L' '-J ~--
1 '-"CO< \J J 

MENTAL PRAYER 

Iut 
FRANCIS P. LEBUFFE, S. J. 

THE QUEEN'S WORK 
3742 W.st Pine St. Louis •• Mo. 





..fei'd, ~'Uf 

. MENTAL PRAYER 

tu, 

FRANCIS P. LEBUFFE, S.1. 

THE QUEEN'S WORK 

3742 West Pine St. Louis 8, Mo. 



Imprimi potest: 

James P . Sweeney, S. J. 

Praep. Provo Neo~Eboracensis 

N ihil obs tat : 

Arthur J. Scanlan , S . T . D . 

Censor Librorum 

Imprimatur: 

..z. Francis J. Spellman 

Archiepiscopus N eo~Eboracensis 

N eo~Eboraci, die 30 Aprilis 1945 

Copyright, 1945 

THE QUEEN'S WORK 

~ed 



LET'S TRY MENTAL PRAYER 

FRANCIS P . LEBUFFE. S. J. 

REASON FOR COURSE 

For some years . to be precise since 1935 . a course on Mental 
Prayer has been given in each of the Summer Schools of Catholic 
Action. The reason for this course was the repeated requests from 
young Sodalists to be told how they could " deepen their spiritual 
lives. " 

Knowing that . unless God gives most unusual graces. it is <lifficult 
to deepen one 's spiritual life without mE;ntal prayer. this course was 
instituted . 

It was a gratifying surprise when . a t the Boston Summer School 
of Catholic Action in 1935 . w ithout any least persuasion nearly 
half of the entire students attended the first series of lectures on 
Mental Prayer and of th ese about fifty per cent were young people 
of college and high school level. Since that date the course has been 
listed for every Summer School of Catholic Action and the attend-
ance has continued to be most gratifying . 

The love of and desire for Mental Prayer as soon as it is taught 
is rather surprising . At the Chicago College Sodality Convention. 
July. 1934. one of the young ladies spoke up and said: " I don't get 
this stuff about mental prayer at all. " That evening we held a 
special session on mental prayer. Someone suggested that the stu-
dents themselves be asked to give their reactions to mental prayer. 
Then and there with compl~te spontaneity. a young man from the 
Marquette University Medical School gave a splendid . solid talk 
on what mental prayer meant to him . His talk left little to be said 
and the chairman turning to the young lady asked "What do you 
think of it now?" Instantly and emphatically came the answer : 
' 'I'm for it. I thought it w as something way up in the clouds; and 
to be way up in the clouds is all right for priests and Sisters . but 
not for us young people. But I'm for it now." Then and there she 
began a bit of daily medita tion and enjoyed it much. as she reported 
a year la ter. 

First then . there is the desire . at least the latent desire , w hich 
needs only to be awakened. This has been evidenced vividly by the 
requests made in school after school throughout the country for talks 
on how to make Mental Prayer and by the interest shown in the 
annual " Mental Prayer Contest" conducted by F ather J. Roger 
Lyons , S . J. of the Q.W. staff. 

Moreover Sodalists have an obligation , fir st of all to deepen their 
spiritual lives. and secondly. to lead a life of prayer and to meditate. 

The deepening of their spiritual lives is clearly set forth and 
insisted on in the very fir s t rule . 

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"The Sodality . . . aims at fostering in its members an ardent 
devotion ... it seeks to make ... good Catholics, sincerely bent on 
sanctifying themselves and zealous ... to save and sanctify their 
neighbor and to defend the Church." 

Sodalists are supposed to be " Catholic plus," to be "banner-men ," 
" shock-troopers" of Christ. 

Again they are supposed to lead a life of prayer and to meditate. 
Rules 7, 9, 12, 34, 36, and 43 deal with this aspect of the Sodalist 's 
life, and Rule 34 says explicitly : "Let them devote at least a quarter 
of an hour to mental prayer. " Frankly, in these days "a quarter of 
an hour" is a large order for young people, especially beginners. 
But they will try a three-minute dose and learn to love it. As one 
young lady said recently. " Father, sometime I start making a three-
minute meditation and then I get a beautiful thought~and before 
I know it, I've gone seven minutes." 

So we have the obligation , the need and the desire , three chal-
lenges to us to give to others, especially the young laity, the more 
solid food of the spiritual life. It is to second the efforts of youth 
and the leaders of you th that this pamphlet " Let's Try M ental 
Prayer" is offered. 

I. WHAT IS PRAYER 

1. The Baltimore Catechism defines prayer as " the lifting of the 
mind and heart to God, to adore Him , to thank Him for His benefits . 
to ask His forgiveness and to beg of Him all the graces we need 
whether for soul or body." 

There are two parts to this definition : 

(a) What prayer is: "the lifting of the mind and heart to God"; 

( b ) The purpose of prayer : 

(i) " to adore Him" . . . adoration ; 

(ii) " to thank Him" . .. thanksgiving ; 

(iii) " to ask His forgiveness" ... satisfaction ; 

(iv) " to beg of Him" . .. petition . 

Leaving aside the purposes of prayer, we have the traditional 
definition of prayer handed down through the centuries: "The lifting 
of the mind and heart to God." 

2. This old definition hides many ideas: 

(a) Prayer is not an " unthinking act"; 

(i) If I mumble off prayers in my sleep or in a delirium I am 
not praying . 

(ii) If I make a record of the Our Father, I do not pray every 
time the record is played . Neither is the "Our Father" of a 
parrot a prayer. 

Travelers tell us of the Tibetan prayerwheels. At Lhasa is a 
broad road leading to the great temple and the pious Tibetans 
run along that road holding pinwheels on which prayers are 
written. If the prayer is written ten times and the w heel revolves 

4 



ten times per minute. the prayer is held to be said ten times ten 
or one hundred times per minute. The number of repetitions of 
the prayer times the revolutions gives the number of times the 
prayer is said. Hardly praying . is it? 

(b) Prayer should be a volitional (fully free) act and hence 
should be said with "full knowledge. full deliberation and full 
consent." 

N. B. (i) Only the fully free act is definitely human-since 
man alone possesses free will. Hence virtuous (good) acts as 
well as sinful (bad) acts are completely imputable. creditable 
to us (and therefore meritorious or demeritorious) only insofar 
as they are done with "full knowledge. full deliberation and full 
consent." 

(ii) Unfortunately this analysis of a fully free act is associated 
in most minds with mortal sin. 

(iii) A sheer temperamental goodness. e.g .. a quiet disposi~ 
tion. is not of moral worth unless it be deliberately motivated. 
(Some people cannot get angry because of undeveloped glands! ) 

Analysis: 

Let us further analyze the definition of prayer: "the lifting of the 
mind and heart to God": 

(i) The mind-we think about God. we center our minds on 
Him. we try to understand Him and His revealed truths. It repre~ 
sents and calls for intelligent service- " intelligent." of course. 
according to one's grade of intelligence and mental development. 

N. B. Distractions. wilfully entertained. are really impolitenesses 
to God. Suppose we carried on a conversation with a human friend 
the way we often pray to God! (See p. 10. n. 4) 

(ii) The heart-by which we mean the will and the emotions. 

The will and the emotions are the driving agents of all our activity 
and so must be used when we want to act for God. 

II. IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT PRAYER 

Prayer may be divided into many kinds; but the first to be consid~ 
ered are Implicit and Explicit Prayer : 

(a) Implicit or diffused prayer is a state of mental nearness to 
God . and is commonly called " recollection. " 

(b) Explicit. or actual. prayer is an actual lifting of the mind 
and heart to God by vocal or mental prayer. 

III. IMPLICIT OR DIFFUSED PRAYER 

This . as said above. is a state of mental nearness to God : our 
minds are so attuned to God thaJ we instinctively think of Him. of 
His wishes. of His love. of His laws. etc .. etc. 

Such a state of mind is commonly called "recollection" ; and if we 
have such a state of mind we are said to be "recollected." 

Good Catholics in general and especially those who have been 

5 



educated in Catholic schools have much more of this state of mental 
nearness to God than they realize. Quite instinctively they check 
back on God's views, on God's wishes, in the various occurrences 
and incidents in life. The reason for this is that their minds have 
been filled with correct moral principles and their consciences have 
been well formed. 

With regard to implicit or diffused prayer a few things are to 
be noted: 

(a) it is not acquired directly bu.t is the result and outcome 

(i) of our actual prayers; 

(ii) of our attendance at Mass, Benediction, etc. : 

(iii) of the sermons we hear; 

(iv) of the spiritual books we read. 

