aith, trust, confidence, hope and love to God, so
that in all the Commandments the First may be the captain, and
faith the chief work and the life of all other works, without
which, as was said, they cannot be good.

But if you say: "What if I cannot believe that my prayer is heard
and accepted?" I answer: For this very reason faith, prayer and
all other good works are commanded, that you shall know what you
can and what you cannot do. And when you find that you cannot so
believe and do, then you are humbly to confess it to God, and so
begin with a weak spark of faith and daily strengthen it more and
more by exercising it in all your living and doing. For as
touching infirmity of faith (that is, of the First and highest
Commandment), there is no one on earth who does not have his good
share of it. For even the holy Apostles in the Gospel, and
especially St. Peter, were weak in faith, so that they also
prayed Christ and said: "Lord, increase our faith" [Luke 17:5];
and He very frequently rebukes them because they have so little
faith [Matt. 14:30].

Therefore you shall not despair, nor give up, even if you find
that you do not believe as firmly as you ought and wish, in your
prayer or in other works. Nay, you shall thank God with all your
heart that He thus reveals to you your weakness, through which He
daily teaches and admonishes you how much you need to exercise
yourself and daily strengthen yourself in faith. For how many do
you see who habitually pray, sing, read, work and seem to be
great saints, and yet never get so far as to know where they
stand in respect of the chief work, faith; and so in their
blindness they lead astray themselves and others; think they are
very well off, and so unknowingly build on the sand of their
works without any faith, not on God's mercy and promise through a
firm, pure faith.

Therefore, however long we live, we shall always have our hands
full to remain, with all our works and sufferings, pupils of the
First Commandment and of faith, and not to cease to learn. No one
knows what a great thing it is to trust God alone, except he who
attempts it with his works.

[Sidenote: Prayer Without Ceasing]

VII. Again: if no other work were commanded, would not prayer
alone suffice to exercise the whole life of man in faith? For
this work the spiritual estate has been specially established, as
indeed in olden times some Fathers prayed day and night. Nay,
there is no Christian who does no