|
MENTAL PRAYER Method of the Three Powers
Application of the Understanding After the matter of the Meditation has been
laid before the mind by the memory in something
of the manner just stated, the acts of the understanding follow. Its office, evidently, is to make various reflections on the truth supplied
by the
memory; to apply them to yourself and your own
needs; to draw practical conclusions; to weigh
their motives; and to consider how you have acted
hitherto with regard to these truths or how you
ought to act in the future.
All this the understanding will do. No great
learning is needed, and anyone, however simple
or ignorant, helped by Divine grace, can without
difficulty reason with herself on all these points.
Extraordinary ideas and learned reflections are
not required, but practical applications and simple reasoning. The general advice given is very
practical, as it is suited to the capacity of even
the most ignorant. It is to put to yourself certain simple
questions, which any one can easily answer, if she wishes to seriously apply her mind
to them. These are the questions usually proposed: What am I to remark about this matter? (namely the subject of Meditation, or what I
have already drawn from my memory). What practical conclusion
results from it? What motives urge me to it? How have I observed this
lesson up till now? What am I going to do for
the future? What obstacles must I remove?
What means must I employ?
We will now consider each of these questions
or reflections in turn.
1. What am I to remark about this matter?
To answer this question, you must dwell on
some truth contained in the Point, for very often
one and the same Point will suggest not only one,
but several truths. Of these, first one, then
another, or if there are several, each in turn, is
to be taken up, examined, and applied to ourselves. For instance, in the words already proposed : What doth it profit a man, etc., at least
two considerations present themselves: That to
gain the whole world is useless and offers no
lasting advantage; and that the loss or salvation
of one's soul is alone of real importance, since
our whole happiness or misery depends upon it.
Similarly, in one and the same Point concerning
the sufferings of Christ crucified, many thoughts
present themselves for consideration and application, as many, indeed, as there were questions
mentioned when speaking of the application of
the memory: namely, What? Who? Why? How?
etc. For each one contains a reflection which we
can make or apply with profit. Take, then, the
first of the reflections and apply to it the rest of
the questions: What is the practical conclusion
to be drawn from this, etc. Afterwards you do
the same on the second and third reflection, and
so on.
2. What practical conclusion follows?
Here you examine what you must do since the
matter is as you have seen. How are you in
consequence to regulate your life? For instance,
the first reflection from the words: What does it profit a man, etc., was, that it is useless and offers no lasting advantage to gain the whole
world. If you now ask: What practical conclusion am I do draw from this? the answer is
obvious: That the whole world with all its riches
and honors and pleasures is to be despised; and
for any one to have gained it, and all it offers,
would be of no advantage to him. So, not even
to gain the whole world, nor all its riches, honors
and pleasures ought you to allow the slightest injury to your soul; much less, therefore, for any
trivial temporal benefit, for any idle hope of glory,
for any desire of human praise or for any sensual
pleasure should you offend God and expose your
soul to danger.
Here a warning of the very highest moment
must be given: namely, to draw a conclusion
which is suited to your own personal state; in
other words, this conclusion must be particular,
not general. A general conclusion is usually
without effect, as for instance if in the above example this was the
only conclusion: Therefore I must despise the whole world, and did
not descend to particulars. Conclusions like this
have been not unfitly compared to cannon balls
aimed at random; they neither kill the enemy nor destroy his walls.
In the same way, general conclusions which have no bearing upon particular
circumstances do not overthrow the enemies of
your soul, nor regulate your passions, nor level
the walls of your difficulties, but only, as the saying is, beat the air.
Again, the conclusion must be adapted to your
present state. It is not enough to particularize:
you have to insist on that particular conclusion
which is suitable for you, and apply the practical
truth to that which gives rise to your sins or
faults, or binders you in the service of God. For
instance, when you form the general conclusion
in the example already quoted: Therefore I must
despise the whole world; not even to gain the
whole world must I do anything injurious to my
soul; I must sacrifice the whole world rather than
expose my soul to danger; this general conclusion must be applied by you to your own state
and needs. She who is under the influence of
vainglory should make some such reflection as:
If I must despise the whole world, how much more
should I disdain that vainglory which destroys
my good work and inflicts the severest injury
upon my soul. If I had all the glory of the whole
world, if I were praised, and highly esteemed by
everybody, it would be of no advantage to me;
how much less, then, is my gain, if one or two
or those few people with whom I live, praise me
and make much of me, etc. To these particular
circumstances you must put the question: What
is the profit?
