Prayer and Meditation
The ‘secret’ of prayer is to remember that it is a real act, having real results, as such it requires effort to make. It requires our own effort if we are on the giving end, or the effort of God or another person if we are on the receiving end.{73} Prayer is a real act of spiritual construction, and the result of prayer is a deeper participation in God. From CCC 2725; “Prayer is both a gift of grace and a determined response on our part.” It always presupposes effort.
The apostle Paul advises us, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Prayer is any act, which raises the heart (will) and mind to God. Prayer is the spiritual component of any good act, in the preceding verse, St. Paul could have said, “Rejoice always, for you in fact pray always”. Let us make the spiritual component of our actions always good.
Types of Prayer
One could easily come up with a list of a dozen or more types of prayer, such as prayer of intercession or prayer of worship, public prayer and more. Traditionally the Catholic church has listed five basic types of prayer, from which any other type of prayer is derived, they are:
1. Blessing and Adoration (praising God)
2. Prayer of Petition (asking for what we need, including forgiveness, enlightenment, holiness)
3. Prayer of Intercession (asking for what others need)
4. Prayer of Thanksgiving, for what God has given and done. These first four types of prayer are effectively made by anyone.
5. Prayer of Communion, in which union between the individual and God is made. Observe that his type of prayer is a mystical grade of prayer.
Grades of Prayer
We now examine the traditional five major grades of prayer and the nine detailed grades which Saint Teresa of Avila discerned. Saint Teresa, like Saint John of the Cross, lived a regulated and regular life in a religious house. They more easily saw any change in their repeated daily pattern. None of our days are routine, and we may not be able to discern minor advancement in prayer above the daily noise.
The five major grades of prayer are:
St. Teresa expands these five major grades of prayer into nine specific grades of prayer. We list them, then examine each grade of prayer:
1. Vocal prayer
2. Meditation
3. Affective prayer
4. Acquired recollection
5. Infused Contemplation
6. Prayer of quiet
7. Simple union
8. Conforming union
9. Transforming union
Upon reaching grade nine, the student is fully Christ, (the divine body of Christ), and his prayer is not only humanly perfect, but divine. The student perfects his prayer by perfecting all the other virtues of spiritual advancement.
Thousands of men and women attained such union with Christ, without ever reading an article on prayer or spiritual advancement. The Holy Spirit was their guide, and those few who could read, usually had only a copy of the gospel. Spiritual advancement is a matter of directed and sustained doing and not doing.
Vocal prayer (by physical or interior voice), is not really the beginning of prayer, it is the foundation of prayer which is practiced and cultivated in one’s entire life. Liturgical prayer of the Mass, prayer of petition, thanksgiving, praise or contrition are lifelong. When Jesus and the saints drove out devils or multiplied food, it was by vocal prayer which was an expression of their perfected wills.
Attention and devotion in vocal prayer are requirements. One should fix his will on a simplified image or word of the purpose of the prayer. An undirected mind or will makes for a less productive prayer in one’s soul.
Is prayer an action or reaction; can and should prayer be forced? We cannot really force our way into union with God, but nor can we drift into union. Because of original sin, at its selfish results, we are not fully inclined to act towards something outside and especially above ourselves. A certain force is required to make rise our soul above selfish desires.
A schedule is conducive to spiritual advancement. We make a schedule based on good judgment, not momentary emotion. If we stick to the schedule we attain our goal, in part by force of habit. A prayer schedule can even be flexible, but it must be followed. We might pray on our way to work, or at lunch time, or arrive 30 minutes early to Mass to pray. If we have children, they could read a spiritual book during this time. Be creative, pray a decade of the rosary in the parking lot after shopping, assemble your favorite prayers on your mobile device for use during idle moments.
