List of points

Will the Lord return and enkindle my soul? Your head assures you that He will come and so, deep down, does a faint sense of longing which is perhaps hope. On the other hand, your heart and will (too much of the former and too little of the latter) cast a paralysing and deadly melancholy over everything, like a sneer of bitter mockery.

Listen to the promise of the Holy Spirit: “Within a very short time, He who has to come will come and will not delay. In the meantime, the just man lives by faith.”

Look at the set of senseless reasons the enemy gives you for abandoning your prayer. “I have no time” — when you are continually wasting it. “This is not for me.” “My heart is dry… ”

Prayer is not a question of what you say or feel, but of love. And you love when you try hard to say something to the Lord, even though you might not actually say anything.

When you see yourself with a dry heart, without knowing what to say, go with confidence to the Virgin Mary. Say to her, “My Mother Immaculate, intercede for me.”

If you invoke her with faith, she will make you taste in the midst of your dryness the proximity of God.

When darkness surrounds us and our soul is blind and restless, we have to go to the Light, like Bartimaeus. Repeat, shout, cry out ever more strongly, Domine, ut videam! — Lord, that I may see… And daylight will dawn upon you, and you will be able to enjoy the brightness He grants you.