The Chief Parts of Mental Prayer
We wish, with the help of grace, to suggest to souls a short and easy Method of Mental Prayer. There is no need for us to make use of many powerful arguments to induce and encourage them to practise so pious and holy an exercise, since a great number of treatises have already been published on this subject. Very worthy and learned authors, assisted by the light of Divine Wisdom, have successfully devoted themselves to making evident its necessity and importance, its fruits and advantages. The Venerable Father Louis of Grenada, in particular, has left us excellent books on this subject. Here, then, it will suffice to show the way of making Mental Prayer well, by explaining the Chief Parts of which it is composed.
Before entering upon the subject we deem it our duty to establish the fundamental principle that, to make Mental Prayer well, two things are especially required. The first is to excite in the heart a very lively desire to devote oneself seriously and fervently to Prayer. The more ardent is this desire, the greater diligence and necessary care will the soul display in this holy exercise; and the more faithful a soul is to the practice of praying well, the more fruit will it reap thereby, with the grace of the Holy Spirit. The second thing required is to make a firm and inviolable resolution never to give up Mental Prayer, but to make it each day in spite of dryness, barrenness, work or temptation. We ought to follow in this the example of Saint Theresa. That great Saint never ceased to make her Mental Prayer for eighteen years, although she derived from it no relish whatever, and was always subjected to numerous temptations. Wonderful constancy, worthy of our imitation!
But to come to the subject which we have to treat of here, Mental Prayer comprises three parts – namely, the preparation, the body of the Prayer, and the conclusion. This division into three parts is easily explained. Meditation is but another name for mental prayer, and is so used throughout this work, and meditation is, in fact, nothing else than the application of our mind to some subject of piety in order to excite in our will holy affections and firm resolutions, and by this means to make ourselves advance in the spiritual life. But since this consideration, accompanied by affections and resolutions, is a thing of very great importance, which, moreover, no one can make worthily without the assistance of the Holy Ghost, it is necessary that the subject of the meditation, as well as the person who is going to meditate, should be well prepared. Preparation, then, precedes the body of the Prayer, and the conclusion comes last, summing up the fruit of the Prayer so as to make it more profitable.
Preparation, the Body of the Prayer, and Conclusion: such are the divisions of Mental Prayer.
The Preparation contains three points:
1. The Presence of God, which consists of an act of lively faith by which we believe that God is present with us, especially in this exercise of Prayer.
2. Profound humility, which springs from a thorough knowledge of our own misery and incapacity, and which leads us to confess sincerely, from the bottom of our hearts, that we are unworthy to present ourselves before the Divine Majesty.
3. A petition for help, by which we implore the Divine assistance, the protection of the Blessed Virgin, and the help of our Guardian Angel and of those Saints to whom we have a special devotion.
The Body of the Prayer, also, contains three points:
1. The consideration, which we make upon the subject of our meditation.
2. The affections, which incline our heart towards, or estrange it from, the subject of our meditation, according as it be beneficial or prejudicial to our perfection.
3. The resolutions, which consist in the firm purpose to practise the good we have perceived or felt, or to fly the evil we have detested.
The Conclusion, finally, contains three points:
1. The petition for help, to put our resolutions into practice, and to obtain the graces necessary for our own salvation and that of our neighbour, according as we are obliged to this by the laws of charity.
2. The act of thanksgiving, to return thanks to God Who has inspired us with good thoughts, holy affections and strong resolutions, and allowed us to treat familiarly with Him during our Prayer.
3. The act of oblation, by which, in union with the merits of Jesus Christ, of the Most Blessed Virgin and of the Saints, we offer to God for His glory our life, thoughts, affections and actions.