Meditation, is also called discursive (reasoned) meditation, and St. Teresa included it as a grade of prayer. Like vocal prayer, meditation is cultivated over one’s entire life, rather than being just a stage.{75} Perhaps most meditation is done on ones feet so to speak: in the car, on the couch, just before sleep, during moral trial. If one can make time and place, anyone may also make structured meditation, which consists of:
Preparation — Put oneself into the presence of God, make an act of contrition and ask for God’s help in your prayer of meditation.
Consideration — Apply your thoughts to the subject of meditation, which may be a problem, a virtue, or a scripture reading. Examine it from all sides: God’s perspective, and application to our own life and soul.
Affection — This is the part of meditation in which our will (not our intellect) dominates. Virtues of the will are recalled by us, or presented to us: contrition, resolve, hope, faith and love may all occur. A session of meditation intentionally devoted to love of God would be called affective prayer or acquired recollection, which are the next two levels of prayer discussed.
Petition — Petition may be made after consideration in solving a problem, or simply to ask for graces of virtue.
Resolutions —We may benefit simply by loving or being loved by God, with no specific resolution. If future action is appropriate then we resolve to do it. For any future action, planning is usually helpful; we might call to mind a virtue, perhaps go over a mental scenario of how we will proceed the next time we are called to exercise the virtue. We should be as specific as possible and even make mental practice of it. We might imagine our successful response to stress in the workplace, or habitual impatience with a person. We see ourselves being charitable instead of being stressed or impatient.
Conclusion Thank God for graces received, and ask for blessings on your resolutions.
Affective prayer, here the will, not the intellect dominates, Affective prayer may occur in short sessions in response to some other occurrence. A profound session of contrition would be considered an affective prayer. If we are on the receiving end of affections, we should act with joy, but not gluttony or selfish satisfaction.
The saints have often found profitable prayer in meditation on the passion of Jesus, that is his suffering at Gethsemane and on the cross. This period was his time of greatest moral remediation. Jesus certainly made moral remediation in the everyday exterior trials of 33 years on earth, but when he took on the sins of the world at his communion with the apostles, the trials became internal, and external to a degree not had before. The saints are drawn to a meditative sharing in his passion and remediation of the sins of the world.
Acquired recollection is humanly perfected affective prayer. One has disciplined the will to the point that its virtues may be substantially directed at command. This is not a prayer of disciplined power, but of simplicity. This prayer is directed at God, whom we do not need direct any virtue at, other than love.
This level of prayer reaches the limits of what man can initiate in prayer; all steps beyond this one are initiated by God. God initiates, but the student must still be properly disposed to make full use of these advanced grades of prayer, and spiritual advancement must continue.
Imperfections in prayer might be discussed here, they each impede prayer by distorting our virtues; they are moral vices, of which remnant forms live on in religion and prayer. They are:
Spiritual Gluttony: A common disguised manifestation of this might be spiritual dissatisfaction, which is lingering and unsatisfied spiritual gluttony.
Spiritual Sloth: Spiritual advancement requires disciplined, regular and advancing moral effort.
Spiritual Pride: Often in the forms of judgmentalism or a tendency to withhold forgiveness. Regarding judgment, let us first recall the words of Jesus, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For In the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”, (Mt 7:1,2). Humility and prayer, not preaching is the remedy. Over correction is indifference to good morality.
Infused contemplation has its first occurrence as moral conscience, in which Christ our creator, reveals his own moral aspects to us. The word ‘infused’ prefixes many terms and refers to God’s initiative in giving a grace, awareness or ability. The previous grade of prayer was ‘acquired recollection’ which was the initiative of the student; if it were called ‘infused recollection’, it would be the initiative of God.
Every Christian is called to infused contemplation, in fact every person is called to be a disciple of Christ, then the person of Christ in the divine union. Infused contemplation is on the route. The apostle Paul speaks of this awareness and activity of Christ, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me…”, (Gal 2:20). We again see the pattern or purgation of lesser acts, and an acquired or infused replacement act or awareness.
