First Draw From Secret Prayers

"The preacher must first draw from secret prayers what he will later pour out in holy sermons; he must first grow hot within before he speaks words that are in themselves cold." St. Francis said this is an office to be revered and that those who administer it should be revered by all. "These," he said, "are the life of the body; they are the attackers of the devils; they are the light of the world."

Saint Francis of Assisi
Celano, Second Life
CHAPTER CXXII