of heart and mind.
Most people have experienced this to some degree. For example, you may be prayerfully reading a passage from the Bible when some line seems to jump off the page. You experience urgency about the passage, or you come to a new level of understanding. Is it merely your mind working on the Scripture? Maybe, but it is also quite possible that the new insight has its origin in the Holy Spirit working within you — God speaking to your heart and mind.
At other times, maybe, you’ve prayed intensely about something, but received no discernible answer to your prayers. Then, days or weeks later, while you are going about your business, you suddenly see the solution you had sought weeks before in prayer. It is entirely possible that God had planted His response in your soul during your prayer, only to have it blossom in season.
“Those that seek shall find; and finding Him they will praise Him.”
— St. Augustine
Hearing is a sense that functions automatically. Truly listening, however, requires a conscious effort on our part. When a teacher speaks to us, we need to pay attention, focus, and integrate what we hear into our experience and understanding. It is the same way with nonverbal communication. We learn over time what our friend means by a certain facial expression or action. The parallel continues in our relationship with God. We need to be active listeners when we pray. We need to learn to sense the movement of His Spirit in our hearts and minds. This comes only by our sustained, disciplined, loving, and faithful efforts at prayer. Mental prayer grows as we develop a deeper relationship with God; our relationship with God grows deeper as we remain faithful to spending time with Him in mental prayer.
Shhh!
Inner silence, reflection, and stillness of spirit are essential components of mental prayer. These are commodities that are often difficult to find in our busy days. There are many demands on our time and energies. We must often fight for the opportunity to practice regular mental prayer. Setting a fixed time is very helpful. First thing in the morning is often the best time, because we are rested physically and our minds are relatively uncluttered. The concerns of the day have not begun to consume our thoughts. But for some people, the time immediately after work provides the best opportunity for mental prayer. Use this simple rule as your guide: The best time for you to pray is the time when you’ll pray. Consider your circumstances and your own mental rhythms; then set a time that works for you.
The right place is also important. There is no better place for mental prayer than before our Lord in the tabernacle. Twenty minutes of daily, quiet meditation and mental prayer before the tabernacle is a powerful practice that will certainly strengthen your relationship with Jesus. If time in church is simply impossible, then a quiet room in your home or workplace may suit you.
“Crying to the Lord is not done with the physical voice, but with the heart. Many whose lips are silent cry out with the heart; many are noisy with their mouths but with their hearts averted are able to obtain nothing. If, then, you cry out to God, cry out inwardly where He hears you.”
— St. Augustine
We said that mental prayer is an opportunity to hear God speaking to us or to gain a sense of how He is working in our lives. We must raise a caution here. First, we always keep in mind that God reveals himself to those who seek Him. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to guide us in the way of truth. So it’s healthy to expect that God will communicate with us. But we should always temper that expectation with humility. We are all subject to deception. Even in prayer, we can deceive ourselves or allow the devil to deceive us. Mental prayer, like all forms of prayer and devotion, fits into an overall plan of life. Spiritual direction can help us best discern what God is saying to us.
Conversations with God
“As a deer longs
for flowing streams,
so longs my soul
for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?”
— Psalm 42:1-2
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