Remember, infused contemplation, and any spiritual advancement, is just our gradual incorporation of the full divinity that was offered at baptism.{76} By sanctifying grace, Christ makes union with the student. Graces are instilled as the student frees himself of selfishness and seeks a deeper union with Christ.
Prayer of quiet is an infused captivation of the will. As the student progresses in the person of Christ, personal peace is the norm. The trials still occur, but they are recognized more as coming from our vocation as the ongoing Christ in the world, who still remediates sin, and less from our status as sinner, which the student is continually improving upon. The prayer of quiet is thought to be the highest grade of prayer attained in the illuminative stage of spiritual advancement.
God may allow some interior trail during prayer. It may be simple dryness, or it may be disordered thought or will during prayer or mental activity. Our task is to disregard the dryness or disorder and push on with our prayer, and to make it our habit to do so. The peace of infused prayer is there, but we must overcome the obstacles to arrive at it, and it is God’s will that we arrive at it.
To their last days, the saints suffered asymmetrical trials of the will. That is, their will was disciplined and advanced in the participation of Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit, but they were also tasked with the needed ongoing remediation of sin in our world, and this sin was presented to them for remediation, just as it was presented to Christ in the garden of Gethsemane and on the cross.
The three levels of unitive prayer: simple union, conforming union, and transforming union were all discerned by Saint Teresa of Avila, and her system of prayer remains the standard in the Catholic Church. As the student attains to the highest union, trials are usually exterior, as the will has been perfected. This is not an absolute, as we observe, the perfect will of Jesus Christ remediated sin which assaulted him from his interior faculties at Gethsemane and on the cross.{77}
Simple union, has the intellect and will fully or near fully participating in the three persons of God. The body and its senses are aware of God, but do not fully participate in God.
Conforming union, is sometimes termed the ecstatic union. The entire person, body and soul has direct participation in God. This state is as close to the divine union that one may be, without entering into it. Entry into the divine union is permanent. This conforming union is also called the spiritual betrothal. Some saints who have made the conforming union, tell of its ecstatic states becoming more of a stable norm. The initial, tremendous ecstasy is adapted to and is no longer jolting. Peace prevails.
Transforming union is the goal of the Christian life, it is to become Christ, who is now the entire body of Christ. The transforming union is the divine union, the spiritual marriage which many saints have undergone. It was intended to occur in this life, and it still may. If the transforming union occurs in this life, the soul alone is made divine, the body still dies.{78}
St. John of the Cross said it is “nothing less than a transformation into God.”, specifically Christ who is “the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”, Rev 22:13.
Making Your Prayer More Effective
Participation is the key — participation in Christ, in virtue, in every other person. The apostle Paul speaks of this participation several times, “…so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another”, (Rm 12:5, Ep 4:25, 1Cor 6:15-17).
If we were to examine our component parts, we would find all the spiritual attributes proper to a human person and more. We participate not only in ourselves, but in a family, a community, a nation, a world of other people. Before our physicality, we existed as an idea within the mind of Christ, and the idea of a human person includes many other ideas. These ideas do not sit in isolation, but they contribute to each other and are affected by all other attributes of our person. Any attribute in creation can be traced back to Love, who is God, who uses his own detached attributes to form creation from nothing.
We advance as we make greater participation in human virtues, and the divine Christ. When any person advances, every other person who participates in that person also advances.
Fasting
Fasting from food, or abstinence from selected foods is a powerful means of spiritual advancement. It goes beyond denial of illegitimate self interest, it is a denial of legitimate self interest. As we move away from self, we deepen our participation in Christ.
Certainly we are never to fast to the point of harm; we may however skip a meal, or several meals for our spiritual growth. Abstaining from our favorite foods according to some schedule will also go far to advance our cause of selflessness for our participation in Christ.
The key to fasting, especially for beginners is to wait out the complaints of the stomach and enter into the fasting state. We all know about a growling, grinding, complaining stomach; it can last two or three hours, but then the smooth stomach of the fasting state is arrived at, and we may remain in the fasting state for whatever length of time we desire.
