[Brother Lawrence] said that we must establish ourselves in God’s presence by continually conversing with him and that it was shameful to give up conversation with him to turn to foolishness. We must nourish our souls with an exalted idea of God, and thereby we will draw great joy from being with him. We must enliven our faith, for it is a shame that we have so little. Instead of taking faith as our rule and guide, we amuse ourselves with insignificant, constantly changing devotions! This way of faith is the mind of the Church and is all we need to reach perfection.
Joseph de Beaufort
Conversations With Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection
CN 1, First Conversation, 4
Lawrence of the Resurrection, B; De Meester, C 1994, Writings and Conversations on the Practice of the Presence of God, translated from the French by Salvatore Sciurba, OCD, ICS Publications, Washington DC.
Featured image: Roughly 3000 cloistered nuns representing approximately 15,000 contemplative religious gathered at the Carmel of the Incarnation in Ávila on All Saints Day, 1 November 1982, where they awaited the Holy Father Pope St. John Paul II. Having spent the entire night outside the monastery in a prayer vigil, they were overjoyed at the sight of his helicopter when it arrived. For some, this was the first time they had left their cloisters in decades. | Image credit: Ricardo Martín / El País (See more)
Carmelite Quotes 
I have found out why I was AWOL last time. I have just found, I think, that because I ran CCleaner a while back, it signed me out of my accounts, including this one, so I have received none of your posts since. Not AWOL deliberately! As to this post, wow, that’s really saying it how it is. Excellent exposition. Totally agree.
That’s a sneaky little trick!