(b) hence diffused prayer is like diffused sunlight. During the 
day, there is only diffused sunlight in a room into which the sun 
is not shining directly; and on a cloudy day the only sunlight we 
have is diffused sunlight. Yet all diffused sunlight comes ultimately 
from the direct rays of the sun. So diffused prayer or recollection 
COmes ultimately from our explicit prayer and is a result therefrom. 

(c) a spirit of recollection i.e . the sta te of mental nearness to 
God can be helped much by 

(i) aspirations; 

(ii) by brief visits ("pop-calls") to Our Lord in the Blessed 
Sacrament. 

N. B. Of course, each aspiration , each visit to the Blessed 
Sacrament is an explicit prayer. 

(d) a state of mental nearness to God has nothing to do with 
a long face or a "holier-than-thou" look. It is a state of the mind, 
not of the face. 

Certainly when one is in love with a human friend one doesn't 
put on a long face. If I want to gauge how much some one else 
is in love, all I have to do is to watch his or her face and eyes and 
see how they "light up " at even the thought of the loved one. 

What logic is there then in putting on a long and solemn fa ce 
when I am in love with God? Or going around "like a wet hen"? 
Or the last rose of summer six summers ago? Does it make sense? 
Is God the only loved One who is to make us gloomy? 

So again-recollection is a state of the mind, not of the face. 

With all reverence, I trust I can liken "diffused prayer" or 
" recollection" to a rubber-band holding God and myself together. 
If some work or pleasure engages me, I must give my attention 
to it; and God and I are held apart for the time being . I cannot 
teach class and keep thinking explicitly about God. While driving 
an auto , I had better keep my mind on the auto and the road , and 
not on God. But the rubber-band is there all the time, so that 

6 



when the work or pleasure ceases, God and I come consciousLy 
together again. 

IV. THE ACT OF RE~COLLECTION 

Before all formal or explicit prayer it is well to make an act of 
re-collection , i.e., we try to re-collect the scattered bits of our mind, 
which have been distracted (i.e. torn apart and aside) by many 
things. We want to have our mind a solid unit so as to concentrate 
it on God alone. Or we may put it another way: we "tidy up" our 
minds before asking God to enter , just as we tidy up a room before 
a worthy guest comes in. 

This is a quite natural way of doing things. Just before we go into 
the presence of a person for whom we have a high esteem, we give 
ourselves "a last minute's touch": ladies take out their compacts and 
" freshen up" with rouge and powder and lipstick, putting each stray-
ing permanent wavelet into proper place; the gentlemen straighten 
their vests and coats and flick off any dust that may have gathered 
on their clothes . 

So, too, before making an address, a speaker wants at least a few 
moments to gather his wits together. (Nothing is more deadly than 
to be sitting perfectly at ease at a banquet or lecture and, without a 
moment's warning, be called upon to "say a few words.") 

So. too , before class, a teacher who wants any success in his work, 
makes a last' minute preparation . 

Put simply: it is just ordinary everyday psychology to re-collect 
our minds before using them for an important bit of work. 

"Act of the Presence of God": 

This act of re-collection is commonly called by spiritual writers an 
act of the presence of God, because by it we deliberately recall that 
we are actually at all times in God's presence but are about to be 
consciously and specially in His presence during the time of prayer. 
It is an attempt to jolt ourselves into the realization of God's presence 
that is peculiarly proper to the time of prayer. 

Liturgical Acts of Re-collection: 

In her liturgy the Church gives us many examples of acts of 
re-collection: the use of the Sign of the Cross before ·q.ll prayers; 
the priests' prayers at the foot of the altar before beginning the 
Mass itself; the "Let us pray" call before many of the prayers in 
the Mass. etc. 

Varying the Act: 

Since we so easily become the victims of habit and thus dull the 
stimulating prick of any thing we do repeatedly, we shall find that 
the act of re-collect ion will become a matter of routine and hence 
meaningless. Therefore it is well to vary the act of re-collection : 

(a) Day-by-Day: 

On Sunday we can put ourselves in the presence of the Holy 
Trinity; 

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On Monday-of God the Father; 

On Tuesday-of God the Son; 

On Wednesday-of God the Holy Ghost; 

On Thursday-of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament; 

On Friday-of Christ in His Passion ; 

On Saturday-of Our Blessed Mother. 

One can readily see .that these suggestions a dmit of almost 
indefinite variation. 

(b) Season,by,Season: 

We may follow the turn of the liturgy of the Church and change 
our act of re-collection .according to the ecclesiastical year: 

In Advent, each day change to some different aspect of Christ's 
coming; 

In Lent-to some different aspect of His Passion; 

In Eastertide-to some different aspect of His Risen Life on 
Earth; 

During Pentecost and its octave-to some different aspect of the 
Holy Ghost and His relation to the Church and individual souls; 

During the post-Pentecostal days-to some different phase of 
C hrist's life on earth or in Heaven; or use the day-by-day scheme. 

Length of Act of Re,collection: 

The time spent in making the act of the presence of God will 
always be rather short. Still it will vary in length : 

(a) it will be quite short-"a split second" for our briefer 
prayers, e.g ., morning and evening prayers, grace before and after 
meals, the Angelus , etc. 

(b) it will be a quarter to a half minute for longer periods of 
prayer, e.g., for Mass, for a long meditation , for Benediction, 
etc ., etc. 

Some one may ask: " Why a longer and shorter act of re-col~ 
lection?" 

The reason is that if our prayer is to be short , it will not be 
difficult to hold our mind on God if we have made even a_ lightning~ 
fast act of re-collection. However, if our prayer is to be a long 
one then we must fasten the bits of our mind very closely together 
if they are to "stay put" during the longer period , 

We may take a homely example from bundles. For a small or 
light bundle, light cord is sufficient; but for a large or heavy bundle 
twine or rope is required. 

Summary: 

The act of re-collection is "the pause that refreshes, " If we make 
use of it, we shall find that our prayers are remarkably stimulated 
and refreshed 

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V. EXPLICIT OR ACTUAL PRAYER 

We have divided prayer into implicit and explicit prayer. Hav-
ing considered implicit prayer (or recollection) we now consider 
explicit prayer. 

Explicit (or actual) prayer is the actual. here-and-now lifting of 
our minds and hearts to God. I. here and now, give a certain definite 
amount of time, long or short, to talking to God (vocal prayer) or 
to thinking about Him and His truths (mental prayer). 

This can be don e anywhere: on my knees , in church or in the 
privacy of my room : walking along the street or in a bus . auto or 
train. For instance : I can say my beads anywhere and can be 
actually lifting my mind and heart to God even though my external 
attitude doesn 't show it at all. A priest friend of mine once met a 
top New York detective just outside the Grand Central Station 
casually leaning against a street-lamp. 

" Hello , Father!" 

" Hello, what are you doing here? " 

"We're expecting a group of out-of-town gangsters in on the 
tra ins today -and I am waiting for them. Move around to my right 
and look at my right hand in my coat pocket; I'll show you my gun." 

The priest did so. The gun was a rosary. ' 'I'm at the third Toyful 
Mystery now." No passerby would have thought that nonchalant 
fellow was praying! 

Kinds of Actual Prayer. 

Explicit or actual prayer is divided into vocal and mental prayer : 

Vocal prayer is the lifting of our minds and hearts to God by 
means of words. 

Mental prayer is the lifting of our minds and hearts to God by 
means of thought. 

N. B. 1. Of course back of all words must be thought, else it is 
useless mumbling; and along with most ordinary thinking there will 
be words in the mind. Hence it is the dominant stress, the primary 
manner of approach to God , which helps to differentiate vocal from 
mental prayer along these lines. 

2. Again when we say that mental prayer is " the lifting of our 
minds and hearts to God by means of thought," we are speaking of 
ordinary mental prayer and not of the higher forms of mystical 
prayer. 

VI. VOCAL PRAYER 

In vocal prayer we may: 

1. Use a set formula . 

The great traditional formulas should be used and should 
be very dear to all of us: the Our Father was taught us by Christ 
Himself; the first part of the Hail Mary is the actual words of 
the Gospel; the Creed, the Confiteor, etc., are sanctioned by time-
honored usage, etc., etc. 

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2. We just chat with God, using our own words. 

We should talk out to God just as we feel. (Cf. " Blurt it Out 
to God," The Queen's Work, May, 1942, or "My Changeless 
Friend," twenty-seventh Series. ) 

This informal, just-as-l -feel chatting with God is to be 
strongly recommended. The prayer of a British child which 
Father Lyons is wont to quote is a fine example in kind: "Please 
God, take care of yourself because if anything happened to you , 
we'd be sunk." Or Father Lord's story of the First Communi-
cant's artless thanksgiving : "I thanked Jesus for coming to me, 
I prayed for mama and papa and auntie and uncle~and then I 
said my ABC's for Him." Truly " for of such is the Kingdom 
of Heaven." 

