Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer.
Reflections on the Intimate Dialogue between Man and God.
Letter XVIII. Lewis tackles penitential prayers and his emotional state. He has found that his emotional feelings about his sins do not correspond to what he reason tells him about their relative severity. “Our emotional reactions to our own behavior are of limited ethical significance.”
Letter XIX. Lewis believes that prayers of adoration are important in the public part of prayer. He then talks about his feelings on communion, treating it as a mystery which he cannot understand. He says that al explanations are not necessarily wrong; they just don’t explain it to him. And, he close with this, “This is autobiography, not theology.” <That is a great quote. More people should use it when they speak.>
Letter XX. Lewis describes how he was able to forgive, after 20 years of praying for that forgiveness. Then he discusses his belief in purgatory and what that means to him. It is like purification before entering heaven. In a trivial way, it is like taking a shower after working outside all day before yo sit down to dinner.