And now the soldier advances, lance in hand, and, with all his strength, plunges it into the bare chest of the Savior.  The cross shakes in the air with the force of the blow, and there gushes forth water and blood for the healing of the world’s sin.  O river flowing out from Paradise, and inundating all the earth with Thy screams!  O wound in the sacred side, caused by love for men rather than by the iron of the lance!  O gateway of heaven, and avenue of paradise, refuge, and fortified tower, sanctuary of the just, lasting resting place of the pilgrim, nest for the spotless doves and flowered bed of the Spouse of Solomon!  Hail!, O wound in that precious side, which rends devout hearts; wound, which pierces the souls of the just; rose of beauty unspeakable; ruby of priceless worth; door into the heart of Christ; witness of his love and pledge of eternal life!

……….

That holy woman (Mary Magdalene), a sinner once, wept also, and embracing the Savior’s feet exclaimed: “O light of my eyes and healing of my soul, wearied with sin, as you see me, who will now receive me, who will heal my wounds, who will answer for me, who will defend me from the Pharisees?  O how different were these feet when I washed them, and you welcomed me as I knelt!  O beloved of my heart, who will tell me that I may die with you?  O life of my soul, how can I say I love you, since, though holding you dead before my eyes, I yet live?”

Thus all that holy company wept (at the foot of the Cross) and lamented, bathing and cleansing with their tears this sacred body.  As the moment of burial approached, they enveloped the holy body in a white winding-sheet, covered the head with a linen cloth, and then placing it on a stretcher, made their way towards the tomb.  There they laid this precious treasure.  The sepulcher was closed with a stone, and the virgin Mother’s heart with a dark cloud of sorrow.  There, for the second time, she (Mary) separates herself from her Son and, once again, feels her loneliness, there she sees herself despoiled of all her good; there, where her treasure is, her heart lies buried.  –St Peter of Alcantara ‘Treatise on Prayer & Meditation’

Similarly, if at any given moment of our prayer or meditation we experience more relish and devotion than at another, we should pause as long as this affection lasts, even though it continue during the whole time of our recollection.  As we have said, the purpose throughout is devotion, and it would be a mistake, in consequence, to seek elsewhere, and with doubtful hope of success, what we already hold securely in our hands.  –St Peter of Alcantara ‘Treatise on Prayer & Meditation’

A Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

…the servant of God must not content himself with any tiny relish of devotion he may experience in prayer, as some do who, having squeezed out a little tear, or felt some slight kindling of the heart, fancy they have fully accomplished this exercise.  Not thus is secured the end we are seeking.  Just as a little sprinkling of water…is of no use for enriching the soil, but plenty of water is needed to penetrate deep down and diffuse there the fertile moisture, so do we need an abundance of this dew and water from heaven if we are to bring forth the fruit of good works.  Hence we are advised, with good reason, to spend over this holy exercise as long a time as we are able, and better is one period of some length than two shorter ones; for where the time is short it is all taken up in controlling the imagination and tranquilizing the heart, and barely have we succeeded in doing this, than we finish the exercise at the very moment we ought to be beginning it.  In determining the length of time…anything less than an hour and a half or two hours is a short time to assign for prayer.  Often enough half an hour is spent in quieting down…the imagination and bringing the strings of our instrument into tune, and we want all the remainder of the time for relishing the fruit of prayer…..the heart is better disposed for this work, and, like dry wood, very much more quickly set aglow with the heavenly fire, when this exercise comes after some other holy exercise, like Matins, or after one has heard or said Mass, or after some devout reading or vocal prayer.  St Peter of Alcantara ‘Treatise on Prayer and Meditation’

Nothing is so opposed to true repose and peace as anxiety to achieve an enterprise one is bent on bringing to a conclusion.  When the intention is set on the necessary accomplishment of this or that, God can no longer dispose of us freely nor lead us along the pathway of His choice.  What is this, in reality, but to force Him to accommodate himself to our fantasy?  It is to prefer our will to his, to wish to please him on one side, and to disobey him on the other; in a word, to seek him while flying from him. —St Peter of Alcantara ‘Treatise on Prayer and Meditation’

St Peter of Alcantara