by Fr. Ferdinand-Donatien Joret, O.P.
There is a form of religious meditation in which our time for mental prayer may well be spent. St. Thomas specially recommends it, and he has formulated its principles. (1) It is actually the work of the virtue of religion. Unlike lengthy and endlessly reiterated moral meditations, it does not expose us to the danger of thinking too much about ourselves. For the virtue of religion has this characteristic which makes it superior to the other moral virtues, it is directed to God Himself. With it we cease to be concerned about ourselves, except to turn to God to honour Him and to do homage to Him. Religion places everything at His disposal, our exterior possessions and the members of our body, but, above all, our inner being, our reason and our will. As has already been said, it is our reason which pays homage to the Sovereign Master when we pray. And it is our will, the most personal part of us, which generously subjects itself to Him by the act of devotion. This latter is the supreme religious act which will carry in its train all the others, prayer itself, bodily worship, sacrifices everything. Devotion can rule the whole life. Not satisfied with practising on certain days and at certain hours such and such a religious exercise, we shall turn all the acts of life, even the most humble, into homage. That is the ideal aspired to by those who are religious by their very profession. "Whether you eat or drink, whatever you do," said St. Paul, "do all for the glory of God."
How shall we stimulate this most important devotion? The principal cause of devotion, replies St. Thomas, is God, Who bestows it upon whomsoever He will. Obviously it will call for prayer. But St. Thomas speaks of religious meditation first, as being necessary to enable us not only to do what lies in our own power' to excite that devotion, but also to pray for it aright (2) and to dispose ourselves to receive of it from God in response to our prayer.
In an earlier work, our great Doctor had already treated of this kind of meditation which, he says, occupies a place midway between the reading of Holy Scripture, whereby we hear the Word of God, and prayer, in which we speak to God. God speaks to us. But how many there are for whom His intervention is non-existent! By meditation we try to apprehend it with the heart and with the mind. In this way, being established in the presence of God, we can petition Him better. Obviously such a meditation should form part of our private prayers, to inspire them and to increase their fervour.
What precise form does this religious meditation take? It consists in making reflections calculated to convince us personally of the necessity of having recourse to God, and of subjecting ourselves to Him. As our food does not nourish us until it has gone through a considerable process of mastication and digestion, so the great Christian truths will not be assimilated until they have been subjected to a meditation which St. Thomas somewhere describes as intellectual rumination.
Our reflections will be upon God and upon ourselves. Those are the two points, and they are indeed inseparable, to which this meditation will ever lead us. Its model was furnished by Our Lord to St. Catherine when He said to her: "Daughter, knowest thou who thou art and Who I am? If thou dost know these two things, happy shalt thou be. Thou art she who is not : I am He Who is."
The meditation will open with reflections upon the plenitude of being and of goodness that is God, and upon the blessings, general and particular, which He has bestowed upon us. None of those subtle considerations which may be admissible in a course of higher theology, but only thoughts capable of awaking devotion. In theory the thought of the perfections of the divine Being should best tend to do this. But our poor human spirit needs something tangible to start with, and that is why the humanity of Our Lord is the practical means of raising us to an effective knowledge of the divine Being. Come to Him as He is revealed in one or other of the gospel episodes, or under the form He assumes in some parable. See in Him the Father of the prodigal son, the good Shepherd, the Sower ; or, again, the incomparable Master Who receives His first disciples on the banks of the Jordan, and begins their education which will continue for three years ; consider Him as the great Spiritual Director Who talks with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, and gradually raises her soul from earthly cares to the noblest conceptions, the divine Physician receiving and healing body and soul, the perfect pattern of all virtues, so devout, so pure, humble, gentle, patient, merciful, so devoted to His neighbour.
After having thus meditated upon God, and still bearing Him in mind, we shall go on to consider our own helplessness ; how our very being was drawn out of nothingness, only too easily relapsing into it through sin, and of the great need we have of our Creator and Saviour in all and through all. Ah ! we are indeed incapable of being self-sufficient !
This meditation upon our misery, as displayed in the presence of the divine goodness, will lead us to abase ourselves before God in admiration and praise of His infinite perfections, and finally to ask Him to give us His saving gifts. Our petition will be for things that are really good, a very humble, very confident, very persevering form of prayer it will be, and far more efficacious than if it had not been prepared for by some such form of meditation as the above. With M. Olier we might well describe it as a spiritual communion.
All that remains for us to do is to correspond, to co-operate with the grace received. Under the sway of this grace we shall formulate a good resolution vastly superior to any resolution we might have taken at the close of a meditation prompted by the virtue of prudence alone.
What kind of resolution will it be ? Will it have as its object some particular practice ? It will be primarily of a general character, covering the whole life so as to make thereof a complete and entire homage to God, but will be applicable afterwards to the details of our daily life to give them the necessary moral value to render them presentable to the divine Master. This is the moment for prudence, motivated by the virtue of religion, to interpose a guiding hand, and for the collaboration of such other moral virtues as the case may demand.
The morning meditation of one employed in the works of the active life will be very insistent upon this point. He will make what he foresees to be the necessary resolutions, and will examine himself from time to time during the course of the day to ascertain how he is carrying them out.
