Lord, when we are without Thee we are lost, dead, in darkness.

It is in and by Thy presence that we live and move and have our being.
"Ever more, O Lord, increase Thy Spirit in us until between as there is no more we or Thee, but Thou, O Father, art all! "Like the fixed light in a crystal which flashes back the light of the sun, so does the soul of man reflect God.
"A good life consists in passive as well as active virtues.
"O Lord, so fill me that nothing shall be left but Thee, and I may be no more." One would be tempted to believe that none but a master in the spiritual life could have written the sentences which immediately follow this outburst of love and praise.

Yet remember that Isaac Hecker was not yet twenty-four, and that he knew nothing of the ways of the Spirit except what the Spirit Himself had directly taught him: "The reason why men are perplexed and in darkness about their being and the questions which their being often asks, is not that these are insoluble, but that the disposition and spirit in which a solution is attempted is so contrary to that in which they may be solved, that they appear as hidden mysteries.
"When we come together to converse, it should be to learn from each other what good we can and ought to do, and so mingle the brightness of one with the dimness of the other.

Our meetings should be such that we should go away feeling that God had been with us and multiplied our blessings.

The question should be, 'Brother, can you teach me the way of the Lord in a more perfect manner than that in which I tread it, so that my soul may be increased and God abide in me more and more ?' Oh! he is my brother, my master, who leads me to do more and more good and to love and live more of God.