3. Sometimes if we are just too tired to say our usual vocal 
prayers well, it would be wise to say a few short ones decently 
and then tell God we are too tired for the rest. This is certainly 
better than to mumble through long prayers half-conscious. And 
isn't that the way we act with those we love best? 

But here we can " take time by the forelock" and say our 
longer prayers ahead of time. A hard-headed business man told 
me that he had never in all his busy life~and it was busy~ 
missed his daily beads. " If I had a long meeting or the opera 
ahead of me at night, I said my beads before I went out. If I 
was out hunting, I got up before the others and walked up and 
down the country road saying them." 

4. Gerald Vann, O. P . (" Of His Fullness," Chapter XVII. 
"Prayer," p. 108) , makes a good point : " And it is useful to 
remember that distractions themselves should be turned into 
prayer. The things that distract us are often things which are 
weighing upon our minds: the difficulties we shall have to face , 
the sorrows or the joys which fill our thoughts ; and it is wise 
in such cases not to do violence to the mind by trying , probably 
unsuccessfully , to expel such preoccupations; but to admit them, 
lay them in spirit before God, speak to God about them, and so 
turn them into prayer instead of a distraction from prayer; and 
then , their insistence temporarily satisfied, · and · blessed, turn 
quietly aside to other thoughts. A similar policy may be justified 
even when it is pure distraction, the errant thought , the buzzing 
of a fly, or the sound of a gramophone, that is the question. All 
the passing thoughts that come to us are either of beauty or of 
ugliness; and they can without violence be made the instruments 
of thanksgiving or of sorrow; and will be far more readily 
superseded if they have been allowed to enter fully into the 
consciousness for a moment, than if we attempt anXiously and 
noisily to expel them." 

But remember~always first make an ·earnest a ttempt to get 
rid of the dis traction. Then and then only, if it won't go, call 
God 's attention to it. 

5. Again we may find ourselves so numb from pain or w orry 
that we cannot formula te any words. Then it is a real prayer 

10 



just to kneel in the chapel tongue-tied, or silently grasp our 
crucifix. Our Lord will understand our silence, or the pressure 
of our grasp on the crucifix. 

N. B. Of course, this is no excuse for laziness. I don't fool 
myself when I "lay down on the job" of praying as I should. 

VII. ATTENTION AT VOCAL PRAYER 

How can we have our minds and hearts lifted to God in vocal 
prayer? And how can we pay attention to what we are dOing ? 

We might just as well admit that all of us find difficulty in this. 
for we are easily "distracted," i.e. , drawn away from the thought 
of our prayers. 

First we may pay attention to the enunciation and pronunciation 
of our prayers, i.e., see whether we are really saying the words We 
ought to say and in a decent way. It is quite remarkable how many 
slips are made in ordinary prayers. (Like the youngster who said 
" St. Mitchell the dark angel.") Or we begin to telescope words and 
mash one into the other. 

N . B. It can be readily seen that this manner of holding our minds 
down to our prayers can be used only rarely. Certainly to pay 
attention to the enunciation and pronunciation of the Hail Mary 
fifty-three times in the beads would be difficult and unnatural. 

Secondly we may keep our minds centered on the thought-content . 
i.e., the meaning of the words we say. This again can help us only 
occaSionally, for our attention will s(:lB if we try to pay attention 
to the meaning of the words of the H ail Mary fifty-three times in 
the one recitation of the beads. 

Thirdly, the most effective way to hold down our minds while 
praying vocally is to neglect the words themselves and center our 
thoughts on God. Our Blessed Mother , the Saints, etc. 

1. Herein we use words merely as a means of approach to God, not 
paying attention to their inner meaning. Weare using a consecrated 
formula, hallowed by tradition (e.g. Our Father, Hail M ary, etc.) 
with the meaning of which we are very familiar , and with which, we 
say it reverently, God is familiar. It is like two old friends humming 
together a melody that brings back sweetest memories. 

2. This is not un-natural, as we have just indicated . This is made 
even clearer if we think of how we use words in our daily relations. 
Certainly we think nothing about the inner meaning of " Good 
Morning!" "How do you do!" We never expect a person to tell 
how he is, or to dispute our salutation when the morning is not 
" good" but rainy. Moreover in a musical comedy or an opera it is 
largely the music and not the words that count. 

3. To gain the Dominican indulgences one must meditate on the 
mystery commemorated in that particular decade. This, of itself, 
involves the neglect of the concentration on the words. 

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VIII. HOW TO VITALIZE OUR VOCAL PRAYERS 

As philosophers say~but in much more learned terms~you don't 
get a kick out of things you are used to. So it is, that when we 
recite prayers frequently they run off our lips (and minds) like 
water off a duck's back. Take the beads for instance. We frequently 
begin them with the best intentions in the world and with much 
attention~and then before we know it , we find ourselves at the 
end of the fifth decade! Hence three methods are suggested for 
vitalizing our beads. (See N. B. at end of No. 2, which follows .) 

I . In saying the " Hail Mary" insert each time after the name 
" Jesus" a thought from the mystery : 

1st Joyful : "and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus , w hose 
mother you became." 

1st Sorrowful : "and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus , who 
was in agony." 

I st Glorious: "and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus . who 
rose from the dead ." 

N . B. This can be varied a great deal. and thus' our attention 
can be continually stimulated. 

2. By making a like insertion after the Holy Name but progressing 
in the mystery: 

(a) for the first Joyful Mystery we may say: 

first Hail Mary ~ Jesus , Who sent His angel to you. 
second Hail Mary~ Jesus. whose angel saluted you . 
third Hail Mary~ Jesus , whose angel frightened you. 
fourth Hail Mary~ Jesus , whose angel you questioned. 
fifth Hail Mary~ Jesus , whose angel answered your question . 
sixth Hail Mary~ Jesus , whose mother you consented to be. 
seventh Hail Mary~ Jesus , whose mother you became. 
eighth H ail Mary~Jesus, who preserved your virginity. 
ninth Hail Mary~ Jesus . whom you carried nine long months. 
tenth Hail Mary ~ Jesus, who owed His whole earthly exist-

ence to you. 

(b) for the first Sorrowful Mystery : 

J. Jesus , who went with His Apostles to the Garden. 
2. Jesus, who left eight at the entrance. 
3: Jesus , who took P eter, James and John within. 
4. Jesus, who told His Apostles to pray. 
5. Jesus , who withdrew to pray. 
6. Jesus, who sought comfort from His Apostles. 
7. Jesus, who prayed that the chalice might pass. 
8. Jesus, who fell into an agony. 
9. Jesus , whose sweat became as blood. 

10. Jesus , who was comforted by an angel. 

N. B. It can be objected that the insertion of such phrases will 
cause us to lose the indulgences. 

I . That is true if we put them in vocally since Canon 934 states 
that if any additions , omissions or changes whatsoever be made in 

12 



an indulgenced prayer the indulgences are completely lost . (See 
Bouscaren " Canon Law Digest," Canon 934 , p. 236.) 

2. But the indulgences would not be lost if we just thought of the 
phrases. 

3. Again it is much better to center our attention on saying our 
prayers well than on gaining the indulgences. Indulgences are to 
be cherished and sought, but don't become " bookkeepers" w ith 
God! 

"The Rosary Crusade" by a Dominican Father (New York : 
Holy Name Headquarters, 141 E. 65th St. , price IDe) is excellent. 
Also " Heart of the Rosary" by F . P . Donnelly , S . J. (Ozone Park, 
N . Y. : Catholic Literary Guild, $1.) 

3. By making " distractions" help us . If we are praying in public 
(i.e. on the street or in an auto or train) we apply the mystery to 
each and everything we see. 

Suppose it is Monday and I am supposed to think about the Joyful 
Mysteries. I keep my eyes wide open and see everything , thinking 
the while as I say the fir s t decade: 

God became man for th e driver of this bus ... 

God became man for all these passengers- I wonder how many 
realize it ... 

God became man for that colored man-am I helping him to 
know that? . . . 

God became man for that Jew, equally as well as for me . Can 
I be anti-Semitic? Etc., etc. 
Or the Fifth Sorrowful : 

Christ died for the "dandy" over there, who doesn 't seem to 
have a thought but for pleasure ... 

Christ died for th e one who made that beautiful dress in the 
window . . 

Christ died for the girl who is going to wear that " latest 
crea tion " in shoes . . . 

Christ died for that tottering old lady -I hope she's ready to 
meet Him. Etc., etc. 

