by Fr. Ferdinand-Donatien Joret, O.P.
Literally speaking, mental prayer is synonymous with private prayer. And, as a matter of fact, the mental devotions prescribed by the Dominican Constitutions and recommended by the Rule of the Third Order would seem to be identical with those private prayers which are extolled in the Lives of the Friars, and which are so strongly recommended by Humbert de Romans prayers in the strictest sense of the word, petitions addressed to God and improvized with a good deal of freedom, even when based on some recognized formulary.
"The praise of God to which the choral Office is specially consecrated is unquestionably a great duty that we shall continue in eternity," said Blessed Humbert, "but petition is necessary here below, and that is what forms the chief subject-matter of our secret devotions.
"We certainly ask for graces during the course of the Office, but we do so mainly on behalf of the whole Catholic Church. In our secret prayers we think more particularly of our own needs.
"Our choral singing of the psalms leaves us little time for dwelling upon our personal concerns. Secret prayers help us to do this. Moreover, we find it more easy to open our hearts and to say what we wish in an intimate tite-a-tete than in the midst of an assembly.
"For the Office we need books, and very often light also. Nothing extraneous is required for secret prayer: it can be carried on at all times and in all places in accordance with the Master's injunction: Oportet semper orare" (1)
Prayer, St. Thomas tells us, (2) is an act of the practical reason whereby we organize our existence and put order into all that concerns us. This order cannot be made actual by the reason alone. Appeal has to be made to other faculties, to other beings. The aforesaid ordering takes the form of a command when it is addressed to those who are subject to us, but it is only a prayer when we address persons who are not in a position to receive commands from us. And that is particularly the case with regard to God, the supreme Master.
Notice the great difference that exists between prayer addressed to a man and prayer made to God. My prayer influences a man and disposes him to come to my assistance, whereas with God, Who is immutable, it is myself whom I dispose by my prayer to receive His benefits: and that is why God wishes us to pray to Him.
Prayer to God is an act of the virtue of religion, that highest of all the moral virtues which leads us to do our duty to our Creator, particularly in the matter of tendering Him our respect and our submission. Everything in us ought always to be in a state of reverence and of dependence in the presence of God. But when we pray, it is the mind, the noblest part of ourselves, which recognizes Him as Sovereign and expresses its need of Him.
Other virtues are involved in prayer, notably the great theological virtues from which the whole of our Christian life ultimately proceeds. It is through faith that we know God and His merciful power to which we appeal. Charity governs our desires, and in so doing introduces order into our petitions. Hope transforms these simple desires into a confident expectation of their being granted. The virtues of humility and penance then co-operate with the virtue of religion to deepen our sentiments of reverence and submission to God.
How can we best set about this prayer which we wish to improvise ? Well, we must begin by finding God in order to speak to Him: we must approach Him and address Him in terms suited to the object we have in view. These titles will be suggested to us by the various Christian virtues mentioned above, and we shall find them enshrined in the formularies which Our Lord Himself, or the Church assisted by His Spirit, has taught us, in the invocations of the litanies, in the initial clauses of the liturgical prayers, and in the opening words of the Lord's Prayer: Our Father Who art in Heaven.
The preamble of a well formulated request aims at enlisting the goodwill of the person to whom the petition is addressed. The goodwill of God has already been obtained. "He first loved us," says St. John. It is in our own hearts that trust in His intervention has to be aroused. This we do by considering His goodness and His power. Father Thou art good Father Whose child I am. Thou art powerful, Thou Who art in Heaven regulating all the movements of the material universe, all spiritual forces . . . !
The first point of our private prayer, the lifting up of our mind to God, exercises a decided influence over all that follows. It is important for us to do it aright, and to repeat it at frequent intervals in order to keep in touch with God. That is what gives to litanies the chief part of their efficacy.
