Francois Fenelon Quotes

Prayer is more than thoughts and feelings expressed in words. It is the opening of mind and heart - our whole being to God our Abba Father. It is Divine Union.

Prayer to be fruitful must come from the heart and must be able to touch the heart of God.

It is not merely our own desire but the desire of Christ in His Spirit that drives us to grow in love. Those who seldom or never feel in their hearts the desire for the love of God and other men, and who do not thirst for the pure waters of desire which are poured out in us by the strong, living God, are usually those who have drunk from other rivers or have dug for themselves broken cisterns.

If a man prays to Thee with a yearning heart, he can reach Thee, through Thy grace, by any path.

The right way to pray is to stretch out our hands and ask of One who we know has the heart of a Father.

Only the prayer which comes from our heart can get to God's heart.

Why pray? Evidently, God likes to be asked. God certainly does not need our wisdom or our knowledge, nor even the information contained in our prayers ("your Father knows what you need before you ask him"). But by inviting us into the partnership of creation, God also invites us into relationship. God is love, said the apostle John. God does not merely have love or feel love. God is love and cannot not love. As such, God yearns for relationship with the creatures made in his image.

Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God's gift of Himself.

The soul which has come into intimate contact with God in the silence of the prayer chamber is never out of conscious touch with the Father; the heart is always going out to Him in loving communion, and the moment the mind is released from the task upon which it is engaged, it returns as naturally to God as the bird does to its nest.

Perfect prayer does not consist in many words, but in the fervor of the desire which raises the heart to Jesus.

The granting of prayer, when offered in the name of Jesus, reveals the Father's love to him, and the honor which he has put upon him.

But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core.

To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is all-consuming and all-encompassin g. It is no lukewarm endeavor. It is total commitment of our very being-physicall y, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually-to a love of the Lord.

We need prayer to understand God's love for us. If we really mean to pray and want to pray we must be ready to do it now. These are only the first steps towards prayer but if we never make the first step with determination, we will not reach the last one: the presence of God

Worship is our response to the overtures of love from the heart of the Father. Its central reality is found 'in spirit and truth.' It is kindled within us only when the Spirit of God touches our human spirit.

Whether we think of, or speak to, God, whether we act or suffer for him, all is prayer, when we have no other object than his love, and the desire of pleasing him.

The joy of the presence of Jesus, you must be able to give wherever you go. But you cannot give what you don't have. That's why you need a pure heart, a pure heart that you will receive as a fruit of your prayer, as a fruit of your oneness with Christ.

May Thy Love shine forever on the sanctuary of my devotion. And may I be able to awaken Thy love in all hearts.

Whoever loves to meet God, God loves to meet him.

A little lifting of the heart suffices; a little remembrance of God, one act of inward worship are prayers which, however short, are nevertheless acceptable to God.

Don't wait for a feeling or love in order to share Christ with a stranger. You already love your heavenly Father, and you know that this stranger is created by Him, but separated from Him... so take those first steps in evangelism because you love God. It is not primarily out of compassion for humanity that we share our faith or pray for the lost; it is first of all, love for God.

The best prayers have often more groans than words.

It is the burning lava of the soul that has a furnace within--a very volcano of grief and sorrow-it is that burning lava of prayer that finds its way to God. No prayer ever reaches God's heart which does not come from our hearts.

Much more is accomplished by a single word of the Our Father said, now and then, from our heart, than by the whole prayer repeated many times in haste and without attention.

The deepest desire of our hearts is for union for God. God created us for union with himself. This is the original purpose of our lives.