That Recourse to Prayer Is a Grand Means for Getting Rid of Sadness

CASSIAN says that for all sorts of sadness, by whatever way or from whatever source they come, an excellent method is to betake ourselves to prayer and think of God and the hope of the life everlasting that is promised us. Herewith all clouds are dissipated, and the sky lights up, and the spirit of sadness flies away, as the evil spirit fled from Saul and left him when David played on his harp and sang. And the Apostle St. James in his canonical epistle (v. 13) prescribes for us this remedy. Is any of you sad? Let him pray. And the Prophet David tells us that he practised it. ‘When I feel sad and disconsolate, the remedy that I use is to think of God, and with that I am comforted” —Renuit consolari anima mea; memor fui Dei et consolatus sum (Psalm lxxvi. 4). “The thought of Thee, O Lord, and of Thy commandments and of Thy promises, is for me a song of joy; that it is that refreshes and comforts me in this land of exile and pilgrimage, in all my labors and distresses”—Cantabiles mihi erant iustificationes tuae in loco peregrinationis meae (Psalm exviii. 54). If here on earth conversation with a friend is enough to drive away melancholy and restore cheerfulness, what should it be to converse with God? So the servant of God and good religious should not take as a means to cast off his fits of melancholy and sadness talking and distraction and free play of the senses, nor the reading of vain and profane things, still less singing them, but having recourse to God and recollection in prayer—that should be his comfort and relaxation. The saints draw attention to the story of Holy Writ, how forty days after the deluge Noah opened the window of the Ark and let out the raven to see if the earth was now dry enough for him to leave the ship, and the raven returned no more: hence the saying, ‘‘The raven’s messenger.” Thereupon he sent after it the dove, which, as Holy Writ says, finding no resting place for her feet, returned to the ark (Gen. viii. 9). The saints ask the question: Since the raven did not return, it is clear that he found resting place for his feet; how, then, does Holy Writ say that the dove found no resting place for her feet? The answer is that the raven settled upon the quagmires and upon the dead bodies; but the dove, simple, white, and fair creature, made not her food of dead bodies, nor her resting place of quagmires, and so returned to the Ark, finding elsewhere no resting place for her feet nor place of refreshment. So the true servant of God and good religious finds no satisfaction nor recreation in those dead things, those vain amusements of the world, and so returns like the dove to the ark of her heart, and all her recreation and consolation in all her labors and griefs is recourse to prayer, remembrance of God, a short visit to the Blessed Sacrament, there to console herself with Christ, giving Him an account of her troubles and saying to Him: “ How could I be sad, O Lord, being in Thy house and company!”

On those words of the Royal Prophet: Thou hast given joy to my heart (Psalm iv. 7), St. Augustine says: “Joy is not to be sought in exterior things, but there within, in the secret chamber of the heart, where Christ our Redeemer says (Matt. vi. 6) that we should pray to the eternal Father’—WNon ergo foris quaerenda est laetitia, sed intus, in interiore homine ubi habitat Christus, in ipso corde, in illo cubiculo ubi orandum est.

Sulpicius Severus relates of the blessed Bishop St. Martin that he found alleviation of his labors and wearinesses in prayer. As blacksmiths, to lighten their labor a little, are wont to give a few idle strokes on the anvil, so he prayed while he seemed to be taking recreation. Of another servant of God it is related that, being in his cell, laden with most grievous sadness and incredible affliction, wherewith God was pleased at times to try him, he heard a voice from heaven in the interior of his soul saying to him: “What dost thou here, throwing thyself away in idleness? Rise and set to work, reflecting on My Passion.” He rose at once and set himself to diligent meditation on the mysteries of the Passion of Christ, and at once the sadness left him and he was consoled and encouraged; and, continuing this reflection, he never again felt the like temptation.