Contemplative prayer is a gift, no strings attached. God gives it to anyone he wants. You can’t earn it. The presence of this gift gives your soul the ability to possess it and feel it. In other words, if you’ve been given the blessing of contemplative prayer, you’ve also been given an aptitude for it. The aptitude doesn’t exist without the gift itself. An aptitude for this work is synonymous with the work itself. Longing to pray is praying, and without that the soul is dead.
