Mental Prayer Part 2

We enter this Gaudete Sunday of Advent with eager hearts, anticipating the birth of our Lord and Savior. How was your mental prayer this week? I imagine it might've been quite challenging without further instruction.

Therefore, this week, I outline a more detailed practical "Method of Mental Prayer." Certain saints who were spiritual giants like St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis de Sales, St. Alphonsus of Liguori, and Louis of Granada have offered methods to allow for effective conversation with God. Here is a good general principle:

Mental Prayer is also called "Conversation with God" for that is what it is.

This conversation is framed in three parts: Preparation,Meditation and Conclusion.

Mental prayer also has two goals or destinations: one intellectual and the other affective and practical.

Preparation:

We begin with a genuine "act of faith." This is the beginning to our conversation in which we tell God that we acknowledge his presence, that we ask His grace to make a good meditation. Then we propose to God our topic of meditation so we can distinguish what spiritual idea or supernatural truth we want to concentrate our focus. We conclude this part by petitioning for special grace in our meditation.

Meditation:

Now, we move onto the meditation, and we exercise our memory to recall the material to be meditated upon. In this moment, if it helps, we may read some spiritual book or a part of the Bible to guide our minds towards deeper reflecting on the topic of meditation. For example, I can choose to meditate on the miracle of the Eucharist, and I may read the Gospel of John 6:35-71.

Then, I continue to engage the material and exercise my imagination to draw inspirations or considerations that deepen my meditation. Then, I may draw practical applications and conclusions from this reflecting. Continuing with the example, I may think about how Jesus emphasizes that He is the true bread of life every time immediately after He says, "truly truly I say to you." I recognize how important it is to accept His words at face value. Then, in this example, the subject realizes he does not always trust God's words at face value. He realizes he needs to have a much more open heart when listening during the daily Mass readings. He draws a conclusion and resolution to be more docile and trusting of the wisdom shared during a homily or towards inclinations felt after praying on Scripture.

Conclusion:

Finally, the resolutions or affections lead one to have conversation with God. This conversation may include thoughts about the considered direction and decisions.The person is also intentional to thank God for the resolutions, affections and inspirations.

Please note, the prayer may lead to silence and contemplation. In other words, the prayer may continue while conversation ceases and we begin to just enjoy being in the presence of God. We do not need words to appreciate the time spent together: we look at Him and He looks at us. This contemplative prayer will be expounded in a further letter.

Thank you for trying your best to draw closer to our Lord!

Always,

Fr. Daniel