Posted on 12/04/2004 9:14:19 PM PST by Askel5
[T]he real work in this part of your mental prayer is always going to be up to you and you alone. Nobody in the world can really apply personally any truth to your life except you yourself. Nobody knows you from the inside out the way you know yourself. But the man who is brave enough to try to look honestly at himself and strong enough to try to do something about really changing himself -- that man can change the world |
MENTAL PRAYER -- Challenge to the Lay Apostle Preface This book is designed to help Sodalists spend their 15 minutes of daily mental prayer in as easy and as profitable a way as possible. Prayer is, of course, always an intimate and personal experience. No one would dream of suggesting that one book could actually meet all the prayer needs of thousands of different people. But one book can be a great help for many people and can be for all at least more helpful than nothing. In no sense is this book an attempt to force Sodalists or anyone else to pray to a pattern. We presuppose that the directors of the individual souls who will use this book will know from their own experience and their own reading in ascetica1 literature the dangers of any such attempt. Nevertheless, if all his Sodalists are working from the same book, the director will find it easier to give common explanations of prayer, and the Sodalists will find it easier to explain their difficulties and successes to the director. The meditations in this book are arranged in an ordered series. It is recommended, therefore, that the Sodalist, at least his first time through the book, should follow this order. This does not imply that he ought to spend exactly one and only one day on each meditation. It is to be encouraged that he spend as many days on each meditation as he finds profit in the thoughts and affections it suggests to him, and that he be carefully taught the fundamental rule of prayer: "Stay where you seem to be finding food for your soul; and when you find it, enjoy it, without any worry about moving on to further points or meditations." We urge the director above all to take the responsibility for constantly reminding and encouraging his Sodalists to keep trying. Faithfulness to mental prayer is the first, and in many ways the most important, of all means to success in prayer. If the Sodalist remains faithful, no matter what the difficulty, much of the rest can be safely be left in the hands of God. But if he does not, through prayer, continue to put himself daily into the hands of God, much of what God planned for him will never be accomplished. Finally, the director will find it profitable to familiarize himself with outstanding works on prayer. Besides those listed in the closing notes of the book itself, two others especially helpful for his purposes will certainly be Tanquerey's The Spiritual Life and The Ways of Mental Prayer by Dom Lehodey. Three Methods of Prayer of Saint Ignatius First Method of Prayer: In this first method of prayer, we consider and think over the First Commandment, asking ourselves how we have observed it and in what manner we have failed. We will use as a measure of this consideration the space of time it takes to recite three times the OUR FATHER and the HAIL MARY. If during this time we should find faults we have committed, we will ask forgiveness and say an OUR FATHER. The same method will be followed with each of the Ten Commandments. Second Method of Prayer: We may kneel or sit, or use any position suited to our disposition and conducive to devotion. We then say, "Father," and continue meditating on this word as long as we find various meanings, comparisons, relish, and consolation in the consideration of it. The same method should be followed with each word of the OUR FATHER, or of any other prayer which we wish to use for this method. Third Method of Prayer: With each breath or respiration, we should pray mentally while saying a single word of the OUR FATHER, or other prayer that is being recited, in such a way that from one breath to another a single word is said. For this same space of time, the attention is chiefly directed to the meaning of the word, to the person who is addressed, to our own lowliness, or the difference between the greatness of the person and our own littleness. In this way, observing the same measure of time, we should go through the other words of the OUR FATHER. We can use this same method with any prayer. Don't Read This [Thread]! How to Begin: Don't read this [thread]! It's not meant to be read! This book is to help you pray in a special way, to make mental prayer-which is quite a different thing from reading. If you read this [thread], you may hurt your prayer. Don't read it. First Steps:
The Built-In Prayer-Helps:
Many meditations have a MENTAL PICTURE instead of the Idea. In these you simply follow the description slowly and try to build up in your mind the picture described. Both Idea and Picture meditations will help you to discover many things about God and yourself, important things, and will help you see more clearly and more deeply into things you know already.
This built-in help, Personal Application, tries to help you get started seeing these real connections between the truths and you. But the real work in this part of your mental prayer is always going to be up to you and you alone. Nobody in the world can really apply personally any truth to your life except you yourself. Nobody knows you from the inside out the way you know yourself. But the man who is brave enough to try to look honestly at himself and strong enough to try to do something about really changing himself--that man can change the world.
Presence of God When it is time for my mental prayer, I will:
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December 10th
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THE BIGGER THE PRIZE
Presence of God
Grace I Ask:
Not to be deaf to Christ's challenge, but ready and eager to do His holy will.
The Idea:
Doctors, in public and private, seem to be always warning businessmen to watch out for their health, not to overwork or strain. Yet how many articles have I ever read or seen warning anyone not to work himself to death in spreading Christ's cause, in doing good to others, in teaching Christ's truth?