Only then shall we put forward our petitions. They should conform to the desires inculcated in us by charity. In the perfect formulary of prayer which Our Lord taught us, the good things we may ask for are enumerated in their proper order. First, the glory which creatures must give to God: "hallowed be Thy name." Secondly, our blessed participation in that glory: "Thy Kingdom come." After the goal, seen in its twofold aspect, comes the way to reach it, viz., by the fulfilment of the divine Will: we must abandon ourselves to the good pleasure of Providence in whatever circumstances it may place us, and under those conditions do from day to day whatever God enjoins in His commandments and counsels. We need food to sustain us on this way food for our body and food for the soul: we ask God to give it to us daily. In this manner the soul sets out its requests for good things in the order of their value.
On the other hand, we may, if we like, reduce our requests to a simple general appeal, invoking God's pity, but not specifying anything in particular. Have mercy on us ! Have mercy on us ! we say in the litanies. Or we can repeat again and again: Deus in adjutorium meum intende, as in the prayers of Pretiosa. St. Catherine of Siena was wont to pray after that fashion.
It is possible to go yet further in this direction and, without making any petition at all, just to display our misery before the eyes of God. "Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick," was the message sent to Our Lord by the sisters of Lazarus.
Into these more or less definitely formulated petitions which constitute the essential part of prayer, other kinds of acts may be inserted and embodied as integral parts, those thanksgivings and supplications which St. Paul recommends in the First Epistle to Timothy.
Thanksgiving is particularly appropriate, because nothing is better calculated to induce a patron to continue his favour than gratitude for past benefits. "I make this request of Thee, Lord, Who hast thought of me from all eternity, Who didst bring me out of nothingness and hast given Thy life to redeem me, of Thee Who this very day art giving me such and such a grace of which I am specially conscious. ..."
If we can plead any claims that entitle us to a favourable hearing, we shall not fail to put them forward to obtain the intervention of God. Our greatest claim actually our only real plea is the redemption wrought by Our Saviour and all the series of mysteries which constitute its successive acts. "By Thy Nativity, deliver us, Jesus! By Thy childhood ... by Thy labours ... by Thine agony an,d Passion ... by Thy Cross and dereliction . . . deliver us, Jesus!"
These thanksgivings for favours, these pleas which we shall unite with our prayers, will dispose God to grant us His gifts, or rather, as we must always remind ourselves, will produce in us the disposition of the soul that will make it possible for God to confer His favours upon us.
St. Thomas remarks that the greater number of our liturgical prayers can be analysed under four headings, and he points out those four headings in the Collect for Trinity Sunday. "Almighty, everlasting God" (here we have the upraising of the soul to God), "Who in the confession of the true faith hast given Thy servants to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of that majesty to adore the Unity" (this is the thanksgiving) ; "grant, we beseech Thee, that by steadfastness in this faith we may evermore be defended from all adversity" (petition), "through our Lord Jesus Christ ..." (adjuration). And thus in every feast-day collect and especially in the beautiful Sunday collects we have subjects for our prayer clearly marked out for us.
Private prayer, when combined in this manner with choral prayer, has the great advantage of enabling us to understand and to relish the most forceful passages, the most edifying sentences of the Office we have celebrated in common, and over which we have not been able to linger that Pater, for instance, or that Am which was said with a profound bow, yet brief, at the beginning and end of the canonical hours, and that collect, full of meaning, which had to be pronounced or listened to with the appropriate ritual gesture.
And this is a very easy form of mental prayer which is within the reach of the humblest of our Tertiaries. Louis of Granada himself advised it, enforcing his recommendation with one of those picturesque similes which are so characteristic of him. "Those who, from lack of devotion, do not know how to converse with God, will do well to have recourse to the sacred sentences and to the inspired words which will uplift and guide their spirit; and, like children enclosed in a little wheeled pen to encourage them to walk, they will find in these formularies the spontaneity they do not find in themselves." (3)
Literally speaking, mental prayer is synonymous with private prayer. And, as a matter of fact, the mental devotions prescribed by the Dominican Constitutions and recommended by the Rule of the Third Order would seem to be identical with those private prayers which are extolled in the Lives of the Friars, and which are so strongly recommended by Humbert de Romans prayers in the strictest sense of the word, petitions addressed to God and improvized with a good deal of freedom, even when based on some recognized formulary.
