Repost: Padre Pio on Distractions in Mental Prayer

If you do not succeed in meditating well, do not give up doing your duty. If the distractions are numerous, do not be discouraged; do the meditation of patience, and you will still profit. Decide upon the length of your meditation, and do not leave your place before finishing, even if you have to be crucified... Why do you worry so much because you do not know how to meditate as you would like? Meditation is a means to attaining God, but it is not a goal in itself. Meditation aims at the love of God and neighbor. Love God with all your soul without reserve, and love your neighbor as yourself, and you will have accomplished half of your meditation.

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Source: Fr. Jean, "Padre Pio," SSPX Website, accessed Sept. 21, 2014, http://archives.sspx.org/miscellaneous/padre_pio.htm.

Do More and Better for God

We must realize that the work of perfection is a work of long endurance, demanding much steadiness of purpose, and that only those succeed who despite partial setbacks return again and again with fresh energies to the task. This is just what men do to succeed in business, and this is what must be done by anyone who wants to advance in holiness. Each morning we must ask again the question whether we cannot do more, and especially whether we cannot do better for God; and every evening we must examine to see if we have carried out, at least in part, our program for the day.

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Source: Fr. Adolphe Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, trans. by Herman Branderis (Charlotte, NC: TAN Books, 2000), 441, n. 931.2.