JEANNE-MARIE GUYON
(1648 - 1717)
"To seek aright is easier and more natural to us than breathing."
Some persons, when they hear of the prayer of silence, falsely imagine that the soul remains stupid, dead and inactive. But it is certainly active – more nobly and more extensively so than it has ever been before; for God Himself is the mover, and the soul now acts by the power of His Spirit…. When St Paul speaks of our being "led by the Spirit of God," he does not mean that we should cease from action; but that we should act through the internal agency of the Spirit's grace.
[The act of contemplation], though an action, is yet so noble, so peaceful, so full of tranquillity, so natural and spontaneous, that it appears to the soul as if it did not act at all…. When a wheel rolls slowly we can easily distinguish its parts; but when its motion is rapid we can distinguish nothing. So the soul, which rests in God, has an activity exceedingly noble and elevated, yet altogether peaceful: and the more peaceful it is, the swifter is its course; because it is proportionately given up to that Spirit by which it is moved and directed. This attracting spirit is none other than God Himself, who, in drawing us, causes us to run to Him. How well did the spouse understand this when she said, "Draw me, and we will run after you" (Song of Songs 1:4). Draw me to You, O my Divine centre, by the secret springs of my existence, and all my senses and faculties will follow your powerful magnetism…!
