Catholic Wisdom

"The grace of prayer is one of the highest favours that God imparts to the human soul. Prayer is indeed the atmosphere in which holiness develops and flourishes; it enables the Holy Ghost to communicate himself to the soul and to bind it to himself with the bonds of love. The whole essence of asceticism is contained in this one word ” prayer.” We first pray in order to obtain the help of God’s grace in our struggles in the path of purification ; and, when we are engaged in the path of meditation, again we have recourse to prayer. In heaven itself we shall do nothing else but pray, so we may consider prayer as the beginning of our future state of blessedness."

—Blessed Ildefonso Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum.