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Teach Us to Pray

"You see, I've done a lot of work for the Church - I'm aware of it.  It has been my only thought, my only care.  I have raced hard and covered as many miles as the most committed missionary.  At a certain point it occurred to me that what the Church lacked was not work, activity, the building projects or a commitment to bring in souls.  What was missing, or at least was scarce, was the element of prayer, meditation, self-giving, intimacy with God, fidelity to the Holy Spirit and the conviction that Christ was the real builder of the Church:  in a word, the supernatural element.  Let me make myself clear:  people of action are needed in the Church but we have to be very careful that their action does not smother the more delicate but much more important element of prayer.

"If action is missing and there is prayer, the Church lives on, it keeps on breathing, but if prayer is missing and there is only action, the Church withers and dies." - From Letters to Dolcidia:  1954-1983 by Carlo Carretto

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