Blessed are ye that weep now for ye shall laugh. Put thou my tears into thy bottle. Tears purify our nature for repentance is not merely our effort, our anguish, but is also the resplendent gift of the Holy Spirit penetrating and transforming our hearts. Tears and contrition are the beginning of prayer. This weapon against the passions must not itself become a passion, rather it should lead to passionless, wordless, contemplative prayer in which the heart lays itself open in silence before God.
Prayer is the motive power behind all human efforts, and behind the whole of the spiritual life.
It is the converse with God which takes place in secret, and is also every thought of God, every meditation on spiritual things. Union with God cannot take place outside of prayer in this wide sense of prayer. There is an end of petition when the soul entrusts itself wholly to the will of God, thus we enter in pure prayer. The mind ascending and finding what is more excellent, it desists from petition. The astonishment, wonder, ravishing, of the spirit in a condition of silence and tranquility is sometimes a state of ecstasy denoting the early stages of the mystical life.