Letter 2 of Saint-Cyran

The effects of prayer are not just those that result from the prayer itself. For God hides the grace and the light that he causes because of prayer to keep men always humble and dependent on him. A farmer does not expect that seeds produce something at the time he puts them in the earth. When we pray, we sow seeds in Heaven but full absolution does not grow at once from interior actions alone. They should be accompanied by exterior actions of penitence and of good works to reach their full effect.

Translated from the French by Daniel McNeill
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