In this way we make those things that would otherwise b e dis-
tractions an actual stimulus to us spiritually. Some have used this 
w ith startling effec t. By so doing , we beat the devil (and our 
imagination) at his own game. 

N . B. We can " use" distractions in the same way in our medita-
tions , examens , etc . 

IX. MENTAL PRAYER 

W e have defined mental prayer, or medita tion , as the "lifting of 
the mind and heart to God by means of thought." 

We may put this simple definition in another simple way and say 
that mental prayer is " thinking about the things of God in the 
presence of God and applying them to ourselves. " 

13 



Let's analyze this definition in each of its parts: 

( a) "thinking about the things of God" 

We do a lot of thinking about many things-persons. things. situa-
tions . problems. (See an excellent exposition in Gallwey' sWatches 
of the Passion, Vol. I. pp. 9-13.) Thus we may be " meditating" 
on a problem which is not religious e.g .. what dress I shall buy. how 
I am to pay my debts. Such a "meditation" would not be mental 
prayer. For this. we must think about " the things of God." i.e .. God 
Himself. His revealed truths . our souls and their relation to Him. the 
saints as concrete models of His truths .. etc .. etc. 

(b) "in the presence of God." 

We may think about " the things of God" in a merely, speculative 
way as a philosopher or theologian . in much the same way that a 
scientist would study physics or chemistry. 

But when we make mental prayer we "think of the things of 
God in the presence of God. " Why? Because it is a prayer. i.e .. 
" a lifting of the mind and heart to God." We come consciously into 
His presence (we are always in His presence since He is everywhere) 
and we remain there consciously while thinking about the truths H e 
has deigned to reveal to us about Himself and about ourselves. 

(c) "applying them to ourselves." 

Just as we can day-dream about anyone else or anything else. so 
we can day-dream about God . with no least profit to ourselves or 
influence on our lives. 

Hence the third part of the definition: "applying them to our-
selves." The purpose of meditation is to bring us nearer to G od by 
making our lives more conformed to His standards. In meditation 
we look on the model God has proposed to us: we see what it is . 
wha t it demands of us ; then we turn and look at ourselves and see 
how far we have reproduced the model in our own lives and what 
we must do to become more like to it. Weare fashioning our lives 
as a sculptor rough-hew s a statue and then retouches and retouches it. 
Just as the artist must never lose sight of his model . neither must we. 
Indeed. we need never be anxious about our model since God and 
Christ and Our Blessed Mother and the saints are always willing 
to " sit. " 

(Read Hawthorne' s The Great Stone Face and make the necessary 
application to our own souls and God.) 

N. B. If we may use a rather homely comparison: in mental prayer 
we "chew the cud." This "cud" has come from sermons, religion 
classes, Sodality meetings, spiritual books, etc., etc. 

To put it differently, in mental prayer we do not talk to God by 
means of words, but our minds dwell on the things of God: on what 
God is ; on what God has done and said; on His law; on His Incarna-
tion and earthly life; on my soul ; on what He wants me to do; on 
the future life; on the saints and how they served God, etc., etc. And 
all the time that my mind is thinking about God, my will, too , is 
centered on Him and I am checking up my life against His law and 

14 



I am planning how I may square that life better with His law in 
the future. 

Mental prayer is not difficult. We all do a lot of thinking about 
other people and other things. I "meditate" about people I see in 
the cars and on the streets; I "meditate" about my exams and about 
my money problems ; I " meditate" about the World War and the 
peace that is to follow; I "meditate" even about the next party or 
show or "prom" or outing . I do a lot of thinking about many things 
and about many people and I plan accordingly . "Think it over" is 
a remark frequently on our lips. And mental prayer is just "thinking 
it over" with God. Not very hard, is it? 

Before explaining a few kinds of meditation or mental prayer, let 
us consider three things that are strongly to be recommended: (a) 
a colloquy; (b) resolutions; (c) a positive approach. 

X. COLLOQUY OR CHAT 

We should try always to end our mental prayer with a colloquy 
or chat with God, Our Lord, Our Blessed Mother, etc. 

(a) We chat over the matter of our meditation , telling how it 
has affected us, how we feel about it, how we have failed or suc~ 
ceeded in the past , asking grace for the future, etc. 

(b) We chat just as we feel. If we are thoroughly disgusted 
and discouraged, we tell Our Lord so. If we think His ideals too 
high, we -tell Him so. If we are spiritually happy and are eager to 
do all we can for Him, we tell Him so. "If I feel like pulling out 
somebody's hair," I tell Him so-and soon He will make me realize 
that there is good reason why He might want to pull my hair. 
Utter familiarity is the keynote .of this " chatting" with Our Lord. 
Yet this kind of .familiarity is never irreverent. Prayer has been 
well defined as " reverent intimacy with God. " 

In his " Spiritual Exercises," or " Book of Retreats" St. Ignatius 
speaks frequently of the colloquy and insists much on it : 

a. In the Meditation on the "Three Sins": 

"The colloquy is made, properly speaking, as one friend speaks 
to another, or a servant to his master, now asking for some grace, 
now accusing himself of some wrong done, again making know n 
his affairs and seeking counsel in them." 

b . In the Contemplation of the Last Supper: 

" In the colloquies we ought to reason and petition according to 
the subject~matter , i.e., according as I find myself tempted or con ~ 
soled, and according as I desire to have one virtue or another; or 
according as I want to dispose myself to one side or the other; 
according as I wish to grieve or rejoice at that w hich I have con~ 
templated; finally asking for those things which I most earnestly 
desire with regard to any definite matters. " 

Briefly: talk with God the way I feel after meditating, in a 
simple, childlike way. 

15 



XI. RESOLUTIONS 

If possible, make a d efinite resolution . I shall never get very far 
in conquest of self or in the practice of virtue unless I make very 
definite and explicit resolutions. A general resolution "to be good" 
or " to imitate Our Lord" will not get us very far. Definite resolutions 
are quite necessary when we first start to deepen our spiritual life for 
there is then much need to correct definite faults and to practice even 
elementary virtue. 

But remember that a resolution here and now is not always 
required for a good mental prayer. The main immediate purpose of 
mental prayer is to fill our minds with God and the things of God, 
with at least a general and implicit application to and check~up with 
our own lives. 

If we meditate well, resolutions (or , to put it better. improvement 
of life) will inevitably follow. 

In menta l prayer we create a mental atmosphere, a set of con~ 
victions, a hierarchy or gra dation of values , i. e. , we -decide that some 
things are good , others better, others best ; and the w ill by its nature 
is drawn to follow the accepted standards of the mind . 

XII. THE POSITIVE APPROACH 

Our approach to God in mental prayer, as it should be in our 
whole spiritual life , should be the positive approach of love. Holi~ 
ness will attract us and even the basic demands of decent living w ill 
cease to be mere irksome restraints only when we love God. Y et far 
too often it is the negative approach of fear or of the avoidance of sin 
that dominates the life of Catholics. 

Yet psychologically, fears cramp the soul; and prohibitions and 
restraints have no power to inspire us to sainthood . Just wa tch 
children who obey parents or teacher only out of fear. The minute 
teacher or parent is out of Sight, it is an easy bet to guess' what 
happens. Thus fear , we may rightly say, is the unusual. the abnormal 
condition of mind. If it becomes normal. a warped personality results . 
This holds true in everyday life and in our relation with God. 

Hence, to be normal, we must love God. 

Love is thrilling, expansive, drives us on to heroic deeds. (Read 
St. Paul's words in 1 Cor. 13 and also Sr. Mary Agnes' fine little 
meditation books, St. Paul's Hymn to Charity, Practical Charity , etc. 

And it is our love that God is asking for all the time. If He holds 
out motives of fear , it is only to restrain those to whom H is love does 
not appeal. 

a . Old Testament. 

Even in the Old Testament (the "Law of Fear") , God's approach 
was positive. We select only a few texts out of hundreds. 

Deut. 6 : 4 ~5 : "Hear, 0 Israel. the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy 
whole soul and with thy whole strength ." 

16 



Cant. 8:6~7: " Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy 
arm; for love is strong as death , jealousy as hard as hell. the lamps 
thereof are fire and flames . Many waters cannot quench charity 
(love) , neither can floods drown it ; if a man should give all the 
substance of his house for love, he shall despise it as nothing." 

Jeremias 2:1 ~2 : "And the word of the Lord came to me saying : 
Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying : Thus saith the Lord : I 
have remembered thee , pitying thy youth , and the love of the 
espousals, when thou followest me in the desert , in a land that is 
not sown." 

