MY MIND
Oh! by what false lights have I been dazzled! They showed me prayer as wearisome; religious duties too absorbing; frequent Communion as useless; social duties as a heavy bondage; devotion the lot of weak minds and those without affection.... Oh, I knew well how false it was, and yet I let myself be half-convinced!
When have I ever been more zealous in labor than those days when I had fulfilled all my religious duties?
When more loving and devoted than on the days of my Communions?
When have I felt more free, more happy, than when having fulfilled all the duties of my social position?
Lord, receive my mind, and nourish it with Thy Truth!
Show me that apart from Thee, pleasures of the senses leave behind [pg 185] only remorse, disgust, weariness, and satiety.
Pleasures of the heart cause anxiety, bitterness, rendings, and fears.
Pleasures of the mind produce a void, vanity, jealousy, coldness, and humiliations! Teach me that all must pass away ... that nothing is true, nothing is good, nothing is eternal, but Thou, Thou only, O my God!