Apart from its utility in thus penetrating the whole of our life of devotion, religious meditation when it precedes the exercises of worship properly so called, such as the Office sung in choir or individually recited, will help us to perform them digne, attente ac devote. If, as is frequently the case, it precedes the greatest of religious acts, the holy sacrifice of the Mass in which Christ
There is a form of religious meditation in which our time for mental prayer may well be spent. St. Thomas specially recommends it, and he has formulated its principles. (1) It is actually the work of the virtue of religion. Unlike lengthy and endlessly reiterated moral meditations, it does not expose us to the danger of thinking too much about ourselves. For the virtue of religion has this characteristic which makes it superior to the other moral virtues, it is directed to God Himself. With it we cease to be concerned about ourselves, except to turn to God to honour Him and to do homage to Him. Religion places everything at His disposal, our exterior possessions and the members of our body, but, above all, our inner being, our reason and our will. As has already been said, it is our reason which pays homage to the Sovereign Master when we pray. And it is our will, the most personal part of us, which generously subjects itself to Him by the act of devotion. This latter is the supreme religious act which will carry in its train all the others, prayer itself, bodily worship, sacrifices everything. Devotion can rule the whole life. Not satisfied with practising on certain days and at certain hours such and such a religious exercise, we shall turn all the acts of life, even the most humble, into homage. That is the ideal aspired to by those who are religious by their very profession. "Whether you eat or drink, whatever you do," said St. Paul, "do all for the glory of God."
How shall we stimulate this most important devotion? The principal cause of devotion, replies St. Thomas, is God, Who bestows it upon whomsoever He will. Obviously it will call for prayer. But St. Thomas speaks of religious meditation first, as being necessary to enable us not only to do what lies in our own power' to excite that devotion, but also to pray for it aright (2) and to dispose ourselves to receive of it from God in response to our prayer.
In an earlier work, our great Doctor had already treated of this kind of meditation which, he says, occupies a place midway between the reading of Holy Scripture, whereby we hear the Word of God, and prayer, in which we speak to God. God speaks to us. But how many there are for whom His intervention is non-existent! By meditation we try to apprehend it with the heart and with the mind. In this way, being established in the presence of God, we can petition Him better. Obviously such a meditation should form part of our private prayers, to inspire them and to increase their fervour.
What precise form does this religious meditation take? It consists in making reflections calculated to convince us personally of the necessity of having recourse to God, and of subjecting ourselves to Him. As our food does not nourish us until it has gone through a considerable process of mastication and digestion, so the great Christian truths will not be assimilated until they have been subjected to a meditation which St. Thomas somewhere describes as intellectual rumination.
Our reflections will be upon God and upon ourselves. Those are the two points, and they are indeed inseparable, to which this meditation will ever lead us. Its model was furnished by Our Lord to St. Catherine when He said to her: "Daughter, knowest thou who thou art and Who I am? If thou dost know these two things, happy shalt thou be. Thou art she who is not : I am He Who is."
The meditation will open with reflections upon the plenitude of being and of goodness that is God, and upon the blessings, general and particular, which He has bestowed upon us. None of those subtle considerations which may be admissible in a course of higher theology, but only thoughts capable of awaking devotion. In theory the thought of the perfections of the divine Being should best tend to do this. But our poor human spirit needs something tangible to start with, and that is why the humanity of Our Lord is the practical means of raising us to an effective knowledge of the divine Being. Come to Him as He is revealed in one or other of the gospel episodes, or under the form He assumes in some parable. See in Him the Father of the prodigal son, the good Shepherd, the Sower ; or, again, the incomparable Master Who receives His first disciples on the banks of the Jordan, and begins their education which will continue for three years ; consider Him as the great Spiritual Director Who talks with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, and gradually raises her soul from earthly cares to the noblest conceptions, the divine Physician receiving and healing body and soul, the perfect pattern of all virtues, so devout, so pure, humble, gentle, patient, merciful, so devoted to His neighbour.
After having thus meditated upon God, and still bearing Him in mind, we shall go on to consider our own helplessness ; how our very being was drawn out of nothingness, only too easily relapsing into it through sin, and of the great need we have of our Creator and Saviour in all and through all. Ah ! we are indeed incapable of being self-sufficient !
This meditation upon our misery, as displayed in the presence of the divine goodness, will lead us to abase ourselves before God in admiration and praise of His infinite perfections, and finally to ask Him to give us His saving gifts. Our petition will be for things that are really good, a very humble, very confident, very persevering form of prayer it will be, and far more efficacious than if it had not been prepared for by some such form of meditation as the above. With M. Olier we might well describe it as a spiritual communion.
All that remains for us to do is to correspond, to co-operate with the grace received. Under the sway of this grace we shall formulate a good resolution vastly superior to any resolution we might have taken at the close of a meditation prompted by the virtue of prudence alone.
What kind of resolution will it be ? Will it have as its object some particular practice ? It will be primarily of a general character, covering the whole life so as to make thereof a complete and entire homage to God, but will be applicable afterwards to the details of our daily life to give them the necessary moral value to render them presentable to the divine Master. This is the moment for prudence, motivated by the virtue of religion, to interpose a guiding hand, and for the collaboration of such other moral virtues as the case may demand.
The morning meditation of one employed in the works of the active life will be very insistent upon this point. He will make what he foresees to be the necessary resolutions, and will examine himself from time to time during the course of the day to ascertain how he is carrying them out.
Apart from its utility in thus penetrating the whole of our life of devotion, religious meditation when it precedes the exercises of worship properly so called, such as the Office sung in choir or individually recited, will help us to perform them digne, attente ac devote. If, as is frequently the case, it precedes the greatest of religious acts, the holy sacrifice of the Mass in which Christ
Himself comes for us into our midst, to proclaim by His self-immolation the sovereignty of Him Who alone has being, it will rouse our soul which too readily sinks into the routine of habitual formularies and gestures, and will enable us better to apprehend the sacred mystery and more completely to associate ourselves with it.
NOTES:
(1) Ila Ilae, q. 82, a. 3.
(2) IV Sent., d. 15, q. 4, a. i, qla. 2, ad I
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