Again, Jeremias 3: 1: " It is commonly said: If a man put away his 
wife, and she go away from him , and marry another man , shall he 
return to her any more? .. . But thou has t prostituted thyself to many 
lovers; nevertheless return to me, saith the Lord, and I w ill receive 
thee. " 

b. New Testament. 

The whole thought of the New Testament (the "Law of Love") is 
one of life and love: 

a. Christ's whole teaching may be summed up in H is words 
(St. Luke 10 : 27) : "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy 
whole heart, and with thy whole soul. and with thy whole strength 
and with thy whole mind ; and thy neighbor as thyself. " 

b. The theme of St. John 's Gospel may be expressed in Christ's 
words: " I came that they may have life, and have it more abun-
dantly:' (10 : 10). 

c. St. Paul opens nearly every letter with the salutation: " Grace 
be to you and peace from God our Fa th er and from the Lord Jesus 
Christ. " 

St. Paul tells us repeatedly that we are children of God 
(Rom. 8 : 14, Gal. 3:26; Eph. 5 :8, etc.) ; " members of God's 
household (Eph. 2: 9 ) . 

d. St. John 's refrain in his letters was : love God, love one another . 

XIII. ACTUAL TEACHING OF MENTAL PRAYER 

A few simple hints, gathered from experience, may prove helpful : 

I. ,Don 't tell students or older Sodalists to make meditation but 
make it out loud for and with them. Tell them to close their eyes ; 
and then start right in to pray with them. 

2. Give as few rules as possible. When we learned to walk 
mother did not give us a lengthy discourse on all the muscles we 
were going to use . Even to this day most of us are blissfully 
ignorant of the anatomy of walking. 

3. Identify yourself with your audience, i.e ., meditate out loud ' 
as though you were one of the boys, one of the girls , etc. Always 
use the pronoun "I," not "you." 

4. Meditate in terms of their lives by thinking in terms of class , 
home, dance, movies, etc. . 

5. Be simple, utterly simple. 

17 



6. Always end with a real "heart-to-heart" chat with our Lord. 

7. Begin with three minutes each time. Do not try a longer 
period until they have learned to love it and ask for it. 

8. As soon as possible let the Soda lists make the meditation them-
selves. It would be advisable to have the one who is going to lead 
the mental prayer to write it out in advance. at least for a w hile. 

XIV. MEDITATION 

We shall now proceed to· give samples of various types of mental 
prayer. 

We shall use the words " meditation ." "contemplation" in the sense 
of St. Ignatius Loyola. We note this because there is a wide variety 
of meanings given to these words. The first is a "meditation." 
understanding that by meditation we mean thinking about some gen-
era l principle. some general truth of the spiritual life. in the presence 
of God and applying it to ourselves. Thus we " meditate" on the end 
of man. on sin. on death . on Hell. etc. 

N. B. It is wiser not to give much of an explanation of the dif-
ference between the various kinds of mental prayer. Just make them. 
We may take to heart here what it Kempis says: " It is better to 
know how to make an act of contrition than how to define it ." 

Death: 

Let us take a simple meditation on death. Pause momentarily at 
the dots .. 

Act of re-collection-O my God . help me to spend this time 
of prayer with You. 

One of these days I am going to die ... that is certain ... 
Nothing is more certain . . . I may avoid sickness ... poverty 
. .. disgrace ... but I cannot avoid death ... One day I shall 
be placed in the coffin ... brought to the church ... laid in the 
grave ... covered over with dirt ... then left alone . . . I can pic-
ture that for everyone else .. . can I for myself? .. . 

When shall this be? . .. I don't know. Maybe today ... maybe 
tomorrow ... maybe years from now ... But I am nearer death 
now than I have ever been before ... nearer than when I got up 
this morning ... nearer than when I left home ... nearer than 
when I began this meditation .. . 

Should this frighten me? ... No-because death means going 
home . .. And I am always glad to go home ... death is the short. 
dark tunnel I must go through to get home ... . 

Only one thing should make me fear death-mortal sin ... 
because then I could not go home .... 

Dear Jesus. one day I must die. Honestly I fear death but I should 
not. for it means coming home to you. Let me remember that always. 
And please give me grace to be always ready to come home to you . 
even at a moment's notice. And so keep me far. very far from all 
mortal sin, because that would keep me away from you forever . 

18 



The End of Man: 

Act of re~col1ection-Dear Jesus , help me to spend this time of 
prayer entirely wrth You. 

I find myself alive ... a few years ago I was not alive . .. a 
few years hence I shall be in my grave ... 

Why am I here? . . . surely not to make money .. . not to 
become famous ... if so, few men attain their end ... not just to 
have pleasure since I am more than an animal . .. 

Why am I here? .. . to know, love and serve God , and by so 
doing save my soul ... that means doing what I ought to do ... 
when I ought to do it ... how I ought to do it ... and why, i.e. , 
because God wants me .. . 

But do I? . .. at home? ... in school? . .. at play? ... at the 
movie? . . . out with the girl or boy I like? . . . 

I don't have to worry about saving my soul if I always do what 
and when and how and why . . . 

Suppose I had dropped dead at that last dance ... suppose I 
were to die now . . . suppose I had been killed on my last auto 
ride ... 

Dear Jesus, You have been good enough to let me know just how 
I should live in order to pass the final "exam" of the Particular and 
General Judgment. Usually it's not so hard to be good and to please 
You , though ·at times it does become a bit difficult. I don't want to 
disappoint You by failing in my last exam because that would be 
to disappoint You for all eternity. So help me always and every~ 
where to do what and when and how and why I ough t. You will , 
won 't You? 

XV. CONTEMPLATION 

Contemplation (from the Latin, contemplare-to look at) consists 
in re-enacting a scene in the life of Our Lord, of the Blessed Virgin , 
of the Saints. It is a literal re~living of these scenes. 

We do not think of a scene of Our Lord's life as something 
that happened 1900 years ago , but we re~enact the whole scene 
again , taking part in it ourselves, at least as spectators. Sts. Bona~ 
venture , Ignatius and others tell us to make a contemplation "just 
a s though I were present." 

(St. Bonaventure's "Life of Christ" and Archbishop Goodier 's 
books on the life of Our Lord are splendid examples of this "just~ 
as~though- I~were-present" attitude.) 

When beginning a contemplation on a scene in the life of Christ, 
it is advisable to begin with a prayer to Our Lord "that I may know 
You more clearly, love You more dearly, and imitate You more 
nearly in the lessons You teach me here. " We beg for a vitalizing 
knowledge of Christ. This is the " knowledge" (Greek, epignosis) 
of which St. Paul speaks so frequently , e.g. Ephesians 1: 17, 4: 13; 
Philippians 1: 9, etc. 

19 



Nativity: 

Let us make a simple contemplation on the Birth at Bethlehem , 
pausing momentarily at the dots . . . 

Act of re~collection-Dear Jesus , help me to spend these few 
moments alone with You at Bethlehem. 

It's just after midnight of Christmas Eve ... I'm walking down 
the road from Bethlehem after a hard day's work .... I suddenly 
see light coming from under the ill-fitting door of a stable which is 
usually vacant. . . . I knock, and a young man answers with a 
cheerful: "Come in , what can I do for you?" . .. " Nothing , thank 
you-are you strangers?" . . . "Yes, from Nazareth. But just come 
in , will you? . . . Let me shut the door, the night air is cool and 
Mary, my wife , has just given birth to her Child ... . There It is and 
there she is . . ," 

I look and walk over ... What! the Babe in a manger and the 
mother kneeling in prayer at Its side . . .. Mary looks up. "Isn't He 
beautiful! ... and doesn 't He look like me! .. . He ought to , for I 
am His only earthly parent . .. . I am the Virgin Mother and He 
is your Saviour, your God . . .. Don't you remember how Isaias 
foretold it to our fathers? . .. Don 't you think you ought to kneel 
down and adore your Saviour? ... " 

" My God!" I find myself on my knees adoring with Mary .. . . 
God has come to save me .. . . God is a Baby to win my love ... . 

Joseph touches me on the shoulder: "Do you mind leaving now? 
. . . It's after midnight now , and we are tired ... Come back tomor-
row, will you?" .. . 

As Joseph latches the door behind me, I wonder what really 
counts ... worldly possessions . .. honor ... fame . . . none of 
those at the crib ... the one thing is to be near God . . . and to be 
like God ... and to save my soul .. . is that what really counts 
with me now? . , . 

Dear Jesus , I thank You for coming and for teaching me the value 
of my soul and the lack of lasting value of anything else in this 
world. You came to win my love. I want to give it to You entirely 
from now on . That is my Christmas gift to You . Take it , will You 
please? And Mother Mary, I thank you from my heart for giving 
me Jesus. 

