and by night in bitterness of heart, solely for the offences which he has done against God. Blessed is the man who, having always before his mind the afflictions, and the pains and sorrows of Jesus Christ, shall receive no temporal consolations in this bitter and stormy world, so that last of all he may attain to the celestial consolations of life eternal, where all his desires shall be fulfilled abundantly with everlasting joy."
On Holy Prayer.
Prayer is the beginning, the middle and the end of all good; prayer illumines the soul, and enables it to discern good from evil. Every sinful man ought to pray every day continually, humbly begging of God to give him a perfect knowledge of his own miseries and of his sins, and of all the benefits which he has received and still receives from God. And the man who knows not how to pray, how can he know God? And all those who would be saved, if they rightly use their reason, will, before all things, wholly turn themselves unto prayer.
Brother Giles said: " If a man had a son, who had been condemned to death or to banishment for his evil deeds, it is most sure that his father would be full of solicitude, laboring to the utmost of his power both by day and by night to obtain a reprieve or to have the sentence of banishment removed, addressing all possible petitions and making presents, according to the extent of his ability, both personally, and through the means of others. If, then, a man would do this for his son's mortal life, how much more should he be solicitous to pray God, and moreover to get all good men in this world to pray, and still more, in the other all- the holy Saints, for his soul which is immortal, when it is banished from the Heavenly City, or rather, condemned to eternal death for his sins! "
A Brother said to Brother Giles: " Father, it seems to me that a man should grieve within himself, when he cannot attain to the grace of true devotion in prayer." To whom Brother Giles replied: " My Brother, I counsel thee to proceed very gently; for if thou hadst a little good wine in a cask, in which there still remained some dregs beneath, of a surety, thou wouldst not shake or move the cask, for fear of mixing the good wine with the dregs. And so also I say to thee, until prayer is entirely separated from all carnal concupiscence and vice, thou canst not receive Divine consolations; because that prayer is not pure in the sight of God which is mixed with the dregs of carnal things. And therefore a man should bestir himself as far as in him lies to cast out all the dregs of vicious concupiscence, that his prayer may be pure in God's sight, and then he shall not want devotion, or Divine consolations."
A Brother once asked Brother Giles: " Father, wherefore is it that when a man is worshipping God, he is much more tempted, disturbed and troubled in his mind than at any other time?" To which Brother Giles answered: " If any man has a cause to plead, and goes before the judge to state his reasons, and asks his counsel and aid, immediately his adversary hears of it, he appears also, to contradict and resist the claims of the first, and throw every impediment in his way, seeking to disprove all that he says. And thus also it happens when a man betakes himself to prayer; for then it is that he seeks aid of God in his cause. Immediately, therefore, his adversary, the devil, appears with his temptations, to resist and to contradict him, and to use all the force, cunningness and argument he can to frustrate his prayer, and hinder it from being acceptable in the sight of God, so that he may have neither merit or consolation from it.
"And this we can see very clearly for ourselves; because it is not when we are speaking about the things of this world that we have to suffer temptations or distractions; but when we go to prayer, in order to delight and comfort our soul with God, immediately we feel our minds struck as with thunderbolts, which are the temptations which the devils bring against us, in order to make the mind wander, so that the soul may have neither delight nor consolation in speaking with God."
Brother Giles said that a man, when he prays, should be like a good knight in battle, who, if he be wounded or thrown down by his enemies, does not on this account straightway give up the battle, but rather resists valiantly, that he may gain the victory over his enemies; because when he has obtained the victory, he shall rejoice and be comforted in the glory thereof; but if he fled from the field as soon as he was thrown down or wounded, surely he should
