NOVEMBER 15, 1979

“PRIVATE DEVOTIONS”

“Private devotions are important to each man’s life.  They ensure him of a constant communication with God.  Private devotions consist of many things:  particular prayers, particular actions of charity, particular reading, particular ways to communicate with God.  This is a good habit.  It has stability, it has reliability, and it motivates a zeal for more closeness to God.

Private devotion gives an intimacy with prayer, and in this way of praying, there are special prayers that encourage more prayer.

A man who never prays is a man who never thinks of his Soul.  A man who never feels the need for private devotion is a man who walks a very lonesome road.  A man who never sees himself confined to prayer is a man who has little self-control.  In prayer there is discipline, and men who find prayer difficult find self-discipline impossible.  This should alert them to a very impure role.

Private devotion is necessary, and if you have not practiced it thus far, it would be wise to begin to see the importance of it and the stability in it, plus the shelter it is for the Soul.”