Cana: 

Or, again, we may make a contemplation on th e Marriage F east 
at Cana . 

Act of re~col1ection-Dear Lord , I want to spend this tim e of 
prayer with You alone. 

Dear Jesus , help me to know You more clearly, love You more 
dearly and imitate You more nearly in the lessons You would teach 
me here. 

It's a very happy marriage feast . .. a fine day , . . many friends 
... we have been having a happy time . .. Our Lord is th ere , I 

20 



see Him talk now with this group . and now with that ... . He puts 
no damper on the fun . . . 

But there's a flurry among the servants .... Something has gone 
wrong .... Hurried talking . . .. I see Mary go over to the group of 
servants ... they talk with her ... . She quiets them . . . and goes 
straight to Our Lord ... " Son. they have no wine." .. . He says 
with a teasing smile " Is that our concern . Mother?" ... She looks 
knowingly at Him . .. and goes back to the servants: "Do whatever 
He tells you ... remember whatever He tells you " ' , ' . 

I'm puzzled and turn to find Our Lord walking over to the serv~ 
ants: "Fill the jars with water ... now. draw ... and give to the 
master of ceremonies." ... I'm more puzzled .. . I walk over ... 
the water has become wine! . . . 

Christ's first miracle performed so that the fun of a marriage feast 
would not be spoiled .... He wants me to have pleasure ... if it's 
proper. . . . Would I want Him with me always? .. . at a dance? ... 
at a movie? ... down at the beach? ... when I am alone with another 
in an auto? . .. He'd be very happy to be there~unless ... 

Dear Jesus. I thank You for the miracle at Cana. You 've taught 
me much by that . for I see clearly that You want me to have pleas-
ures and that You will bless me and them. That's fine! Just help 
me never to take any pleasures that You would not bless. 

N . B. One may make a contemplation on death . Hell. Heaven . 
by paying a mental visit to one 's own deathbed or funeral. or 
"dropping in " on the damned in Hell or the blessed in H eaven . 

XVI. "FIRST METHOD OF PRAYER" 

Another simple form of mental prayer is an extended self-exam-
ination without any attempt at an exact counting. St. Ignatius calls 
this "the First Method of Prayer." 

N . B. We use the titles " First." "Second" "Third" Method of 
Prayer . as St. Ignatius Loyola did , though these methods were in 
use bng before him. 

I may take each of the Ten Commandments . consider what it 
means . how it should be observed, how I have observed it in a 
general way. In like manner. I may consider each Commandment of 
the Church and the duties of my state of life. 

Third Commandment: 

For an example, let me make a meditation on the Third Com-
mendment : 

Act of re-collection: My God . I am entering into Your presence 
for this time of prayer. Please help me to make it well. 

Remember that thou shalt keep holy the Sabbath day. 

God wants us to keep Sunday~the Christian Sabbath~holy . 
it is a day of rest even as He "r.ested" after the six days of creation 
... it is t!J be kept holy for Him by abstention from servile work in 
acknowledgment of all His gifts of creation to me ... it is to be kept 
holy. too, becauile of Christ's Resurrection whereby He completed 
our redemption ... and the Catholic way of keeping Sunday holy is 

21 



by hearing Mass ... by being on time, being present when the priest 
comes into the sanctuary . . . by prayerful union with the Holy 
Sacrifice . . . by an actual re-offering of Christ to His Heavenly 
Father . . . by an integral participation through the reception of 
Holy Communion ... by not leaving before the priest has left the 
sanctuary .... 

How have I "kept the Sabbath"? . . . do I make it just a day full 
of pleasure? . . . of work? . .. or maybe of just loafing? .. . 

Have I heard Mass the way I should? ... devoutly . .. reverently 
. . . with my missal or in any other fruitful way .. . or has my mind 
wandered? . . . have my eyes gazed around on the latest styles . or to 
find whether friends were present? . . . was I present before the priest 
came out of the sacristy? . . . did I receive Holy Communion? .. . 
did I pay any attention to Our Lord when He was my guest? .. . 

Dear Jesus. I'm sorry for the way I have behaved myself on many 
a Sunday. I'm afraid people would hardly know it was " the Lord's 
day" from watching me and my actions because I made it so com-
pletely my day. I have gone to Mass but so often I have been there 
only bodily; and after Mass I scarcely thought of You during the 
whole long day. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. and help me to do 
better every Sunday from now on . . 

I can use this same method of prayer in dwelling on the great gifts 
God has given me. i.e. . my mind. my will . my memory. my five 
senses: what they mean . w hy they were given to me. how I should 
use and have used them. 

Free Will 

For example. let's make a meditation on my free will : 

Act of re-collection- D ear Jesus. help me to spend this time of 
prayer entirely in Your presence with great profit for my soul. 

God has given me the highest of a ll my natural gifts . my free will 
.. . beca use it is a will , it has the power of going after things and of 
clutching those things to itself .. . but it does not do that blindly 
and forcedly as animals do . .. it has the power of free choice . .. 
a precious power but a dreadful one . .. for by it I have the power to 
choose good or to choose evil ... to yield to sinful attractions or to· 
practice virtue ... to serve God or to refuse to obey His law .. . to 
save my soul or to damn it eternally ... a precious. priceless gift, but 
a dreadful one ... . 

First of all . do I appreciate that gift? .. . have I ever really thanked 
God for it? ... am I intimately conscious that it is one of the chief 
ways I differ from animals? ... 

How have I used my fr~e will? .. . wilfully at times to do " my 
own sweet will " though what I did I knew was against the will of 
God? ... it may be that I have never revolted defiantly against Him 
by mortal sin ... but who could count all the little rebellions . .. the-
petty self-assertions . . . the childish petulancies . . . the deliberate-
graspings of forbidden pleasures . .. the stubborn refusals to let go 
things God did not want me to have .. . how often I have stamped: 
my foot with childish insolence. 

22 



And how much good have I really done? .. . some, yes, it would 
be untrue to say I had not . .. but just how much, compared with all 
I might have done ... what about my prayers, morning and evening , 
before and after meals , the Angelus? ... what about thoughtfulness 
of others? ... what about kind thoughts and words and deeds? ... 
what about more faith and hope and confidence in God ? ... what 
about more resignation? ... 

Dear God, You gave me my free will to make it freely Yours. But 
I haven't. I have made it mostly mine doing " my own sweet will" 
in so many, many ways. No , I haven 't defied You in big things~ 
and that was due to Your own strong grace which You gave me. 
But give me much grace now to stop my childish disobediences and 
to make my free will wholly and always Yours. That is why You 
gave it to me. 

In like manner I can meditate on the seven capital sins , the eight 
Beatitudes, the gifts and fruits of the Holy Ghost , the corporal and 
spiritual works of mercy, my vows of marriage or of religious life , 
etc., etc. 

XVII. "SECOND METHOD OF PRAYER" 

This is a searching analysis of the meaning of our customary 
vocal prayers. It has been well called "a meditated prayer." St. 
Ignatius writes : 

"The Second Method of Prayer. is that the person , kneelin.g or 
seated, according to the greater disposition in which he finds himself 
and as more devotion accompanies him, keeping the eyes closed or 
fixed on one place, without moving them hither or thither , says 
"Father" and continues to think over this word so long as he finds 
meanings, comparisons, relish and consolation in considerations per~ 
taining to this word. And let him act in the same way with each 
word of the Our Father, or of any other prayer which he wants to 
say in this way." 

To put this briefly and in outline: 

A. Stay on word or phrase so long as I find anything to think 
about. Only then, pass on to next word or phrase. 

B. Finish off the rest of the prayer vocally. (Not necessary.) 

C. Short colloquy to the person to whom the vocal prayer is 
addressed. This should always end the period of mental prayer ; 
and we should freely chat during the whole period of prayer. 

D. Begin the next day by reciting the prayer vocally up to the 
word or phrase upon which I had been meditating . 

E . Any vocal prayer can be meditated upon thus: Hail Mary, 
Creed, Confiteor, P rayers of the Mass, Litanies, etc. 

This method of prayer is the one we have used constantly in the 
" Mental Prayer" formerly published ,in The Queen's Wade and 
now sent out through the Leaders' Service. It is, therefore, quite 
probably familiar to our readers. However, we shall give a brief 
example on the opening words of the hymn "Come all ye faithful." 

23 



Come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, to Jesus, to Jesus in 
Bethlehem. 

Act of re~collection~ D ear Jesus , help me to spend these few 
moments of meditation near Your crib profitably. 

Come: 

because Jesus, the Infant , invites me . .. 

because Mary, His and our Mother, beckons me .. 

because I , myself, want to be close to H im ... 

