INTRODUCTION TO THE DEVOUT LIFE

PART II: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21

PART II, Chapter 2: A Short Method For Mental Prayer. First Point Of The Preparation : Recalling The Presence Of God

Perhaps, Philothea, you do not know how to make mental prayer. Unfortunately, it is something that few people know nowadays. So I teach you a short and simple method for it. It will be of help until you are more fully instructed by reading the numerous good books on this subject, and above all by practice.

I begin with the preparation which consists of two points: the first is to place oneself in the presence of God, and the second is to ask for his help. I suggest four principal ways of placing yourself in the presence of God which you can use for this preparation.

The first consists in a lively and attentive awareness of the omnipresence of God: God is in everything and everywhere; there is no place or thing in this world where he is not very really present. Just as the birds always find the air wherever they fly, so wherever we go or wherever we are, we find God present. This truth is known to everyone, but not everyone is attentive to it to be conscious of it.

Blind persons do not see a prince who is among them. If they are told of his presence, they behave with respect. But, in fact, since they do not see him, they easily forget his presence. Having forgotten it, they more easily lose respect and reverence. Alas, Philothea, we do not see God who is present with us. Though faith reminds us of his presence, since we do not see him with our eyes, we very often forget and behave as though God was very far from us. In spite of knowing well that he is present everywhere, we are not attentive to it at all. Hence it is just as if we did not know it.

For this reason, before prayer we must always rouse ourselves to think and consider attentively this presence of God. Such was the awareness that David had, when he cried out: If I climb up to heaven, O my God, you are there; if I go down to the world beneath you are there (Ps. 139:8). We should make use of the words Jacob said when he saw the holy ladder (Gen. 28:17 and 16): How terrible is this place! Indeed, the Lord is in this place and I knew it not. He meant that he was not thinking about it, for he could not have been ignorant that God is in all things and everywhere. Hence, when you come to pray, say with all your heart and to your heart: O my heart, my heart, God is truly here.

The second way of placing yourself in the presence of God is to reflect that God is present not only in the place where you are, but that he is very specially present in your heart and in the very centre of your spirit. He enlivens and animates it by his divine presence, being there as the heart of your heart and the spirit of your spirit. The soul is spread throughout the entire body, and is present in every part of it, yet resides in a particular manner in the heart. Similarly, God, who is indeed present everywhere, is present in a special way in our spirit. Hence David calls God, the God of his heart (Ps. 73:26), and St. Paul says that we live and move and are in God (Acts 17:28). Considering this truth you will awaken in your heart a deep reverence of God who is so intimately present there.

The third way is to think of our Saviour, who in his humanity sees from Heaven all the persons in the world, but particularly Christians who are his children and most specially those who are at prayer, whose actions and behaviour he notices. This is not mere imagination but a most certain truth. Though we do not see him, yet he looks at us from on high. St. Stephen, at the time of his martyrdom, saw him in this way (Acts 7:55). So we can truly say with the Spouse: Look, there he is behind the wall, gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice (Song 2:9).

The fourth way consists in using simple imagination to represent our Saviour in his sacred humanity, as if he were near us, just as we are used to imagining our friends and saying, “I imagine I can see a certain person doing this or that, it seems to me that I see him,” or some such things. But if the most holy sacrament of the altar is present, then his presence will be real and not merely imaginary. The species and appearance of bread is like a tapestry, from behind which our Lord really present sees and observes us, though we cannot see him as he is.

Make use of one of these four ways to place yourself in the presence of God before prayer. Do not try to use them all together. Use only one at a time and that briefly and simply.

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