She who is a prey to sensuality, and who often
falls into gluttony and a desire of her ease may
thus reason with herself: If the whole world is
of so little worth that to gain it no one should
suffer any injury to her soul, nor commit a single
sin, even if to the whole world were added all
its pleasures; surely much less for some or other
of its comforts, for some morsel which passes the
palate in a moment, should I break the laws of
God and bring ruin upon my soul. And if to enjoy all the pleasures of this world would be of no
profit to me, how much less will be my gain from
this trivial pleasure. And if I must despise the
whole world with all its delights, how much more
so this miserable satisfaction of my appetite and
my sensuality, etc. Here, too, you must descend
to those particular circumstances in which
through sensuality, gluttony, etc., you most often
fall into sins and failings.
If you find some difficulty in the Religious life,
if some point or other seems so very hard, repugnant or burdensome that on this account perhaps
the whole Religious life seems insipid, etc., you
ought to make application of the same truth in
this way: The sacrifice of the entire world must
be made, according to this maxim of Our Lord
Jesus Christ, rather than expose my soul to
danger. With what eagerness, then, I ought to endure this or that difficulty, rather than lose the
priceless gift of my vocation and the assurance of
my eternal happiness? What shall I gain by
having escaped this or that difficulty, shunned this
or that suffering, avoided this or that matter
which was painful to nature, if I risk some injury
to my soul, lose my salvation and afterwards an
forced to endure the most cruel torments for all
eternity? Dwell upon those particular difficulties
which occur most often, and most often trouble
and displease you.
Thus different persons should apply one and the
same truth to themselves in different ways, each
in accordance with her needs, and from one and
the same general conclusion make the individual
inferences suited to their state. This advice is
of such importance that it may be simply said
that the fruit of the Meditation almost entirely
depends upon its neglect or observance.
3. What motives urge me to put the conclusion in practice? The motives or incentives to do
what you know from the Meditation you ought to
do must be considered and carefully examined,
so that the resolution to lead a better life may be
more firmly established. Our understanding
guides our will. If the former does not accept
the motives for action, the latter feels little attraction for it.
Now the motives or incentives for avoiding
what is wrong and doing what is right, and for
generously overcoming difficulties and dislikes
are suitableness, utility, pleasantness, facility,
necessity and any other qualities capable of
stirring and moving the mind. These motives,
all or in part, should be applied to the subject
under meditation and to the practical conclusion
drawn from it.
Suitableness means that the thing is good and
proper. Consider what a woman endowed with reason, a Christian, a
Religious, a Sister of Charity ought to do. In this you will find most abundant and persuasive motives.
For instance, you ought daily, nay, incessantly
to keep before you the meaning of your title of
Sister of Charity, for its power to move is very
great. What evil, what even trivial defect ought
not she to avoid who wishes to be called and in
reality to be a Sister of Charity? What virtue,
rather what perfection and what sanctity ought
she not to achieve who would be a Sister of Charity, the highest of all virtues? What difficulty,
too, what trouble, or even what suffering, however painful, ought she not
to vanquish and endure, if she is a generous Sister of Charity?
What torment, what contempt? Truly the name
of Sister of Charity, if only duly weighed, can
prove sufficient motive to convince the soul and
by God's grace to urge it ever forward. It will
always prove a most fruitful source of pious
thoughts and humble affections and desires of rising to better things.
Utility comprises the spiritual advantages attached to the observance of the practical teaching.
By spiritual advantages I mean those which regard the good of the soul and its eternity. Otherwise they are not supernatural and are therefore
vain and are not to be examined, here; for instance, I shall escape punishment, I shall content
my superiors, I shall gain my companion's good
will, and so on. Motives like these, defective in
themselves, lead to vice as well as to virtue, and
are calculated to form hypocrites rather than
lovers of true virtue. It may, perhaps, happen
that motives of this nature are sometimes mingled
with the supernatural, but you must always be
on the watch lest your virtue be based on such
fragile foundations. The supernatural advantages, then, to be considered are as follows: If I
observe this lesson, I shall avoid many sins and
faults, I shall escape many pricks of conscience
and much uneasiness, and I shall not incur so
much punishment in Purgatory. I shall have peace
of conscience, I shall perform many acts of virtue,
and for every one of these I shall obtain an increase of God's grace and merit for the next life.
Thus I shall become rich in God's sight and draw down His blessing
on my other duties, and become a fitting instrument to further God's glory,
etc: Innumerable advantages every practical conclusion offers, true, solid and supernatural, any
one of which in particular we may dwell on at
length according as it moves us. There are, however, two general and invariable...motives: What
spiritual evil will it help me to avoid? What good will it bring myself and others? For, as
the Scripture says: Who loveth iniquity, hateth
his own soul. But, the soul of him that feareth
the Lord is blessed. . . and all that he doth
shall prosper.
