And by experience we see that many persons who recite a great number of vocal prayers. the Office and the Rosary, fall into sin, and continue to live in sin. But he who attends to mental prayer scarcely ever falls into sin, and should he have the misfortune of falling into it, he will hardly continue to live in so miserable a state; he will either give up mental prayer, or renounce sin. Meditation and sin cannot stand together. However abandoned a soul may be, if he perseveres in meditation, God will bring him to salvation.
St. Alphonus Ligouri