All Ye Faithful: 

those who know Him well , and those who know Him but 
slightly ... 

those who love Him much , and those who give Him only a little 
of their love ... 

those who serve H im diligently, and those who do only what 
they must ... 

because H e became man for you and so is one in na ture w ith 
you .. . 

because y ou were purchased by His Blood and thus belong 
to Him ... 

because you are a member of H is Mystical Body and thus a 
part of Him .. 

Joyful and Triumphant: 

gloom and longfacedness do not become a follower of Christ .. . 
but joy and a sense of triumph-

because God's mercy has triumphed over His justice . .. 

because He has become man to redeem us .. . 

because He has conquered sin and death .. . 

because " He has on His garments and on His thigh a name 
written 'King of kings and Lord of lords ' " (Apoc. 19 : 16) ... 

that i-,? why we wish each other a " Merry Christmas," merry in 
the freedom of God's children , merry at the thought of 
Heaven , which our Victor~King has won for us ... 

To Jesus, to Jesus-

who loved us so that He became man for us ... 

who has stood for all our sins and all of our slights ... . 

who is meek and humble of heart and so most endearing . .. 

who lies before us a little Babe to prove we have nothing to fear 
from Him ... 

In Bethlehem: 

in a stable ... in a manger ... without a home . . . 

in Bethlehem, where all is lowly, all quite commonplace, that 
none of us may ever feel out of place . .. 

24 



in Bethlehem, the " house of bread" -
for He is to nourish our souls with His truth and His grace ... 
for H e is to give us Himself to be the food and life of our 
souls ... 

Dear Jesus , I gladly come to You with great joy and triumph in 
my heart. The one thing in the world that should make me sad is 
s in and You have conquered that, and I, too , can conquer it by Your 
all-powerful grace. So I have every reason to be joyful and tri-
umphant, and as I kneel beside Your manger-crib I thank You from 
my heart for making life so different for me from what it would have 
been if You had not come. The one Christmas gift I give You is 
myself a nd the one Christmas gift I ask of You is You. 

N . B. It is very profitable to use the Sacred Scriptures thus , 
especially the Gospels , beginning with St. Luke, or better still , use 
" The Life of Christ" by A . J. Maas, S. J. , (Herder) where the four 
Gospels are woven into one. 
The reader is referred to the two sets of booklets wherein this 

Second Method is used : Let Us Pray series wherein our ordinary 
vocal prayers are meditated on ; As It is Written series wherein the 
Gospels are thus treated. In the pamphlets Pondering In Our Hearts, 
1, II, and III , many favorite aspirations and texts of Scripture are 
used . (All these are published by The Queen's Work . ) 

XVIII. "THIRD METHOD OF PRAYER" 
This is a "breath-by-breath" analysis of the meaning of our vocal 

prayers. St. Ignatius calls this a prayer " by rhythm." He writes : 

"The Third Method of Prayer is that with each breath or with 
each respiration one prays mentally, saying one word of the Our 
Father, or of another prayer which one recites . so that only one 
word is said between one breath and another; and while the time 
from one breath to another lasts, attention should be paid chiefly to 
the meaning of the word in question or to the person to whom the 
prayer is said, or to his own baseness, or to the difference between 
such greatness and his own smallness. And in the same form and 
manner he will proceed in the other words of the Our Father, and 
the other prayers." 

Besides our ordinary vocal prayers we may use this method in 
meditating on the Sacred Scriptures, on the prayers of the Mass, 
etc. , etc. 

N. B. 1. This is an excellent method of praying when we are 
very tired. 

2. This method is really a manner of praying which holds a 
middle place between vocal and mental prayer, combining as it does 
elements of both . 

XIX. MEDITATIVE READING 

Father Lindworsky, S . J., in his excellent book The Psychology of 
Asceticism ( pp. 61 -62), draws particular attention to a quite 
neglected way of lifting our mind and heart to God. 

Whether we care to admit it or not , very many find mental prayer 
of any considerable length rather difficult. This is very apt to be 

25 



the case in the beginning when at the threshold of the life of inner 
prayer. As we have said, in mental prayer we "chew the cud." 
What if we have no "cud" to chew, i.e. , no stock of spiritual ideas, 
little knowledge of the spiritual life, a scant acquaintance with the 
life of Our Lord? In such a case we have nothing to chew on. 

We do not by any means intend to convey the thought that one 
must be learned in order to meditate. Far from it. But he must have 
some ideas to develop , some thoughts to unfold , some principles to 
delve into, some knowledge of what Christ actually did and said. 

Nor do we deny that God may of His own good pleasure grant 
an unusual gift of meditation to any soul no matter how unlettered 
or how uninstructed. That God does at fimes grant such a gift is 
clear from the lives of holy people, 

But taking the ordinary run of men and women as we find them-
and especially the ordinary run of young people-they need a good 
deal of "spoon- feeding" in the early stages of their spiritual develop-
ment and, certainly, not least in their attempt to meditate. 

Hence-meditative reading , i.e. , the prayerful. reflective reading 
of a solidly religious book. For this method we may note : 

1. Be sure that the book is rea lly worthwhile and suited to one's 
needs. 

2. Read it sentence by sentence , or paragraph by paragraph . 
Then close the book. trying to understand and drive deep into our 
souls what we have read. 

3. Frequently chat out the matter with Our Lord , asking Him 
to help us understand what we have read and to put it, into practice. 

4. T o mention one or two such worthwhile books: Father Maas ' 
Life of Christ; Fouard's Life of Christ; Tanquerey's Spiritual Life, 
Rodriquez ' Christian Perfection. For young people even these might 
be a little too advanced and so a careful selection should be made 
of "meaty" books suited to their age and mental development. 

XX. THE NEED OF PRAYER IN GENERAL 

We learned in our earliest .days: " Prayer is necessary to salva-
tion , and without . it no one having the use of reason can be saved" 
(Baltimore Catechism). . . 

The reason why prayer is necessary is that we must: 

A. Adore God as our Creator and Sovereign Master. (adora-
tion) 

B. Thank Him as our Supreme Benefactor to whom we owe 
our life in its beginning and at every moment, and a ll that we have 
in life. ( thanksgiving) 

C. Ask His forgiveness. (satisfaction) 

D. Ask His help in all our needs and trials . (petition) 

Reason and Revelation: 

All this is true, both from reason and from revelation: 

26 



A. As creatures we are God's handiwork and belong to Him. 
Even though God had never given us our present higher super~ 
natural destiny, as His creatures we should have found it neces~ 
sary to pray. 

B. But we are not now mere creatures ; we are adopted children. 
God has elevated, lifted us up to a destiny, the face~to~face~vision 
of Himself, which requires sanctifying and actual grace, to none 
of which we have any least claim. The securing of these graces 
depend, through God's decision , in great part on prayer. 

The teaching of theologians may be summed up succinctly: "No 
prayer, no grace." God can (and does at times) give efficacious grace 
despite the lack of prayer , but that is not His ordinary way of acting. 

Certainly, if we want those special graces from God with the 
aid of which we shall certainly do good acts and avoid evil ones, we 
must pray. (Such actual graces are called" efficacious" graces.) 

(Cf. "Let's Look at Sanctifying Grace" by F. P . LeBuffe, S . J., 
Queen 's Work ; "With the Help of Thy Grace," J. V . Matthews , 
S. J., Newman Book Sh<">p.) 

Proof from the Bible: 

Our Lord insisted on the need of prayer: 

St. Matthew 7:7~8 : " Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you 
shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who 
asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it 
shall be opened." 

St. Matthew 26:41 : " Watch and pray that you may not enter 
into temptation." 

St. Mark 13 : 32~33: " But of that day or hour no one knows ... . 
Take heed, watch and pray, for you do not know when the time is ." 

St. Luke 21 :36: "Watch, then , praying at all times that you may 
be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to be, and 
to stand before the Son of Man." 

(Read also : St. Luke 18 : 1 ~8. Ephesians 6 : 18. ) 

The Catechism of the Council of Trent (Pt. 6 , Ch . I , N . 3) puts 
the need of prayer thus: " Prayer is the ' indispensable' instrument 
given us by God in order to obtain what we desire: there are things, 
in fact , impossible to obtain without the aid of prayer. " 

All that has bee~ said so far pertains to prayer in general. N ext 
we shall consider the need of mental prayer. 

XXI. THE NEED OF MENTAL PRAYER 

In the last section the need of prayer in general was indicated. 
The question now concerns th e need of mental prayer as distinct 
from vocal prayer. 

A. From Revelation: 

In many places in the Bible the need of thinking about God and 
all that pertains to God is insisted on . 