Pleasantness.—What pleasure shall I have if
I observe this teaching? A life spent in accordance with the Divine Will is, in truth, far
from sad. Indeed, if there is any true joy in this
valley of tears, it is certainly to be found in the
soul which is zealous in the service of God. O
Israel, hadst thou harkened to My commandments,
thy peace had been as a river and thy justice as
the waves of the sea! But of sinners: Destruction and unhappiness in their ways and the way
of peace they have not known. We may propose to ourselves these and similar motives. The
experience of all the Saints has proved they are
solid motives to virtue and perfection.
Facility.— When Our Lord Jesus Christ says
His yoke is sweet and His burden light, and
promises rest to the souls of all, without distinction, who shall take upon themselves that yoke,
what He says is certainly true. I can easily prove
it is so by taking upon myself this yoke, that is,
by trying to observe the whole law of the Gospels
as exactly as possible, for this is what is meant
by taking up that yoke and placing it, as it were,
on one's shoulders. But anyone who tries to practice a part and not the whole of it, and wants to
carry our Lord's yoke with one hand, as it were,
will feel burdened by it, and to her it will not be
light. So, if you feel this burden of the Lord's,
it is only because you have not taken up the whole
of it, and because you are not meek and humble of
heart— the two qualities that Our Lord exacts.
And His commandments are not heavy. But the
wicked say: We have walked through hard
ways, we have wearied ourselves in the way of
iniquity. And this too is proportionately true in
the case of Religious who have not the spirit of
their vocation, the spirit of humility, of obedience,
etc. For to cherish pride in the heart, to cling
tenaciously to your will, etc., is a source of much
greater suffering than to check these same vices.
For by checking them, you weaken and destroy
what are really serpents within you and the cause
of all sadness and interior suffering, since they
torment and bite you the very minute anything
you do not like falls upon you.
But what is all compared with the glory awaiting us in Heaven? How easy it ought to seem,
since it will be repaid by an eternal reward?
Light is every burden I bear because of the great
good I hope for, said St. Francis the Seraphic.
Propose, then, to yourself these and kindred
thoughts, if you chance to be frightened at any
difficulty. Though, to tell the truth, generous
souls are incited by a difficulty to take Up an
action, happy that they can do something more
than ordinarily difficult, or can bear some suffering unusually painful for Him Who has done 'and
suffered so much for them and Who is worthy of
infinite love. Could they endure a thousand deaths
for Him, they would hold it too little.
Necessity includes all the serious reasons which
oblige me to follow out the teaching, even if it
were not useful, or agreeable, or even if it seemed
most difficult. That is to say, unless I observe
this lesson I shall be unhappy, or at least expose
myself to very grave danger. It is not a matter of
indifference to do or to omit what I know ought to
be done, but a matter of absolute necessity. To
St. Paul it was an absolute necessity to be a zealous Apostle, as he himself says: Necessity
lieth
upon me, for woe is unto me if I preach not the
Gospel! In like manner I ought to say to myself:
Woe to me if I do not become humble; woe to me
if I do not become perfectly obedient; woe to me
if I do not despise the things of this world; woe
to me if do not become mortified; woe to me if I
do not seriously strive after perfection, etc.
Those are the obligations of my state and my
vocation, and unless I try to fulfil them I shall not be saved, or
at least I shall be exposing myself to grave danger. It is not a matter of choice
to live as a Sister of Charity, to be a good Religious or no—so that if I keep my Rules and live
up to my vocation, well and good; if not, no harm
will be done. I am absolutely bound to observe my
Rules: otherwise I cannot be safe, and woe is
me! I shall be doing God no favor by religiously
and faithfully serving Him. Even so I shall be a
useless servant and only do what I ought to do.
But I shall be wronging Him, if I do not religiously and faithfully serve Him.
The motive of necessity is quite in place even in
what seems to be only a matter of greater perfection, if you recognize it and God urges you do it.
For a want of fidelity in such points and disobedience to God's call may draw down upon you the
greatest misfortunes, and above all others, that of
God's abandoning and rejecting you for your unfaithfulness and disobedience.
This motive is never without great weight in
determining your will, but it is to be employed
especially in what seem difficult cases, and when
your soul becomes slothful through cowardice or the dread of
difficulties. At such a moment particularly it must be pricked and urged forward as
it were by spurs, by considering God's punishment, the pains of purgatory, and of Hell, God's
threats that He will vomit the tepid from His
mouth, etc.; by the terrors of death) too, and of
judgment, etc.
Such, then, is the way to treat the question:
What motives urge me to the fulfillment of this
practical lesson? But the question must be carefully treated, lest your virtue be one of chance
and dependent upon circumstances, instead of
solid, based on fixed supernatural motives which
have been well weighed by the understanding.
We may now proceed to the explanation of the
fourth question.
4. How have I observed this teaching up till
now?
At this stage a kind of examen is begun, in which you ask your
conscience what your conduct with regard to the truth inter meditation
has been hitherto; if in conformity with it, thank
God; if not, humble yourself interiorly, bow your
head in shame and be on your guard for the
future.
