The soul… should never forget that this passive purification of the senses has to be endured either here on earth while there is still the opportunity of merit or after death in Purgatory, when merit is no longer possible. Hence this trial of aridity in prayer is nothing unusual in the development of the soul toward sanctity, and it must place all its trust in God… for it is now at the end of discursive meditation and on the threshold of contemplation.
Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange OP (1877–1964)