measures must I take to make it my rule of life?
What ought I to do for the future?
It must be admitted, however, that a great number of those who meditate daily prefer to use a book in which they have many thoughts suggested by the writer. This
1 Matth. 16: 24.
PRACTICE OF MENTAL PRAYER
method requires only an attentive reading of the text, an effort to imprint it on the mind, and consideration of the fruit which may be drawn from it for one's spiritual advancement.
The preparation in its strict sense com- pleted, our task is not finished; it is still of the utmost importance to keep recollected until beginning the meditation proper. The preparation is usually made before retiring for the night. The subject should be again reviewed in a cursory manner just before going to sleep, and it should be the first thought on awaking next morning. Finally, while dressing, we should direct our thoughts to the subject of meditation, or at least to some pious subject, so as to exclude the day's pre-occupations. Such is the advice of St. Ignatius. 1
This effort to keep recollected until the moment of meditation has a double advantage: in the first place, as the mind is not busied with thoughts foreign to the subject, distrac- tions are avoided and the soul's converse with God is greatly facilitated; and in the second place, the generous effort to keep silent and recollected draws down innumerable graces.
1 Spiritual Exercises , Addit., 1, 2.
PRINCIPAL ACTS OF PRAYER
CHAPTER II
THE FIRST ACT, THAT OF PLACING ONESELF IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD, WHICH MUST NEVER BE OMITTED IN BEGINNING A MEDITATION
WHEN a person has been admitted to the presence of an earthly king, it would be most unbecoming for him not to think from the very first of what he is going to say. What can be said, then, of a soul which has been granted the unspeakable privilege of conversing with God and is bold enough to forget that it is in presence of the Divine Majesty, or only to think of it in a more or less vague way?
And here a question arises. Is it enough to place oneself in presence of God by an act of the reason, which proves to us that He is present everywhere?
No, that is not enough. We must place ourselves in presence of God by faith. Prayer is more than an audience granted by God, the Creator and Sovereign Lord of all things, to a creature; it is familiar intercourse like that of children with their father, or of friend
PRACTICE OF MENTAL PRAYER
with friend. Now this last mystic view of prayer so surpasses the powers of our intellect that this could not even suspect its truth and Divine Wisdom has been obliged to reveal it: Behold," says St. John, "what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called and should be the sons of God." 1
This placing of ourselves in God's presence is the most important act of meditation, for it is the basis of all others. It is well, then, to point out different ways of doing it and each one may choose that which ap- peals to him most, according to the impulse of grace.
The first method is to see God present everywhere, in His entirety both in the whole and in each atom of the universe. "If I ascend into heaven, Thou art there: If I descend into hell. Thou art present. If I take wings early in the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there also shall Thy hand lead me: and Thy right hand shall hold me." 2
Not only is God present in the universe by reason of His essence, pervading the
1 1. Ep. 3: 1. 2 Ps. 138: 8, 9, 10.
PRINCIPAL ACTS OF PRAYER
immensity of space and each molecule in somewhat the same way as the soul pervades the body, but He is also present by reason of His power, preserving to all things the existence which they would lose, to return into nothingness, if He withdrew. He is equally present in virtue of His knowledge, as the outcome of which He knows everything that takes place, and so even our most secret thoughts. We are immersed in God a thousand times more thoroughly than fish in the sea or the body in the air. In Him,'' says St. Paul, we live and move and are." 1
The second method is to regard God as present in Heaven. God is everywhere and yet He is said to dwell in heaven, for there He works wonders such as He effects nowhere else. This placing of oneself in the presence of God by considering Him as present in heaven is an excellent method, in that it raises our hearts above earthly things and fits us for holding converse with Our Heavenly Father without distractions. Thus it was that David prayed: To Thee have I lifted up my eyes Who dwellest in heaven.''2 In 1 Acts 17: 28. 2 Ps. 122: 1.
PRACTICE OF MENTAL PRAYER
the same way Isaias says: I will cry like a young swallow, I will meditate like a dove: My eyes are weakened looking upward." 1
It is the teaching of Our Lord, however, that especially shows the excellence of this practice, for He encourages us in our prayers to think of God as dwelling in heaven. "Thus shall you pray," he says, '''Our Father Who art in heaven;'" and adding example to precept, Jesus used to pray with his eyes raised to heaven. "These things Jesus spoke, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said: 'Father, the hour is come, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee.' " 2
The third method is to consider God as present in our soul, where He dwells, not only as in the rest of the creation, but in a won- derful and special way. God is present by reason of His essence, power and knowledge even in irrational creatures, but He dwells in the soul of the just man as a friend and Father. So that, even if He withdrew Him- self from the brute creation, allowing it to relapse into nothingness—an impossible hypothesis—still he would remain in the soul of man imprisoned by His love. "If
1 Is. 38: 14. 2 John 17: I.
PRINCIPAL ACTS OF PRAYER
any man love me," says Our Lord, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him and We will make our abode with him." 1
This is the most perfect method of placing oneself in the presence of God for the purpose of prayer, which is an intimate conversation with God, and in course of which it is fitting that we should seek for Him in the sanctuary of our souls, where He dwells as a most devoted Friend, a most tender Father. This thought was particularly dear to the Saints, many of whom liked to think of God as handing over the government of the world to His Angels for a time, so as to belong to them wholly and entirely during their prayer; just as a king entrusts the manage- ment of the state to his ministers for a short space, so as to enjoy without restraint the pure pleasures of family life with his children. A most pious, touching and, at the same time, correct thought, for God gives Himself as entirely to the soul in prayer as if it alone, of all the universe, were in exist- ence.
The best method, however, for each individ- ual soul is to place itself in the presence of
1 John 14: 23.
PRACTICE OF MENTAL PRAYER
God in that manner to which grace
