"So yesterday driving in traffic from work at 11pm, Taylor Swift came on the radio with '22' and after I started singing I realized I forgot to say my rosary so I lowered the radio and did it in the car. Ironically enough Taylor Swift and all you lovely people reminded me to say the rosary."
I started reading what looks like an excellent book on prayer, "Time for God", by Jacques Philippe. In the first chapter, he writes about mental prayer, and titles it, "Mental prayer is not a technique but a grace". Here is one of the best passages from the opening chapter in which he discusses the importance of being faithful in prayer:
"Time spent faithfully every day in mental prayer that is poor, arid, distracted, and relatively short is worth more, and will be infinitely more fruitful for our progress, than long, ardent spells of mental prayer from time to time, when circumstances make it easy. After that first decision to take prayer life seriously, the first battle we must fight is the battle to be faithful to our times of mental prayer, come what may, according to a definite plan we have established. It is not an easy battle. Knowing how much is at stake, the devil wants at all costs to keep us from being faithful to mental prayer. He knows that a person who faithful to mental prayer has escaped from him, or at least is sure of escaping in the end. He therefore does everything he can to prevent us from being faithful. We shall return to this point later.
What is important here is that mental prayer that is of poor quality but regular and faithful, is worth more than prayer that is sublime but only now and then. It is faithfulness alone that enables the life of prayer to bear wonderful fruit.
Mental prayer is basically no more than an exercise in loving God. But, there is no true love without fidelity. How could we claim to love God if we failed to keep the appointments we make with him in mental prayer?" (p.17)
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