Keep in Mind Whom You are Addressing

"Before prayer, endeavor to realize Whose Presence you are approaching and to Whom you are about to speak, keeping in mind Whom you are addressing.

"If our lives were a thousand times as long as they are we should never fully understand how we ought to behave towards God, before Whom the angels tremble, Who can do all He wills, and with Whom to wish is to accomplish. Ought we not, my daughters, to rejoice in these perfections of our Bridegroom, and to learn to know Him and what our lives should be?

"God bless me! When a girl is going to be married she knows who her husband is to be and what are his means and position., shall not we think about our Bridegroom before He takes us home on the wedding-day?

"Why should I be prevented from understanding Who this Man is, Who is His Father, to what country He will take me, what are the riches He promises to endow me with, and what rank He holds? May I not know how best to please Him, what are His tastes, and how to bring my mind to harmonize with His?

"To understand these truths is to practice mental prayer."

- St. Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection, 22:5