Thus the soul follows Our Lord's example. Who, deprived of all sensible joys and in agony said: Father, not my will, but thine be done!"1
It is during prayer that the soul which has been rendered God-like comes to account
1 Luke 22: 42.
EXCELLENCE OF MENTAL PRAYER
the least degree of glory procured for God as of more worth than all the pleasures of earth. At such a time, the soul trans- formed into Jesus Christ, realizes that dur- ing this short life no greater proof of love can be given to God than suffering for Him, and chooses, instead of earthly joy, poverty, reproach and persecution borne for love of Him. Then at last, following the example of Over Lord when delivering Himself up to His Passion, it learns to say: But that the world may know that I love the Father: And as the Father hath given me command- ment, so do I. Arise, let us go hence!
Spiritual writers, following St. Thomas, distinguish three degrees of Christian per- fection: The purgative life, in course of which the soul purifies itself from sin and imperfection; the illuminative life, in course of which the soul labors to acquire virtue; the unitive life, when the soul transformed into God aspires only to glorify Him and accomplish His divine will; whether it be in prayer or in any other action. From what has been said it is clear that prayer leads the soul to these three stages of perfection.
1 John 14: 31.
PRACTICE OF MENTAL PRAYER
CHAPTER IV
FOURTH ADVANTAGE OF PRAYER: IT CAUSES THE SOUL TO TASTE SPIRITUAL JOYS INCOM- PARABLY SUPERIOR TO ALL THE FALSE PLEASURES OF THE WORLD.
"How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! My heart and my flesh have re- joiced in the living God,"1 says the royal prophet.
These tabernacles of the Lord are the mystic sanctuary of prayer where the soul holds converse with God, as a son with his father. They are a thousand times more delightful than all the pleasures of the world, for in this converse the soul finds celestial joys which thrill it with delight.
The first of these joys is peace, surpassing all thought and penetrating heart and mind. And the peace of God which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.''2 And if you ask the nature of this peace, it resembles in the first place the rest which follows victory: the soul, 1 Ps. 83: 2, 3. 2 Phil. 4: 7.
EXCELLENCE OF MENTAL PRAYER
having conquered its passions by the aid of prayer or, at least, feeling that it has the passions under control, is as happy as the king who rides over the battle-field which he has won.
Further, it is rest in true liberty of spirit. By the light of prayer the soul clearly sees the nothingness of things transitory, the infinite value of things eternal; it under- stands that all outside of God is nothing, that God, the Sovereign Good, is everything. The outcome of this is a wonderful detach- ment from creatures, freeing the soul from the deceptive bonds of this world and estab- lishing it in true liberty, where it enjoys delicious rest. Closing the eyes to all phan- toms and earthly deceptions, the soul opens them to look on God, the only true, eternal and supreme good and cries out: One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life;"1 and again: "For what have I in heaven? and besides thee what do I desire upon earth? Thou art the God of my heart and the God that is my portion for ever!"2
1 Ps. 36; 4. 2 Ps. 73: 35, 36.
PRACTICE OF MENTAL PRAYER
But over and above all else, the peace which surpasses all understanding is the rest found in God's Will, infinitely just, holy, adorable and worthy of love; an unselfish rest, which makes the soul say with Jesus in the Garden: Father, not my will, but thine be done!"1 or again: "The chalice which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it?" 2
Hope is the second spiritual joy produced by prayer. By constantly meditating on the Holy Gospel the soul, little by little, is imbued with this consoling thought, which Our Lord recalls so often: that the pains and sufferings of life on earth are the gold with which the infinite happiness of heaven is bought. Then, instinctively, in reverse of fortune the soul says to itself: ''Blessed are the poor;" in affliction:'' Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice sake," finding true and solid consolation in words which it realizes in its very depths.
Love of God is the third and most exalted of the joys experienced in prayer. Noth- ing is sweeter than love; to seek to prove it would be both useless and superfluous.
1 Luke 22: 42.. 2 John 18: 11.
EXCELLENCE OF MENTAL PRAYER
Now all prayer is filled with this sweetness, for in its essence prayer is familiar inter- course with God like that of friend with friend, father with son; and consequently it is an intercourse of love.
And if you ask how far the sweetness of this love extends, the answer is: to such a point that we come to love what nature and the world detest: poverty, sickness, con- tempt, ingratitude, hard work and death. When rising from prayer, St. Francis Xavier used to cry: Lord, still more work! " It was prayer that inspired St. Teresa to cry from the bottom of her heart: To suffer or to die!"
To say that all souls who make serious prayer arrive at such transports of joy would be an exaggeration, but this is certain, that, by means of the light gained in meditation, everyone of these souls understands the value of suffering and learns that, during our mortal life, we are better able to respond to God's love by suffering than by any other means. Henceforth the soul succeeds not only in accepting the trials of this life with resignation, but still more, it prefers them to the deceptive joys which the worlding so ardently pursues.
PRACTICE OF MENTAL PRAYER
CHAPTER V
FIFTH ADVANTAGE OF PRAYER
It gives apostolic works their true fruit
ST. Ignatius says that the apostolic worker is an instrument connected at one and the same time with God and with souls, whose sanctification will be more or less perfect in proportion as the apostolic worker has been more or less closely united to God as his instrument.
This is a happy comparison. A great sculptor can sometimes carve a statue, a real master-piece, with a poor chisel; a famous artist will paint a valuable picture with a bad brush; but however good the brush or the chisel, if they were handled by inferior workmen, the work would always be imperfect. In the same way, an apostolic worker of only moderate knowledge and eloquence, who is yet an instrument closely united to the hand of the Divine and all powerful Worker, will effect wonders in souls; whilst if he is only partially united to God, the result of his work will always be imper-
1 Const. S. J., P. 10, n. 2.
EXCELLENCE OF MENTAL PRAYER 33
feet, in spite of eloquence and knowledge and tact.
Now
