To be near unto God - pagina 296

temporary abstinence from food. It aims to put an end to the dominion of the body over the soul, and to restore the soul's dominion over the body. You know yourself that everything that feeds and pleases the body has a tendency to repress the clearness and elasticity of the life of the soul.

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side of our life that is turned toward the world rarely operates in harmony with the side of our life that is turned toward God. When you are alone you feel as a rule closer to God than when you are in company. In the banqueting hall ypu are farther away from God than in your bedchamber. In the midst of the cares to increase your wealth you enjoy less of God's presence 'ban at the times when you give of your

money to the poor. You are closer to God when you feed the hungry than when, with your family or guests, you feast on choice foods and drinks. In brief, experience confirms again and again, that the less enjoyment you take in the world, the more intimate is your thought of God. The more you get apart from the cares and the joys of the world, the closer becomes your walk with God. Do not infer from this, that in order to know God, you must withdraw entirely from the world. This is what the Stylists thought, the recluses and contemplative monks. This is wrong, because "fasting and prayer" is indeed one of the means by which to find God, but there are many other means to this same end, which only present them-

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treated selves in the midst of the busy life. will come these means in former meditations. back to them later on. But it must be a rule of our life, not to leave untried a single means, by which to grow in knowledge of the only true God, 292

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