Manual for Interior Souls

Father Jean Nicholas Grou is famous for several works. Firs there are his Spiritual Maxims. And then there is Characteristics of True Devotion. He is also known for The Gift of Self to God. THIS book of Pere Grou IS the work of a master of the spiritual life who speaks in a clear and decisive manner, as only those can who are thoroughly acquainted with their subject. But it should be understood by those who read it that it is not intended for beginners, but for such as have made some sort of progress in a knowledge of the spiritual life. For much that he says is put so tersely that those whose knowledge of the subject is not within measurable relativity to that of the writer may easily miss the full sense of his words, and thus be led to look on some parts and passages as unreal or unmeaning, or at least exaggerated.Writing for the French public at the time he did, there would be more likelihood of there being a good number of people who would be fitted to understand his work, and less likelihood of its falling into the hands of those who would misread it.Consider this on continual prayer: "JESUS CHRIST has told us that we ought "always to pray, and not to faint" -that is, not to grow weary of so doing. And St. Paul recommended the first Christians to "pray without ceasing." What kind of prayer must we understand by this precept, or rather, by this counsel? And how is it possible to accomplish it?It is quite evident, at first sight, that it cannot be a question here of vocal prayer, which can only be engaged in at certain times. Neither can it be always the regular exercise of fixed mental prayer. It is also impossible for us to occupy our mind continually and without interruption with the thought of God or the things of God. An uninterrupted attention to the presence of God is beyond mere human strength, and is incompatible with all the anxieties and occupations of this life. ... God calls all the world to this disposition of heart, for it is without contradiction to all Christians that Jesus Christ addressed Himself when He said that we must always pray; and it is certain that all would attain to this state if they would faithfully correspond to the attractions of grace. Let the love of God once take entire and absolute possession of a heart, let it become to that heart like a second nature, let that heart suffer nothing that is contrary to it to enter, let it apply itself continually to increase this love of God by seeking to please Him in all things and refusing Him nothing that He asks, let it accept, as from His hand, everything that happens to it, let it have a firm determination never to commit any fault deliberately and knowingly, or if it should have the misfortune to fall into one, to be humbled for it and to rise up again at once-such a heart will be in the practice of continual prayer, and this prayer will subsist in the midst of all occupations, all conversations, even of all innocent amusements. The thing is not then so impracticable nor so difficult as we might imagine at first sight. In this state we are not always absolutely thinking of God, but we never willingly occupy ourselves with a useless thought, still less with a wicked thought. We are not incessantly making direct acts, we are not incessantly pronouncing vocal prayers, but our heart is always turned towards God, always listening for the voice of God, always ready to do His holy will."