"The praise of God to which the choral Office is specially consecrated is unquestionably a great duty that we shall continue in eternity," said Blessed Humbert, "but petition is necessary here below, and that is what forms the chief subject-matter of our secret devotions.
"We certainly ask for graces during the course of the Office, but we do so mainly on behalf of the whole Catholic Church. In our secret prayers we think more particularly of our own needs.
"Our choral singing of the psalms leaves us little time for dwelling upon our personal concerns. Secret prayers help us to do this. Moreover, we find it more easy to open our hearts and to say what we wish in an intimate tite-a-tete than in the midst of an assembly.
"For the Office we need books, and very often light also. Nothing extraneous is required for secret prayer: it can be carried on at all times and in all places in accordance with the Master's injunction: Oportet semper orare" (1)
Prayer, St. Thomas tells us, (2) is an act of the practical reason whereby we organize our existence and put order into all that concerns us. This order cannot be made actual by the reason alone. Appeal has to be made to other faculties, to other beings. The aforesaid ordering takes the form of a command when it is addressed to those who are subject to us, but it is only a prayer when we address persons who are not in a position to receive commands from us. And that is particularly the case with regard to God, the supreme Master.
Notice the great difference that exists between prayer addressed to a man and prayer made to God. My prayer influences a man and disposes him to come to my assistance, whereas with God, Who is immutable, it is myself whom I dispose by my prayer to receive His benefits: and that is why God wishes us to pray to Him.
Prayer to God is an act of the virtue of religion, that highest of all the moral virtues which leads us to do our duty to our Creator, particularly in the matter of tendering Him our respect and our submission. Everything in us ought always to be in a state of reverence and of dependence in the presence of God. But when we pray, it is the mind, the noblest part of ourselves, which recognizes Him as Sovereign and expresses its need of Him.
Other virtues are involved in prayer, notably the great theological virtues from which the whole of our Christian life ultimately proceeds. It is through faith that we know God and His merciful power to which we appeal. Charity governs our desires, and in so doing introduces order into our petitions. Hope transforms these simple desires into a confident expectation of their being granted. The virtues of humility and penance then co-operate with the virtue of religion to deepen our sentiments of reverence and submission to God.
How can we best set about this prayer which we wish to improvise ? Well, we must begin by finding God in order to speak to Him: we must approach Him and address Him in terms suited to the object we have in view. These titles will be suggested to us by the various Christian virtues mentioned above, and we shall find them enshrined in the formularies which Our Lord Himself, or the Church assisted by His Spirit, has taught us, in the invocations of the litanies, in the initial clauses of the liturgical prayers, and in the opening words of the Lord's Prayer: Our Father Who art in Heaven.
The preamble of a well formulated request aims at enlisting the goodwill of the person to whom the petition is addressed. The goodwill of God has already been obtained. "He first loved us," says St. John. It is in our own hearts that trust in His intervention has to be aroused. This we do by considering His goodness and His power. Father Thou art good Father Whose child I am. Thou art powerful, Thou Who art in Heaven regulating all the movements of the material universe, all spiritual forces . . . !
The first point of our private prayer, the lifting up of our mind to God, exercises a decided influence over all that follows. It is important for us to do it aright, and to repeat it at frequent intervals in order to keep in touch with God. That is what gives to litanies the chief part of their efficacy.
