Mental Prayer — Method of St. Sulpice

Christianity consists in three points: to regard Jesus, to be united to Jesus, to work in Jesus. The first is called Adoration; the second Communion; the third Co-operation.

— M. Olier, Introduction à la vie et aux vertus chrétiennes

The remote preparation consists in a great purity of heart; a perfect mortification of the passions; and a great fidelity in the guard of the senses, interior and exterior, especially against vanity and curiosity.

Acts of penitence, humiliation, confusion and contrition, occasioned by the thought of our sins. An act of union with and abandonment to our Lord, in order that we may appear before His Father in the Person of Jesus and pray in His Name.

A renouncing of our own spirit, which is incapable of guiding us in the way of salvation, and of our affections, which ordinarily turn toward evil. An invocation of the Holy Spirit, that we may make our prayer in His light, by His movements and as conducted by Him.

The consideration of the subject; then the rendering of our duty to God according to the subject, ordinarily consisting of seven acts: adoration, admiration, praise, thanksgiving, love, joy and compassion.

Upon our lack of virtue; the obligations we are under to practise the particular one we are meditating upon; regret for the past neglect of this perfection; confusion at the realisation of our present poverty and misery; desire for the future, that we may earnestly seek to escape from our lukewarmness into a real communion with our Lord.

Humble, confident and persevering, that God will give us the grace we need. We should do so by humbly representing to Him that it is His will; that it will be to His glory; that one so imperfect and lacking in grace should not be suffered in His Church; the merits of His Son; the Divine promises in Holy Scripture.

Further, we must beg the favour and aid of the most Holy Virgin, our guardian angel, our patrons and other Saints. Nor must we forget the needs of Holy Church and of those for whom we ought specially to pray.

Co-operation and resolution, says M. Olier, mean the same thing; but the first expresses more strongly the power of the Holy Spirit, upon which we are more dependent than upon the good works of our own will.

Remembering, then, the need of our co-operation with grace, we make the resolution to live for the future in conformity with the light we have received in our prayer, and especially to practise, the same day, the perfection or virtue we have considered. Such resolutions should have six qualities: they must be particular, present, efficacious, humble, full of confidence and often reiterated — made with an entire distrust in ourselves and an entire confidence in Jesus Christ, without whom we can do nothing.

We thank God for having allowed us to come into His presence, and for the graces given to us in our prayer. We pray Him to pardon all our faults and negligences in this prayer; to bless our resolutions, this present day, our life and our death.

We select some thought from our prayer to carry with us during the day — the spiritual nosegay of St. Francis de Sales — and conclude with the Sub tuum praesidium, placing all we have done and hope to do in the hands of Mary.