Patrick's Personal Home Page

A person who does not pray habitually, no matter how believing or pious he may be, will not achieve full spiritual growth. Neither will he acquire peace of soul because he will always experience excessive scruples and never view things beyond their human or worldly significance. Thus, one will always suffer from vanity, selfishness, self-centeredness, ambition, meanness of heart, vileness of judgment, and a sickly willfulness and attachment to one’s opinions. A person who does not pray may acquire human wisdom and prudence, but not true spiritual freedom or that deep and radical purification of the heart. One will not be able to grasp the depths of divine mercy or know how to make it known to others. His judgment will always end up shortsighted, mistaken, and contemptible. One will never be able to tread God’s ways, which are far different from what many—even those who have committed themselves to a life in the spirit—conceive them to be.

― Jacques Philippe, Time For God

The world sees and judges according to appearances; God sees what is in the heart. Thus, "God regards the greatness of the love that prompts a man, rather than the greatness of his achievement."

Thomas is particularly scathing with regard to those who seek to substitute knowledge or learning for true devotion: "A humble countryman who serves God is more pleasing to Him than a conceited intellectual who knows the course of the stars, but neglects his own soul." Holiness is more important than learning: "A humble knowledge of oneself is a surer road to God than a deep searching of the sciences."

... we should never deceive ourselves into believing that reading books about spirituality is an adequate substitute. As Thomas notes: "At the Day of Judgment we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done."

— Thomas à Kempis, spiritual master, in All Saints (1997) by Robert Ellsberg