The advantages secured by interior recollection are so great and the
consequence of its absence so prejudicial that the Holy Ghost
distinctly declares its absence to be the cause of all the evils that
desolate the earth. _"With desolation is the earth laid desolate
because there is no one who thinketh in his heart."_ This is a
terrible truth, but it is not the less real on that account. To be
convinced of this you need only descend into your own heart, and you
will soon discover that the want of interior recollection has been
the cause of the most of your faults. It is during the interior
composure of the soul's faculties that we understand what the Lord
says. _I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me, for he will
speak peace unto them that are converted to the heart._ (Psalm 84.)
But if we find nothing in the heart but trouble and obscurity we
must naturally find many pretexts to justify our preoccupation with
external things; and like a man, finding his house the abode of pain
and displeasure, remains away from it as long as possible, we, too,
will shun as far as possible the scene of our misery.
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