EIGHTH LETTER

(Concerning wandering thoughts in Prayer.)

There’s nothing new here; you’re not the only one with wandering thoughts. While our mind wanders so much, our will is the owner of all our faculties. Therefore, she must pull them together, and provide them to God as their final destination.

Because the mind was insufficiently reduced by recollection at our first engagement in devotion, certain bad habits of wandering and dissipation are challenging to change. They often lead us back to earthly things.

This can be fixed by confessing our faults and being humble before God. I do not advise you to use multiplicity of words in prayer: many words and long discourses being often the occasions of wandering. Hold yourself in prayer before GOD, like a dumb or paralytic beggar at a rich man’s gate. Let it be your business to keep your mind in the presence of the LORD. Do not be disquieted if the mind sometimes wanders and withdraws from Him: troubles and disquiet serve rather to distract the mind than to re-collect it: the will must bring it back in a state of tranquility. If you persevere in this manner, GOD will have pity on you.

To maintain more tranquility during prayer, you should not allow your mind to wander too far at other times: you should keep it firmly focused on God throughout the day, and since you are used to thinking about Him all the time, you will be able to do so with ease or at least recall it from its wanderings during prayer.

We’ve already discussed the benefits of this practice in my previous letters: let’s get serious about it and pray for one another.

Yours, &c.

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