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 used by  Religious,  such  as  Hamon's,  De  Brandt's, Segneri's,  Vercruysse's,  and  Ilg's  "Meditations on  the  Life  and  Passion  of  Our  Lord." Father Gallwey's "Watches  of  the  Passion,"  and  Da Bergamo's  "Thoughts 'and  Affections  on  the Passion"  are  worthy  of  the  highest  commendation.

St. Alphonsus  says:  "It  is  good  to  meditate upon  the  last  things  —  death,  judgment,  eternity —  but  let  us  above  all  meditate  upon  the  passion of  Christ." This saint,  the  great  Doctor  of Prayer,  has  given  us  a  beautiful  work  on  "  The Passion."

St. Teresa  tells  us  that  in  her  meditations  she helped herself  with  a  book  for  seventeen  years. By reading  the  points  of  a  meditation  from  a book,  the  mind  is  rendered  attentive  and  is  set on a  train  of  thought. Further to  help  the  mind you can  ask  yourself  some  such  questions  as  the following : What  does  this  mean? What lesson does it  teach  me? What has  been  my  conduct regarding this  matter? What have  I  done,what shall I  do,  and  how  shall  I  do  it? What particular virtue  must  I  practise? But do  not  forget  to pray.

Do not  imagine,  moreover,  that  it  is  necessary to wait  for  a  great  fire  to  flame  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