When We Think We Are Weak

With the will man must resist evil and accomplish the good; to know is to will, and to will is to realize. To rely on the help of Heaven without abstaining from evil and without striving towards the good is hypocrisy; to be sincere is to will, and to will is to be able. But here man might object that he cannot do all he will; we reply that he can always strive, and if he cannot do everything, he can at least do something.

It is here that prayer intervenes; if a man feels himself weak and imperfect, he has a right and even a duty to ask Heaven for help. He has this right to the degree he is sincere, and he has this duty to the degree he is weak. And he alone is weak who is unaware that underlying weakness there is strength, and that every quality belongs to God.

Frithjof Schuon
Prayer Fashions Man