Only then shall we put forward our petitions. They should conform to the desires inculcated in us by charity. In the perfect formulary of prayer which Our Lord taught us, the good things we may ask for are enumerated in their proper order. First, the glory which creatures must give to God: "hallowed be Thy name." Secondly, our blessed participation in that glory: "Thy Kingdom come." After the goal, seen in its twofold aspect, comes the way to reach it, viz., by the fulfilment of the divine Will: we must abandon ourselves to the good pleasure of Providence in whatever circumstances it may place us, and under those conditions do from day to day whatever God enjoins in His commandments and counsels. We need food to sustain us on this way food for our body and food for the soul: we ask God to give it to us daily. In this manner the soul sets out its requests for good things in the order of their value.
On the other hand, we may, if we like, reduce our requests to a simple general appeal, invoking God's pity, but not specifying anything in particular. Have mercy on us ! Have mercy on us ! we say in the litanies. Or we can repeat again and again: Deus in adjutorium meum intende, as in the prayers of Pretiosa. St. Catherine of Siena was wont to pray after that fashion.
It is possible to go yet further in this direction and, without making any petition at all, just to display our misery before the eyes of God. "Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick," was the message sent to Our Lord by the sisters of Lazarus.
Into these more or less definitely formulated petitions which constitute the essential part of prayer, other kinds of acts may be inserted and embodied as integral parts, those thanksgivings and supplications which St. Paul recommends in the First Epistle to Timothy.
Thanksgiving is particularly appropriate, because nothing is better calculated to induce a patron to continue his favour than gratitude for past benefits. "I make this request of Thee, Lord, Who hast thought of me from all eternity, Who didst bring me out of nothingness and hast given Thy life to redeem me, of Thee Who this very day art giving me such and such a grace of which I am specially conscious. ..."
If we can plead any claims that entitle us to a favourable hearing, we shall not fail to put them forward to obtain the intervention of God. Our greatest claim actually our only real plea is the redemption wrought by Our Saviour and all the series of mysteries which constitute its successive acts. "By Thy Nativity, deliver us, Jesus! By Thy childhood ... by Thy labours ... by Thine agony an,d Passion ... by Thy Cross and dereliction . . . deliver us, Jesus!"
These thanksgivings for favours, these pleas which we shall unite with our prayers, will dispose God to grant us His gifts, or rather, as we must always remind ourselves, will produce in us the disposition of the soul that will make it possible for God to confer His favours upon us.
St. Thomas remarks that the greater number of our liturgical prayers can be analysed under four headings, and he points out those four headings in the Collect for Trinity Sunday. "Almighty, everlasting God" (here we have the upraising of the soul to God), "Who in the confession of the true faith hast given Thy servants to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of that majesty to adore the Unity" (this is the thanksgiving) ; "grant, we beseech Thee, that by steadfastness in this faith we may evermore be defended from all adversity" (petition), "through our Lord Jesus Christ ..." (adjuration). And thus in every feast-day collect and especially in the beautiful Sunday collects we have subjects for our prayer clearly marked out for us.
Private prayer, when combined in this manner with choral prayer, has the great advantage of enabling us to understand and to relish the most forceful passages, the most edifying sentences of the Office we have celebrated in common, and over which we have not been able to linger that Pater, for instance, or that Am which was said with a profound bow, yet brief, at the beginning and end of the canonical hours, and that collect, full of meaning, which had to be pronounced or listened to with the appropriate ritual gesture.
And this is a very easy form of mental prayer which is within the reach of the humblest of our Tertiaries. Louis of Granada himself advised it, enforcing his recommendation with one of those picturesque similes which are so characteristic of him. "Those who, from lack of devotion, do not know how to converse with God, will do well to have recourse to the sacred sentences and to the inspired words which will uplift and guide their spirit; and, like children enclosed in a little wheeled pen to encourage them to walk, they will find in these formularies the spontaneity they do not find in themselves." (3)
NOTES:
(1) Humbert de Romans, Opera, Vol. II, pp. 91-93
(2) Ila Ilae, q. 80.
(3) Louis of Granada, The Memorial
Source: Joret, F-D, O.P. Dominican Life. London: Sands & Co. Limited, 1937
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