The key to avoiding discouragement is to remain in our house of self-knowledge, grounded in the humble truth of who we are as children of our heavenly Father.
We need to go from knowledge of ourselves and God to relationship with God. They are not the same. Knowledge is the instruction manual. If we don’t implement it, it doesn’t do us any good. Actual dependence on God is required, and not just reading about it (see 1Peter 5:5-7; Philippians 4:6-7; James 4:5-10).
The knowledge of which St. Catherine writes about so often is knowledge of the heart, not of the head. They are not the same. Reading with the heart is reading prayerfully and with one's whole mind, one's whole soul; the words then penetrate the heart with an infusion of Divine grace, rather than residing in the intellect alone, where knowledge will grown stale and wither.
Our God-given facilities aren't separate; we can read for information and with the heart both. When the information we receive with our minds sinks deep into our hearts in its theological and mystical truth, it certainly then becomes a prayer. Quite often, the reading then propels one to sink into a deeper contemplative prayer beyond the words, thereby making the words themselves a sort of diving board into more profound prayer. This is all, of course, according to the grace of God coupled with our authentic desire for a deeper relationship with Christ.
We need to go from knowledge of ourselves and God to relationship with God. They are not the same. Knowledge is the instruction manual. If we don’t implement it, it doesn’t do us any good. Actual dependence on God is required, and not just reading about it (see 1Peter 5:5-7; Philippians 4:6-7; James 4:5-10).
The knowledge of which St. Catherine writes about so often is knowledge of the heart, not of the head. They are not the same. Reading with the heart is reading prayerfully and with one's whole mind, one's whole soul; the words then penetrate the heart with an infusion of Divine grace, rather than residing in the intellect alone, where knowledge will grown stale and wither.
When you read prayerfully, do you regard the reading as a prayer instead of reading for information?
Our God-given facilities aren't separate; we can read for information and with the heart both. When the information we receive with our minds sinks deep into our hearts in its theological and mystical truth, it certainly then becomes a prayer. Quite often, the reading then propels one to sink into a deeper contemplative prayer beyond the words, thereby making the words themselves a sort of diving board into more profound prayer. This is all, of course, according to the grace of God coupled with our authentic desire for a deeper relationship with Christ.