and knowledge are
very great possessions, and a great assistance in the life of prayer, if
only they are always accompanied with humility. I have of late seen some
very learned men become in addition very spiritual and prayerful men. And
that makes me pray that all our men of mind and learning may soon become
spiritual men and men of much prayer.

Let no one be admitted into this House unless she is a woman of a sound
understanding. For if she is without mind she will neither know herself,
nor understand her teachers. For the most part they that are defective
in mind ever think that they understand things better than their
teachers. And ignorance and self-conceit is a disease that is incurable;
and besides, it usually carries great malice along with it. Many speak
much and understand little. Others, again, speak little and not very
elegantly, and yet they have a sound understanding. There is such a
thing as a holy simplicity that knows little of anything but of how to
treat with God. At the same time commend me to holy people of good
heads. From silly devotees, may God deliver us! While all that is true,
in the very act of prayer itself there is little necessity for learning,
for the mind then, because of its nearness to the light, is itself
immediately illuminated. I myself, who am what I am, even I am a
different person in prayer. It has often happened to me, who scarcely
understand a word of what I read in Latin, when in deep prayer, to
understand the Latin Psalms as if they were Spanish. At the same time,
even for prayer, let those who have to teach and preach take full
advantage of their learning, that they may help poor people of little
learning, of whom I am one. Ministering with all learning and all
intellectual ability to souls is a great thing, when it is done unto God.
I have many experiences in prayer that I do not understand, and cannot
explain or defend. Our Lord has not been pleased to give me the full
intellectual understanding of all His dealings with me. That is the
truth. Though you, my father, may think that I have a quick
understanding, it is in reality not so. Sometimes my advisers used to be
amazed at my ignorance how God carried on His work within me. It was
there, but the way of it was a great deep to me. I could neither wade
out unto God, nor down into myself. Though, as I have said, I loved to
converse with men of mind as well as of heart. At the same time, my
difficulti