Page:Prayerbookforrel00lasa 0.djvu/74

 ing. Do not  imagine,  moreover,  that  it  is  necessary  to wait  for  a  great  fire  to  burn  up  in  your  soul,  but  cherish the little  spark  that  you  have  got. Above all,  never  give way to  the  mistaken  notion  that  you  must  restrain  yourself from  prayer  in  order  to  go  through  all  the  thoughts suggested by  your  book,  or  because  your  prayer  does not appear  to  have  a  close  connection  with  the  subject of your  meditation. This would  simply  be  to  turn  from God to  your  own  thoughts  or  to  those  of  some  other  man.

To meditate  means  in  general  nothing  else  than  to reflect  seriously  on  some  subject. Meditation, as  mental prayer,  is  a  serious  reflection  on  some  religious  truth or event,  united  with  reference  and  application  to  ourselves, in  order  thereby  to  excite  in  us  certain  pious  sentiments— such  as  contrition,  humility,  faith,  hope,  charity, etc. — and to  move  our  will  to  form  good  resolutions  conformable to  these  pious  sentiments. Such an  exercise has naturally  a  beneficial  influence  on  our  soul  and  greatly conduces to  enlighten  our  mind  and  to  move  our  will  to practise  virtue.

"Meditation," writes  Madame  Cecilia,  in  her  admirable work  "  At  the  Feet  of  Jesus,"  "  consists  in  occupying ourselves  mentally  and  prayerfully  with  some  mystery  of the  faith.  We  call  to  mind  the  chief  facts,  ponder  over them,  and  then  stir  up  our  will  to  regulate  our  conduct in  consequence.  Hence,  meditation  is  an  exercise  of the  faculties  of  our  soul — memory,  understanding,  and will.  Some  persons  are  also  aided  by  the  imagination; to  others  it  is  a  hindrance.  Do  you  complain  that  you can  not  meditate?  Well,  let  me  ask  you:  Have  you ever  received  an  affront  that  cut  you  to  the  quick?  Then, perhaps,  you  did  meditate;  you  thought  over  it  for  an hour  or  more.  Memory  recalled  the  facts,  imagination supplied  extra  details  and  coloring,  the  intelligence  discussed the  motives,  such  as  ingratitude,  jealousy,  pride; it considered  the  baseness  and  the  unexpectedness  of  the insult; finally,  the  will  took  a  firm  resolution  to  avoid