27 



1. The Old Testament: 

One of the most beautiful descriptions of the worth of meditation 
is given in Psalm 1:1-3 (Lattey's translation) : 

Blessed the man 
That hath not walked in the counsel of the wicked. 

Nor stood in the way of sinners. 
Nor sat in the company of scorners; 

Rather his delight is in the law of Jehovah. 
And on his law doth he meditate day and night. 

Wherefore he is like a tree 
Planted by water-courses. . 

Which yieldeth its fruit in due season. 
And the leaf thereof fadeth not : 

And whatsoever he doth . he maketh to prosper. 

Psalm 118 (the longest of all the Psalms) is filled with exquisite 
references to meditation. notably. verses 24. 92. 97. 99. 143. 174. 

Two of the best known O.T. references are : 

Deut. 6:6-9 : "And the words which I-command thee this day. 
shall be in thy heart ; and thou shalt tell them to thy children. 
and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house; and walk-
ing on thy journey; sleeping and rising. And thou shalt bind them 
as a sign on thy hand. and they shall be and shall move between 
thy eyes. And thou shalt write them in the entry and on the doors 
of thy house." . 

Jeremias 12: 11 : "With desolation is all the land made desolate 
because there is none that considereth in his heart ." 

2. The New Testament: 

Our Ble~sed Mother . 
1. When saluted by the angel " kept pondering what manner 

of greeting this should be." (Luke 1: 29) 

2. When the shepherds came and went. " Mary kept in mind 
all their words . pondering them in her heart. " (id. 2 : 19 ) 

3. When Jesus returned to Nazareth after the loss in the temple . 
" his mother kept all these things carefully in her heart. " (id. 2: 5 1 ) 
The Apostles .. 

1. The first Novena was made immediately after the Ascension 
at Our Lord's own bidding: "All there with one mind continued 
steadfastly in prayer with the women and Mary . the mother 
of Jesus. and with his brethren." (Acts 1:14) 

2. St. Paul made a long retreat in Arabia shortly after his con-
version (Gal. 1: 17) . Fouard (St . Peter. Ch. VII . pp. 124- 125) 
says: " We do not know the length of this sojourn in Arabia .. . 
It may be that this retreat was prolonged for the greater part of 
the three years that elapsed between the conversion of the Apostle 
and his escape from Damascus." 

3. St. Paul continually prays that the early Christians gain 
that "inner knowledge and relish for " the things of God. which 
is expressed by the Greek word he uses "epignosis" -not merely 

28 



"gnosis ," knowledge, but " epi-gnosis ," inner, special knowledge , 
which comes normally only from meditation on the things of God. 
He says explicitly to Timothy (1 Tim. 4:13 :15), "Until I come , 
be diligent in reading , in exhortation, in teaching ... Meditate 
on these things , give thyself entirely to them that thy progress 
may be manifest to all." 

XXII. THE NEED OF MENTAL PRAYER 

B. From Reason: 

Independently of God's revelation, the need of mental prayer , of 
"thinking about the things of God in the presence of God and 
applying them to ourselves" is clearly indicated by reason itself. 

1. Things of sense, i.e., what I see and taste and hear and touch 
and smell, make an immediate appeal to me; I am directly , immedi-
ately and automatically attracted by them. 

Put a juicy, sizzling T ~bone steak in front of me-it attracts me 
at once-there is no need for me to do any thinking about it. Put 
a "tall, cool drink" before me on a blazing hot day-I reach for it 
instinctively-I need to make no reflection on its value to me. So 
it is with all the visible , tangible things around about me. Let us 
illustrate this with a graph: 

The moment I see and smell the steak, I am drawn to it. 

2. But the " higher things ," the "higher values" in human life can-
not be seen or touched or heard. Yet they should and must attract us 
if we are to lead decent human lives. We should be truthful and 
honest and loyal and patriotic. Yet, we can never see or hear truth-
fulness or honesty or loyalty or patriotism. How are they to appeal 
to us? Not through the senses (i .e., eyes or ears, etc. ) , for they are 
supra~sensible, but only by thinking about them . If they do not 
attract us , draw us to themselves , we shall never be truthful. honest, 
etc. But they cannot attract us , unless they come into our minds , 
unless we think about them. Hence another graph : 

They enter our minds-we see their value-they attract us. 

N . B. One of the principle objects of education is to teach us 
the value of these "higher things" in life . If we do not know and 
appreciate their value, their worth, they cannot appeal to us . 

29 



Hence, just to be decent human beings, we must do a lot of 
" meditating" a lot of thinking with ourselves on the value to us 
of these higher, finer things. 

3. But God wants us to know now not only supra-sensible things, 
but super-natural things : Himself, Heaven, Hell , grace, the Sacra-
ments, Our Blessed Mother, the Saints, etc. Certainly we cannot see 
or touch or hear these. They can come to us and appeal to us only 
through our minds , only by thinking about them . I cannot see God , 
or Heaven , or grace, or Our Blessed Mother. Yet , if I am to lead a 
holy life, I must be convinced of their value , otherwise they will not 
attract me. And if they do not attract me, there is no way to offset 
the downward appeal of the things of the senses all around me. 
Hence anbther graph: 

God and all super-natural things must enter through our minds 
-we see their value in themselves and for us-they attract us . 

Thus, it is clear that unless we think about God and holy things 
we simply cannot expect to be attracted to holy living or to deepen 
our spiritual lives. Things of sense and of the world are appealing 
to us, attracting us , dJ;awing us all the time. These attractions are 
not necessarily sinful but can easily become so if yielded to all the 
time. The only way to offset, to counter-balance their appeal and 
attraction, is by a stronger attraction to God and holy things. This, 
as we have said , can come only by thinking. 

Simply: "Thinking about' the things of God in the presence of God 
and applying them to ourselves" is psychologically necessary for 
holy living, i.e. , is demanded by the very make-up of our minds 
and wills. 

XXIII. BIBLIOGRAPHY 

This list is merely suggestive. It does not claim to give "the best." 
It merely suggests some good simple books. 

A. Books of Medita tion: 

Maas, A. J., S. J.-The Life of Christ. In this book Father 
Maas has woven the four Gospels into one and given a wealth 
of explanatory footnotes . There is no better text of the Gospels 
than this for meditation. (Remember the Gospels are the 
inspired Life of Christ. ) 

Archbishop Goodier: 

Public Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Kenedy). 
Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Kenedy). 
The Risen Jesus (Kenedy). 
Some Hints on Prayers (Burns, Oakes and Washbourne). 
Points lor Meditation (Burns, Oakes and Washbourne l. 

30 



Daniel A. Lord, S. J. : 

How to Pray the Mass. 
A Novena to Mary Immaculate . 
The Months With Mary . 
Visits to the Blessed Sacrament. 
Thanksgiving After Holy Communion. 

(All published by The Queen's Work.) 

Sister Mary Agnes, S.N.D.: 

St. Paul's Hymn of Charity (Kenedy) . 
Practical Charity (Kenedy) . 
The Bond of Perfection (Pustet ). 

J. M . McSorley, C.S.P. : 

Think and Pray (Long mans). 

Sister Helen M adeleine, S.N.D .: 

With Heart and Mind (Benziger). 
Strength Through Prayer (Benziger) . 
Peace Through Prayer (Spiritual Book Associates ). 

F. P. LeBuffe, S. J. : 

Let Us Pray Series: 

1. Anima Christi. 
2. Our Father~Hail Mary. 
3. Litany of Our Lady. 
4. Creed~Confiteor. 
5. Prayers for the Dying . 

As It Is Written Series: 

1. Christmas. 
2. Annunciation~ Visitation. 
3. Infancy~Hidden Life. 

(All published by The Queen's Work, 15c each, 2 for 25c) 
Pondering in Our H earts I , II, and III (The Queen 's Work ). 
My Changeless Friend-27 books (Mess. of S.H ., N .Y. 28 ). 
Reproaches of Good Friday (America Press, N . Y. 17) . 
Come A side and R est Awhile (The Queen 's Work ). 

B. On the Doctrine of Mental Prayer: 

McQuade, S. J . ~Scatfoldings of Prayer (Loyola Press, 25c ). 

Lonergan-Meditation (America Press, 5c). 

Harkins-Run Your Own Movies (America Press, lOc) . 

McSorley, C.s.P., Joseph~A Primer of Prayer (Longmans, 
Green) . 

Leen, C.S.Sp., Edward-Progress Through Mental Prayer 
(Sheed & Ward). 

Tanquerey, S.S. , A.- The Spiritual Life, Pt. 1. Ch. V . pp. 
243-256 (Desclee). 








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