God is ready to shed his graces upon us as abundantly and as usefully as those he shed upon the first Christians. He does not love us less than he loved them. All the means of sanctification that they had, we too possess; and we have besides, the examples of the saints who have followed Christ to encourage us. But we are too often like Naaman the leper who came to consult the prophet and beg his cure; he was on the point of not obtaining it because he found the remedy too simple. That is the case with some of those who undertake the spiritual life; who are so attached to their own way of seeing things that they are scandalized at the simplicity of the Divine plan. And this scandal is not without harm . . . Why is this? Because all that our human ingenuity is able to create for our inner life serves for nothing if we do not base our edifice upon Christ.

– Blessed Columba Marmion