3. Meditative Prayer

Those who cannot read are not thereby deprived of the benefit of prayer, for Jesus Christ is the great book written without and within, which will teach them all things.

These ought to take this method: first, they must learn this fundamental truth, that “The kingdom of God is within them” (Luke 17:21), and it is there it must be sought.

They who have the care of souls ought to teach them to pray, just as they instruct them in doctrine. They teach them the end for which they were created, but they do not sufficiently instruct them how to come to the enjoyment of this end. I could wish they would teach it to them in this manner: namely, that they begin by a profound act of adoration, and of self-abasement before God; and therewith shutting their bodily eyes, endeavor to open those of the soul. They are to gather the soul wholly inward, and, by a living faith that God is found within, to come directly into the presence of God, not suffering their thoughts and natural inclinations to wander about, but keeping them in captivity and subjection as much as they are able.

Then let them in this attitude say “The Lord’s Prayer,” understanding in some measure what they say, and believing that God, who dwells within, is very willing to be their Father. Being in this disposition, let them beg their needs of Him; and having pronounced this word “Father,” let them continue some moments in silence with much reverence, waiting till their heavenly Father may be pleased to reveal His will unto them.

At other times the Christian, considering himself as a child that is quite spent and soiled all over through his repeated falls, and who has no power either to stand on his legs or make himself clean, should lay open his shameful condition to his Father in a humble manner, adding every now and then some expressions of love and regret, and again remaining in silence. Thereafter going on with “The Lord’s Prayer,” let him pray that the King of Glory shall reign in him, giving up himself to Him in such a way that He may do it, and acknowledging the just right which He has over him, and surrendering completely to His divine rule.

If he perceives an inclination to peace and silence, he ought not to proceed, but to abide in that state while it lasts, after which he may go on to the next petition—i.e., “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10. Because these humble supplicants desire that God may accomplish all His will in them and by them, they must give their heart and their liberty unto Him, that He may dispose thereof at His pleasure. When they understand that the very best occupation of the will is to love, they should desire to love, and ask God for His pure love. But this ought to be done in a calm and peaceful manner, and so too with the rest of The Lord’s Prayer. This can very well be taught by those who have the care of souls.

Men ought not to overburden themselves with many other memorized prayers; The Lord’s Prayer, prayed once in the way which I have just described, will avail much.

Again, they may place themselves as sheep before their Shepherd, and ask of Him their true daily bread. O Divine Shepherd! You feed Your sheep with Yourself, and You are their daily bread!

They may also lay before Him the necessities of their families; but all must be done consciously, in the direct and principal belief that God is within us.

Any concept we can have of God falls short of what He is. But all that is needed is a living faith in His presence. For we must not form any image of God, though we may of Jesus Christ—beholding Him as a child, as crucified, or in any other state or mystery, provided that the soul always seeks Him in the center of itself.

Again, we may consider Him as our Physician, and present our sicknesses and wounds unto Him that He may heal them, but still without any effort, and with some little silence interposed from time to time, so that the silence may be mixed with unction. Thus by degrees we increase the silence and lessen the discourse, until in the end, by means of yielding gradually to God’s workings, He may get the upper hand in us.

When once the presence of God is given, and the soul begins little by little to relish the silence and stillness, this experiential sense of the Divine Presence brings it into the second stage of prayer, which is attained both by such as can read and such as cannot, by applying the method described above—though indeed God does favor some privileged souls with it even from the beginning.