ead carefully the following words of St. John of the Cross: "Let men, eaten up with activity, and who imagine that they are rousing the world by their preaching and other exterior works, stop and reflect a moment. It will not be difficult for them to understand that they would be much more useful to the Church and more pleasing to the Lord, not to mention the good example they would give to those around them, if they gave more time to prayer and the exercises of the interior life.

In these conditions they would do, by a single good work, much greater good, with far less trouble than they accomplish by a thousand others, on which they exhaust their lives. Prayer would merit for them this grace, and win for them the spiritual strength which they need to produce such results. But without prayer, all they do amounts to nothing more than noise and uproar; it is like a hammer banging on an anvil and echoing all over the neighborhood. They accomplish little more than nothing, often absolutely nothing, or they even cause harm. May God preserve us from such a soul if it happens to get puffed up with pride! It would be vain for appearances to be in its favor; the truth is that it will achieve nothing, for it is altogether certain that no good work can be carried on without the grace of God. Oh! how much could be written on this subject, destined for those who abandon the practice of the interior life, and htmire to brilliant works which will put them up on a pedestal and make them the admiration of all. Such people have no understanding of the source of living water and of the mysterious fountain, which makes all fruit to grow."