15. Continuing the same subject, she gives certain advice on behaviour during the prayer of quiet.

[John]

15. Continuing the same subject, she gives certain advice on behaviour during the prayer of quiet. She tells how there are many souls that advance to this stage, but few who pass beyond it. The matters touched upon here are most essential and profitable

[Sheila]

How God uses this life to make us--wow--citizens of heaven. She's a holiness coach, sharing her progress, errors and successes with beginners. She wants to help. Consoling image of not losing all we've gained when encountering a defeat, like a grown man who doesn't one day revert to the size of a child--(although there's shrinkage involved in old age that St T was spared!)

[John]

What a chapter. So many wonderful quotes, and a connection.

I have of late been listening to Sara Groves' Jeremiah

Jeremiah, tell me about the fire
That burns up in Your bones
I want to know, I want to know more now
The burning of ambition and desire
It never could come close
To that fire, to that fire

And so, when reading this chapter I was struck by the references to fire including: "A few straws laid on with humility –and they will be less than straws if it is we who lay them on –are more effectual here, and will be of more use in kindling the fire than any number of faggots made of what seems to us the most learned argument, which will put it out in a moment."

The song is built around this text from Jeremiah 20:
7
You seduced me, Lord, and I let myself be seduced;
you were too strong for me, and you prevailed.
All day long I am an object of laughter;
everyone mocks me.

8
Whenever I speak, I must cry out,
violence and outrage I proclaim;
The word of the Lord has brought me
reproach and derision all day long.

9
I say I will not mention him,
I will no longer speak in his name.
But then it is as if fire is burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones;
I grow weary holding back,
I cannot!

[John]

"The will must quietly and wisely understand that we cannot deal violently with God; and that our efforts are like great logs of wood indiscriminately piled on, which will only put out the spark."

"Once it begins to compose speeches and draw up arguments, especially if these are clever, it will soon imagine that it is doing important work."

"But it must not, I repeat, allow any noise from the intellect, engaged in its search after profound reflections."

[John]

"Charity is a great thing, and so is a constant care for souls, so long as it is undertaken simply and for God’s sake. But in these periods of quiet, the soul should repose in its calm, and learning should be put on one side."

"in the sight of Infinite Wisdom, a little study of humility and a single humble art are of more value than all the knowledge in the world."

"In short, mental prayer must not be entirely abandoned, nor yet some words of vocal prayer, if we sometimes wish to use them and can. But if the state of quiet is deep, it is difficult and very painful to speak."

"the fundamental means of delivering ourselves from the snares and pleasures that the devil sends is to begin with the determination to desire no pleasures but to walk in the way of the Cross from the very first."