Why not? Isn't it strange that so many men should literally kill themselves with work in order to make money? They have to leave it behind when they die anyway. And so few make any noticeable effort at all to win a reward they will never lose.
My Personal Application:
In my ordinary affairs, the bigger the prize, the greater the effort I make to win. That's only common sense. Yet do I really follow through on that common-sense principle when it comes to working for Christ, helping my own soul and the souls of others? I am playing for the biggest stakes imaginable eternal life. Do I act like it?
Others think nothing of devoting their whole days, all their free time, giving up food and sleep to make their business a success, to win an election, to pass an important examination. Well and good, but what of myself and the effort I make for the success of the one completely important job in the world spreading the kingdom of Christ?
I Speak to God:
My God, I do not like to think of myself as a coward or slacker. Yet there must be something wrong. Maybe I just haven't thought seriously enough about the way things really are until today. Pour light into my mind that I may see more and more what is really important in this life and what part I should have in it.
Thought for Today:
"Lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven."
December 12
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December 13
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BTTT
December 14
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December 15
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December 16
THE IDEAL IN MY LIFE
Presence of God.
Grace I Ask:
To understand how important it is for me to have a clear ideal and grace to follow it.
The Idea:
Everybody has an ideal something to aim at. Living is progress I'm going somewhere I'm becoming somebody and whether I realize it or not, I'm becoming somebody like my ideal. Maybe my ideal is very clear my mother, my father, a lawyer, a nurse, a movie star, a ball player. Maybe my ideal is vague the "man of distinction," the "perfect wife." In any case, I have an ideal. Without one, I just stop just stop becoming anything. I must have something to live for, somebody to die for. My ideal draws me on to my goal, on to what I want to be. The closer I follow the pattern, the ideal, the closer I come to my goal.
My Personal Application:
Is my ideal just the goal of part of my life? If it is, then it is not the right, the full ideal. Who should be my ideal? Something to live for what grater cause could there be than that of saving souls! Somebody to die for what man or woman could be more worthy to give my life for than Christ, my King! Could there, is there, will there be anyone great than He?
I Speak to Christ:
My King, it is so hard for me to understand this to really realize this. I want to become what I said I would in my consecration. I know I can't do it without help from you. Please help me to carry out my dedication.
Thought for Today:
"Something to live for somebody to die for."
December 17
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December 18
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December 19
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December 20, 2004
MARYS PART
Presence of God
Grace I Ask:
O Holy Spirit, help me to see the important part that Mary plays in my prayer.
The Idea:
To pattern my life closely on Christs life I must know Christ intimately, personally. From whom will I, a Sodalist, better learn this interior knowledge than from her who knew Him best? Mary, the Mother of my King, has that special knowledge of Christ that I want. She knows him the way I want to know Him. She first showed Him to us at Bethlehem; she will keep on showing Him to anyone who is interested and willing to learn.
My Personal Application:
Do I see how Mary can help me? Am I willing to let her teach me? Learning to know Christ is the most important part of my life; am I convinced of this? Convinced enough to ask Marys help? Then this Christmas I will ask her in a very special to lead me to her son. She will help Him be born in me.
I Speak to Christ:
My Mother Mary, I want you to teach me you who raised my great King you who taught Him his prayers, watched him grow you who pondered these things in your heart. You know what goes on inside Him: his thoughts, his feelings, his attitudes. That is the kind of knowledge that I want. Help me to know Him as you do.
Thought for Today:
To Jesus through Mary.
December 21, 2004
LOOKING AND LISTENING
Presence of God
Grace I Ask:
To understand and begin to learn how to pray by looking on Christ.
The Idea:
Merely thinking about Christ isnt enough. I want to know Him deep down inside. What are His ideas how does He feel who are His friends His enemies what does He say how does He talk what does He do? The best way to find out is to follow Him, to live with him as he goes through His own life.
How? By looking and listening. I will take Christs life, scene by scene, spend some time getting a good picture of the scene in my mind, put myself in the picture for instance, as one of the women who were with Mary or as an apostle see who was with Christ, how does He look? Is He tired? Is He smiling? What is He saying? Can I do anything to help? What are the people around Him doing? How does He act toward them? Answering these questions will help me make him live for me.
My Personal Application:
This is an easy way to pray. All I have to do is open the eyes and ears of my imagination. Do I want him as a very close friend? I will begin this Christmas season to follow His life from its beginning. Watching him grow, live, teach, and work watching, listening and learning while He suffers and dies, rises from the dead watching and loving because He does it all for me.
I Speak to Christ:
My King, I want to know you. But you know how much I need your grace for this. Please give me the grace I need, help me to know you in these mental prayers and to act with your spirit in my life.
Thought for Today:
To know Christ, I must live with Him.
December 22
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CHRIST COMES TO US Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, became man to redeem us and to show us the way to heaven. |
December 23
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Merry Christmas Bump!
December 24
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December 25
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