movement appears in the heart, they decide: ‘God has given it’... and they give themselves over to fantasies about themselves. Then they condemn everyone who doesn’t follow the technical method of prayer, and not only that, but also the church prayer rules and those who strictly keep to them, trying not to omit anything.[6] Because of this their spiritual progress in interior prayer stops, and they’re left with only the outward practice—and the spiritual life ceases.
78.10.1 Please take more care for interior prayer, drawing your attention away from the outward...
78.11.1 The labor of prayer leads to receiving the gift of prayer.
78.12.1 Be saved!
78.13.1 Your well-wisher.
78.14.1