You must not, however, be too ready to believe
that your conduct has been without fault, even if
it seems so; selflove and want of knowledge of
yourself deceive you at times so as to make you
imagine you have already acquired a certain virtue— the more so, that the thought is a very
pleasant one. This is especially the case with
beginners, who, if they think they have some
light on a certain practical truth, and have discovered some reasons and motives for observing
it, as long as no occasion for exercising the virtue occurs, believe they have already reached that
from which they are still far distant—as they
often learn later on by experience, to their sorrow.
You must, then, always make a point Of humiliating and despising yourself and taking yourself to task for not having observed this lesson; or
if you have at times observed it, for having done so very
imperfectly and not as Divine grace required of you.
Here too you must go into the particular cases
or circumstances in which your good and bad
habits are recognized. If you ask yourself in a
general way: Have I despised the world? or at
least, do I now despise it? perhaps it might seem
easy for you to answer: I do. But go into details and ask: What is my attitude if I am
laughed at, humiliated, despised, treated with less
consideration, taken to task for my faults,. or
blamed? Perhaps you will form a very different
judgment about yourself and be obliged to admit
that you have been very vain and worldly hitherto
and not at all a despiser of the world. And perhaps you will come to the same conclusion when
you ask yourself the opposite question: How do I
behave in success; what are my feelings when
praised, or when signs of esteem are shown to
me? etc. If you are still glad of this and take
pleasure in it, you certainly do not yet despise the
world. The same method may be applied when
considering sensuality and bodily comforts, riches
and temporal goods—in a word, all good and bad
qualities. When you examine yourself on these
points only in a general and speculative way, you
seem to have easily overcome vice or attained
virtue; but if you go into details, you find yourself far from either one or the other. This, then,
is the special fruit to be sought in this question,
that from a true knowledge of yourself you may
be led to profoundly humble, reproach and condemn yourself sincerely in the sight of God.
5. What am I to do in the future? Here you
must turn your mind to the future, seeking good
resolutions for the will to embrace.
Here too you must go into the details of particular cases, especially those which seem to offer the
greatest difficulty and occur more frequently;
above all, those which will or may occur to-day,
so that you may reflect how you are to act in
conformity with the truth you have learned.
Neither will it be out of place to recall the
motives already dwelt upon so that the will may be
more ready to offer itself for a generous victory.
6. What obstacle is there? What means must
I take? That is, what are the obstacles which
have hitherto prevented me from carrying out this
truth? What can help me to observe it better in
the future? It is difficult here to give any general rule, as the obstacles and aids are as different
as the subjects on which one may meditate, and
still more so, on account of our own different
characters. Each one's task then, will be to
examine the circumstances in which she usually
commits the fault or sin which is the subject of
the Meditation, and then to ask herself earnestly:
What really is the cause of this? What urges me
to do these things? She must of course be on her
guard not to attribute everything to circumstances.
In sudden and in deliberate sins, the circumstances are particularly to be noted and avoided,
and for this reason we are warned that our resolutions for avoiding
in deliberate and unpremeditated
sins should be principally directed to avoiding
their occasions. But in the case of other sins arising from our passions (except sins of the flesh,
which are to be avoided by flight), avoidance of
the occasion is not so necessary as watchfulness
and a generous victory over self. For instance, if
you are given to anger, you must not imagine that
this or that person who annoys you, or this or that
circumstance, is an impediment preventing you
from being meek. This is very far from being
the case. You yourself are the cause, and within
you, within your own soul, the passion lies. This
it is which you must mortify, not fly the occasion.
The general obstacles are chiefly three: pride,
sensuality, and dissipation of mind. Opposed to
these are the three general means: humility,
victory over self or mortification, and recollection;
to which may be added as an appendix, the remembrance of God's presence, the use of ejaculatory
prayers and the frequent calling to mind of the motives realized in
Meditation, and the strengthening of the soul with special care against those
occasions in which we know we most often fall,
etc. All these, however, may be included under
one or other of the three general means.
Enough has been said in general about the
hindrances and helps. Each one must examine
herself attentively, and having invoked light from
above, see what is the particular hindrance in
her case and what aids she can employ. This she
will learn if she has a true desire of progress, and
God's grace will enlighten her, her Superiors and
Director will advise her, and sound reason too,
enlightened by faith, will teach her.
The intellect, then, is to be exercised in these
questions. Anyone who seriously applies her
mind to them can scarcely feel a lack of solid
matter. After she has reasoned this way on
one truth drawn, from the subject of her Meditation, she must pass to a second and when this has
been exhausted by a like treatment, to the third,
and so on, in each proposing to herself all, or at
least some, of these questions. |
|
