Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/401

 PRAYER

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PRAYER

it over if necessary, always as a matter of intimate personal interest, and with a strong act of faith until the intellect naturally apprehends the truth or the import of the fact under consideration, and begins to conceive it as a matter for careful consideration, reasoning about it and studying what it implies for one's welfare. Gradually an intense interest is aroused in these reflections, until, with faith quicken- ing the natural intelligence, one begins to perceive appUcations of the truth or fact to one's condition and needs and to feel the advantage or necessity of acting upon the conclusions drawn from one's reflec- tions. This is the important moment of meditation. The conviction that we need or should do something in accordance with our consideration begets in us desires or resolutions which we long to accomplish. If we are serious we shall admit of no self-deception either as to the propriety or possibility of such resolu- tions on our part. No matter what it may cost us to be consistent, we shall adopt them, and the more we appreciate their difficulty and our own weakness or incapacity, the more we shall try to value the motives which prompt us to adopt them, and above all the more we shall pray for grace to be able to carry them out.

If we are in earnest we shall not be satisfied with a superficial process. In the light of the truth we are meditating, our past experience will come to mind and confront us perhaps with memory of failure in previous attempts similar to those we are considering now, or at least with a keen sense of the difficulty to be apprehended, making us more solicitous about the motives animating us and humble in petitioning God's grace. These petitions, as well as all the various emotions that arise from our reflections, find expression in terms of prayer to God which are called colloquies, or conversations with Him. They may occur at any point in the process, whenever our thoughts in- spire us to caD upon God for our needs, or even for light to perceive and appreciate them and to know the means of obtaining them. This general process is subject to variations according to the character of the matter under consideration. The number of preludes and colloquies may vary, and the time spent in reasoning may be greater or less according to our familiarity with the subject. There is notliing me- chanical in the process; indeed, if analysed, it is clearly the natural operation of each faculty and of all in concert. Roothaan, who has prepared the best summary of it, recommends a remote preparation for it, so as to know whether we are properly disposed to enter into meditation, and, after each exercise, a brief review of each part of it in detail to see how far we may have succeeded. It is also strongly advised to . select as a means of recalling the leading thought or motive or affection some brief memorandum, prefer- ably couched in the words of some text of Scrip- ture, the "Imitation of Christ", the Fathers of the Church, or of some accredited writer on spiritual things. Meditation made regularly according to this method tends to create an atmosphere or spirit of prayer.

The method in vogue among the Sulpicians and followed by the students in their seminaries is not substantially different from this. According to Chenart, companion of Olier and for a long time director of the Seminary of St. Sulpice, the medita- tion should consist of three parts: the preparation, the prayer proper, and the conclusion. By way of preparation we should begin ^vith acts of adoration of Almighty God, of self-humiliation, and with fervent petition to be directed by the Holy Spirit in our prayer to know how to make it well and obtain its fruits. The prayer proper consists of considerations and the spiritual emotions or affections that result from such considerations. Whatever the subject of the meditation may be, it should be considered as it

may have been exemplified in the life of Christ, in itself, and in its practical importance for ourselves. The simpler these considerations are the better. A long or intricate course of reasoning is not at all desir- able. When some reasoning is needed, it should be simple and always in the light of faith. Speculation, subtlety, curiosity are all out of place. Plain, prac- tical reflections, always with an eye to self-examina- tion, in order to see how well or ill our conduct con- forms to the conclusions we derive from such reflec- tions, are by all means to be sought. The affections are the main object of the meditation. These are to have charity as their aim and norm. They should be few, if possible, one only of such simplicity and inten- sity that it can inspire the soul to act on the conclu- sion derived from the consideration and resolve to do something definite in the service of God. To seek too many affections only distracts or dissipates the atten- tion of the mind and weakens the resolution of the will. If it be difficult to Umit the emotions to one, it is not well to make much effort to do so, but better to devote our energies to deriving the best fruit we can from such as arise naturally and with ease from our mental reflections. As a means of keeping in mind during the day the uppermost thought or motive of the meditation we are advised to cull a spiritual nosegay, as it is quaintly called, with which to refresh the memory from time to time.

Meditation carefully followed forms habits of recalling and reasoning rapidly and with some ease about Divine things in such a manner as to excite pious affections, which become very ardent and which attach us very strongly to God's will. When prayer is made up chiefly of such affections, it is called by Alvarez de Paz, and other writers since his time, affective praj'er, to denote that instead of having to labour men- tally to admit or grasp a truth, we have grown so famil- iar with it that almost the mere recollection of it fills us with sentiments of faith, hope, charity; moves us to practise more generously one or other of the moral virtues; inspires us to make some act of self-sacrifice or to attempt some work for the glory of God. When these affections become more simple, that is, less numerous, less varied, and less interrupted or im- peded by reasoning or mental attempts to find ex- pression either for considerations or affections, they constitute what is called the prayer of simplicity by Bossuet and those who follow his terminolog}', of simple attention to one dominant thought or Divine object without reasoning on it, but simply letting it recur at intervals to renew or strengthen the senti- ments which keep the soul united to God.

These degrees of prayer are denoted by various terms by writers on spiritual subjects, the prayer of the heart, active recollection, and by the paradoxical phrases, active repose, active quietude, active silence, as opposed to similar passive states; St. Francis de Sales called it the prayer of simple com- mittal to God, not in the sense of doing nothing or of remaining inert in His sight, but doing all we can to control our own restless and aberrant faculties so as to keep them disposed for His action. By what- ever name these degrees of prayer may be called, it is important not to confuse them with any of the modes of Quietism (see Guyon, Molinos, Quiet- ism), as also not to exaggerate their importance, as if they were absolutely different from vocal prayers and meditation, since they are only degrees of or- dinary prayer. With more than usual attention to the sentiment of a set form of prayer meditation iDcgins; the practice of meditation develops a habit of centring our affections on Divine things; as this habit is cultivated, distractions are more easily avoided, even such as arise from our own varied and complex thoughts or emotions, until God or any truth or fact relating to Him becomes the simple object of our undisturbed attention, and this atten-