XIII — PRAYER OF RECOLLECTION

Presence of God. — O my God, may I be able to find you in me, in the little heaven of my soul.

Meditation

1 — St. Teresa of Jesus strongly recommends to interior souls another kind of prayer, very simple and effective: prayer of recollection. The foundation of this prayer is the divine presence in our souls: presence of immensity whereby God is in us as Creator and Preserver and is there in a manner so real and essential that in “Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17, 28), so that if He ceased to be present in us, we would cease to exist; presence of friendship whereby, in the soul in grace, God also makes himself present as Father, as Friend, as sweet Guest who invites it to live in fellowship with the divine Persons: with the Father, with the Son, with the Holy Spirit. This is Jesus’ consoling promise to the soul that loves him: “if anyone loves me... my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (Jn. 14, 23).

Prayer of recollection consists in becoming aware of this great reality: God is in me, my soul is his temple; in the intimacy of this temple I recollect myself to adore Him, to love Him, to unite myself with Him. “O soul, most beautiful among all creatures,” exclaims St. John of the Cross, “who so desire to know where your Beloved is that you may find Him and unite yourself with Him... you can indeed rejoice in knowing that... He is so near to you that He dwells in you. Rejoice and be glad then with Him in your interior recollection, since you have Him so near! Here love Him, here desire Him, here adore Him, and do not go seeking Him outside yourself” (C. 1, 7 and 8). The soul that has a sense of God’s presence within it possesses one of the most effective means for prayer. “Do you think” - says St. Teresa of Jesus - “it matters little for a soul subject to distractions to understand this truth [namely that God is in it] and to know that to speak with its heavenly Father and enjoy his company it has no need to ascend to heaven, nor to raise its voice? However softly it speaks, He, who is near it, always hears it. To seek Him it does not need wings, for it is enough that it withdraw into solitude and contemplate Him within itself” (Way 28, 2).

2 — Although prayer of recollection is the highest among active prayers, St. Teresa notes that it depends on us to procure it for ourselves “because here it is not a matter of a supernatural thing [that is, passive recollection, which is solely fruit of divine motion], but of something dependent on our will and which we can realize with divine help” (Way 29, 4).

It is therefore important to know what the soul must do to attain such prayer, and this is reduced to two things: “to gather all its powers and withdraw within itself with its God” (Way 28, 4). The senses, imagination, and intellect tend spontaneously toward external things, in which they are often dispersed; with a firm and prolonged act of will the soul must withdraw them from the external world to concentrate them within, that little heaven where the Most Holy Trinity dwells. This exercise, especially at the beginning, will require energy and will not at once be sweet; “the soul” - the Saint teaches - “must immediately seek to resist and overcome the fatigue that comes from little habit and from the body that will claim its rights. But after some time of the force it has used to recollect itself” (Way 28, 7), recollection will become easy and delightful for it. The senses will obey it with ever greater promptness and, despite distractions, its better part will be able to concentrate wholly on the divine Majesty present in it; and there, at his feet, it will be able to converse as its heart desires. It will not be necessary that it spend all the time of prayer in acts of devotion; often it may remain quietly, content to contemplate the great mystery of the divine indwelling in its poor heart and to present to the three divine Persons its most intimate homage. But if this is not enough for it, it can also apply itself to other exercises: “Recollected within itself” - says the Saint - “it can meditate on the Passion, represent Jesus Christ to itself and offer Him to the Father, without tiring the mind by searching on Calvary, in Gethsemane, or at the Column... or, more simply, let it converse with the Holy Spirit as with a Father, with a brother, with a master, with a spouse: now under one aspect, now under another... Let it tell Him the sorrows it suffers, ask Him for their remedy, acknowledging itself unworthy to be called his daughter” (Way 28, 2-4). “Whoever,” concludes the Saint, “knows how to shut himself in this way within the little heaven of his soul, where He who created it dwells, may be sure that he walks on a good road and that he will finally reach the fountain of living water” (Way 28, 5).

Colloquy

“Grant me the grace of being able to recollect myself in the little heaven of my soul where You have placed your dwelling. Here, O divine Master, You will let yourself be found more easily and will make yourself felt by me sooner than elsewhere and prepare the soul more promptly to enter into your intimacy. Then the soul understands that all the things of the world are only vanity and it seems that suddenly it rises above them and goes away... My God, if I sought to remember more often that You dwell in my soul, I think it would be impossible for me to abandon myself passionately to the things of earth, because compared with those that I carry within me I would find them in all their nothingness.

“Help me, O Lord, to withdraw my senses from external things and make them docile to the call of my will, so that when I wish to recollect myself with You they may recollect themselves promptly, like bees that shut themselves in the hive to make honey” (cf. T.J. Way 28).

“I feel, O Lord, that You say to my soul: ‘my kingdom is within you.’ Great contentment it is for me to know that You never depart from me and that I can never depart from You. What more do you want, O my soul, and what more do you seek, when within yourself you have your delights, your satisfaction, your fulfillment, and your kingdom, that is, the Beloved whom you desire and seek?” (cf. T.J. Way 28, 2).

“O my God, You are in me and I in You; You are my heaven and my earth, because heaven You carry in Yourself and You are in my soul. Here I always find You present; even if my feeling no longer perceives your presence, You are here just the same; and here I so much like to seek You. Oh, may I never leave You alone!” (cf. E.T. Letters).