Chapter XXII

Shows what mental prayer is.¹

1. Vocal prayer implies mental prayer. 2. Reverence needful for prayer. 3. God is the King, we are His petitioners. 4. A prayer for guidance. 5. Christ is the Bridegroom of our souls. 6. By mental prayer we learn to know and love Him.

1. You must know, daughters, that there is no need to keep our lips closed in order to pray mentally. If while I utter a prayer I carefully consider its meaning and pay more attention to what I am saying to God than to the words themselves, this is both mental and vocal prayer. Should people affirm that you are praying to God if, while you recite the Pater Noster or the Ave Maria, you are thinking of earthly things — then I have no more to say. But if you wish to behave with due respect to such a mighty Monarch, you should reflect on Who He is you are addressing and what you yourself are, that you may show fitting reverence. For how can you accost Him, and petition His Majesty the King, or know what ceremonies to use, unless you realise His rank and your own position? This it is that regulates the respect to be paid, and you must learn it unless you wish to be turned away as a boor, with your requests ungranted. More than that, unless you are well versed in the matter, you should take care to find out the proper titles to use. I happened once, before I was accustomed to deal with grandees, to be brought in contact concerning business matters with a person of rank, whom I was told to address as 'your Ladyship'. But my wits are dull and I am unused to such customs, so when I met her I forgot all about it and made a mistake. I thought it best to explain the case laughingly, and to ask her to allow me to call her 'your Honour', which she did.²

2. How canst Thou, Ruler of all creation as Thou art,³ bear this want of reverence from men? Thou hast been King, my God, from all eternity, for Thine is no borrowed empire but Thine own, and it will never end.⁴ Blessed mayest Thou be! I always feel a peculiar joy at reciting in the Creed: 'Of Whose kingdom there shall be no end.' I will praise and bless Thee for ever, Lord, for Thy kingdom shall last for ever. Permit not that men should think it right for them to praise Thee or speak to Thee with their lips alone. What are you saying, Christians, when you affirm that there is no need for mental prayer? Do you understand your own words? Really, I think you cannot do so, and you wish us all to fall into the same mistake. You do not know what mental prayer is, how vocal prayers must be said, nor what contemplation is, or you would not distrust and condemn in one place what you approve of in another.

3. Whenever I remember it, I will always speak of mental and vocal prayer together, my daughters, lest I should alarm you. I know how such matters end, having suffered a great deal of trouble from them, and I do not wish any one to disturb you, nor to confuse your mind on the subject, for timidity about prayer injures the soul. It is most important for you to know the right way to set about it. If one told a traveller that he had mistaken his way, he would wander to and fro and would tire himself out and lose his time by trying to find the path and would only arrive at his journey's end all the later. Who could blame any one for recollecting Whom she is about to address and what she herself is, before she begins to recite the 'Hours' or the Rosary? Yet I assure you, that if you considered these two points as you ought, before saying your vocal prayers you would spend a considerable time first in mental prayer. We must not speak to a prince with the same freedom that we should use towards a labourer or some poor creature like ourselves, whom we may accost in any way we choose. Yet this King is so humble that, however unmannerly my speech may be, He does not refuse to hear me on that account, nor do His guards repulse me. For the angels who attend Him know that their Monarch prefers the rusticity of a lowly shepherd, who would be more polite if only he knew how, to the courtly speeches of a learned but proud man. To atone for what God suffers from bearing with the loathsome presence of such a creature as myself, we ought to try to understand His purity and His sublimity. True, we know already Who it is that we approach when we draw near Him, as we recognise the magnates of this world. When we have been told who their father was and what their revenues and titles are, there is no more to know, as we honour them, not for their good character, but for their money. O wretched world! Thank God, daughters, that you have left so vile a thing, where men are esteemed not for their real selves but for the money which their tenants and the labourers they employ bring to them, for if the rich lose their incomes they at once lose their prestige with it. It is a mockery: you should laugh at it among yourselves during recreation, for it does us good to make merry over the blindness men show in this life.

4. O Thou our Monarch! King of glory, Lord of lords, Sovereign of all princes, Chief among the Saints! O Power, dominating over all else! Wisdom above all knowledge, having neither beginning nor end! limitless in all Thy works, which are infinite and incomprehensible and a fathomless abyss of wonders! O Beauty containing all other beauty! Thou art strength itself; Thou art the truth, O Lord, and the genuine riches: do Thou reign for ever! Most merciful God! would that I possessed the combined eloquence of all the human race, with wisdom to understand — as far as the understanding can attain in this life, which is but utter ignorance — that I might succeed in telling at least a few of the many things that might be pondered over, in order to obtain some feeble idea of the perfections of this our Lord and only Good.⁵

5. Before prayer, endeavour to realise Whose Presence you are approaching and to Whom you are about to speak, keeping in mind Whom you are addressing. If our lives were a thousand times as long as they are we should never fully understand how we ought to behave towards God, before Whom the very Angels tremble, Who can do all He wills, and with Whom to wish is to accomplish. Ought we not, my daughters, to rejoice in these perfections of our Spouse, and to learn to know Him and what our lives should be? In the world, when a girl is going to be married, she knows beforehand who her husband is to be and what are his means and position — and shall not we, who are already betrothed, think about our Bridegroom before He takes us home on the wedding-day? If these thoughts are not forbidden to an earthly bride, why should I be prevented from discovering Who this Man is, Who is His Father, to what country He will take me, what are the riches He promises to endow me with, and what rank He holds? May I not know how best to please Him, what are His tastes, and how to bring my mind to harmonise with His? For if a woman is to lead a happy married life, people advise her to make these things her first consideration, no matter how low her husband's station may be. And art Thou, O my Spouse! to be treated with less respect than is shown to men? If the world honours Thee not, let it at least leave Thy brides to do so in peace, since they spend their lives with Thee. Sometimes a husband is so jealous that he will permit his wife to speak to no one but himself. In order to please him and to live happily with him, this is but a small sacrifice for her to make: she should not wish to talk to others since she has all she can desire in him.

6. To understand these truths, my daughters, is to practise mental prayer. If you like to meditate on them and to pray vocally also, that is all well and good, but never address your words to God while you are thinking of something else— whoever does so, knows nothing of mental prayer. I think I have explained the matter clearly: God give us the grace to know how to practise it! Do not let yourselves be alarmed by any misgivings. Praise God Who is almighty, and let no one hinder your making mental prayer. If any one of you cannot recite her prayers with such attention, let her know that she does not fulfil her obligation. If she wishes to pray with perfection, she must try with all her heart to be recollected, unless she would fail in her duties as the bride of this great King. Beg Him, daughters, to enable me to practise what I have taught you, for I fall very short of doing so. May His Majesty aid me, for His own sake! Amen.