The fasting state frees the soul of the local satisfaction of a meal, and allows it to rise above its current state, and a bit deeper into Christ.
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Prayer is a real effort of the soul, having real effect. In the beginning we are distant from God, with increased denial of self will, and increased dedication to God in every way, we deepen our inclusion into Christ, who is God. Bit by bit, and by peaks and valleys; if we persevere we will arrive at full inclusion into Christ, even into his divine person.
Virgin Mary speaks of this progression from the exclusion caused by original sin, to our inclusion into the human nature of Christ, to our ultimate inclusion into the divine person of Christ;
“Little children, prayer works miracles. When you are tired and sick and you do not know the meaning of your life, take the Rosary and pray; pray until prayer becomes for you a joyful meeting with your Savior.”, (Medjugorje message of April 25, 2001).{79}
Use of the Sacraments
All the effort of purgation and remediation discussed in this book is made so that the sacraments may be more efficacious. It is the sacraments offered by Christ that bring us to union with him; sanctifying grace is offered, but its effects are limited by any selfishness in our soul. We cannot become Christ if we remain self.
The reader is likely familiar with the sacraments, and the major points in this chapter are:
Sacraments make a real difference, by them we participate in specific ideals of Christ. Perfect forms of Christian life (baptism), Christian marriage, Christian participation (Eucharist), priestly ministry, or in the case of confirmation the perfection of spiritual advancement is made available to us.
The sacraments are intended to bring full divine union with Christ in this life. Christ is not limited to the sacraments, but he did leave them behind as the intended means for our inclusion into himself. The Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church and the Coptic all have an unbroken line of sacramental authority and there is much evidence of the profound efficacy of their sacraments, when fully cultivated by the student.{81}
Miracles are generally considered evidence of participation in the divine union, and these churches contain perhaps 99% of substantiated miracles. Jesus Christ himself spoke of supernatural acts being evidence of divine participation, “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me — or at least believe on account of the works themselves..”, (Jn 14:11).
The next verse has Jesus teaching that such divine union and its fruits is the intended norm, "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”, (Jn 14:12). Note the last phrase, “…because I am going to the Father.”, after the ascension of Jesus, the faithful are to be the ongoing Christ on earth.
The most demanding vocation is marriage of course, and that is all the more reason to obtain a sacramental marriage if it does not yet exist.
The sacrament of penance, or confession is a practical necessity for sustained spiritual growth. Our venial sins are forgiven during the Mass. Mortal sins must be forgiven in the sacrament of penance. In the end, a mortal sin is a despair driven abandonment of God; but God does not abandon his commitment to us, even in the face of severe sin, so long as we keep our commitment to him.
The sacrament of penance is unique in that once it has been obtained, it may be had again with a new and full effect each time. It has certainly happened that a person is innocently baptized twice, or confirmed twice, or married, while still being married. At best, this repetition would add some actual grace to one’s soul.
Sacramental penance wipes our soul free of sin, and the next time it is received it wipes out any newly made sin, with nothing resembling repetition.
Sacramental penance absolves sin, but the habitual effects of sin in our will and virtues, may only be reformed by our own moral effort. We know that if we are forgiven the sin of impatience, we are not turned into a perfectly patient person. Such perfection must be made by us, but not alone; we ask for the help of the entire body of Christ. Nevertheless, the sin that is reformed by the sacrament of penance is of real value, and we make regular use of this sacrament.
The Eucharist is an all purpose sacrament for the receipt of actual graces.{82} Greater effectiveness of the Eucharist is not so much had by more reception, but by allowing this sacrament to do its job. This means eradicating sin, vice and imperfections from our will.
Any sacrament is effective only to the degree or disposition of our soul. If more frequent reception of the sacrament of confirmation provided for exponential spiritual growth, perhaps it would be offered each week; in fact the graces of confirmation or marriage for that matter fully exist, simply waiting for the student of spiritual advancement to allow them their proper place in our crowded soul.