Mental Prayer — Third Ignatian Method

Ignatian — third method

10 min

This is less a method of mental prayer than one of reciting vocal prayers with care and devotion. It will be found particularly useful in times of aridity, when all prayer seems distasteful and it is practically impossible to meditate; then almost the only remedy is to say vocal prayers for a time.

The Preparation

First, consider what you are going to do: "let the mind repose a little, either sitting or walking, as shall seem best, considering meanwhile whither I am going and for what purpose."

Then the preparatory prayer, as in the second method, made to the Person to whom the prayer is addressed.

The Body of the Prayer

The body of the prayer consists of a mental recitation of the Our Father, Hail Mary or other vocal prayer, "one word only being said between one breath and another," whilst one dwells on:

— the meaning of the word;

— or the Person to whom one is speaking;

— or one's own lowly estate;

— or the contrast between such high estate and such lowliness of our own.

Our Father

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

Pater noster, qui es in cælis,

sanctificétur nomen tuum.

Advéniat regnum tuum.

Fiat volúntas tua, sicut in cælo et in terra.

Panem nostrum quotidiánum da nobis hódie,

et dimítte nobis débita nostra,

sicut et nos dimíttimus debitóribus nostris.

Et ne nos indúcas in tentatiónem,

sed líbera nos a malo.

Amen.

Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou amongst women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners,

now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Ave María, grátia plena, Dóminus tecum.

Benedícta tu in muliéribus,

et benedíctus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.

Sancta María, Mater Dei,

ora pro nobis peccatóribus,

nunc et in hora mortis nostræ.

Amen.

We have here, as elsewhere in the Exercises, the recognition of the interdependence of soul and body and the consequent need of using both in our devotion. It is with our whole being that we are to pray.

The Holy Name

Another method — not Ignatian, but suggested by this one and by that old English devotion, the Jesus Psalter — is to use the Holy Name as a sort of melodic refrain, linking up acts of praise, prayer and petition, the acts of adoration being uttered as they come into the mind:

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, I adore Thee.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, I love Thee.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, have mercy upon sinners.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Thy Kingdom come.

There is hardly any situation in which it could not be used; invalids, those suffering from sleeplessness, those who have to walk much in busy streets would find it invaluable for preserving the sense of the Presence of God.