A priest is expected to be a man of God and of prayer. If he fails in prayer, what a loss for himself, for the souls entrusted to him, and for the Church!
But are we all not called to a life of holiness? Are not all of us called to be people of God and of prayer? Although these meditations are for priests, can we not also benefit from them?
Our daily meditation ought to be a real communion with God. If we realize its importance, if we apply ourselves to it with persevering diligence and enlightened fervour, God will surely communicate Himself to us intimately through it and illumine our life with His light: "Dominus illuminatio mea".
IMPORTANCE OF OUR DAlLY MEDITATION
That our daily meditation is of supreme importance in our spiritual life is a trite saying. Ascetical writers never tire of repeating it; Saints have taught it in doctrine and example; it was one of the first principles inculcated to us at the very dawn of seminary life, and a strict rule bound us to meditation every day - an obligation extended to our priestly life by Canon Law. .. To rekindle our esteem for and love of meditation, let us ponder over these lines of Bishop Hedley, on the true meaning of our daily hour of mental prayer:
"It is the hour in which the soul lives: that is, lives its true life and rehearses for that life of eternity, in which prayer in its highest sense will be its rapture. It is the hour of its intensest discipline, when acts are produced which vibrate long afterwards through the hours of the day, through the spaces of life. It is the hour of speaking to God in His Holy of Holies, where the soul finds insight and strength and endurance. It is the hour of calm when the thronging elements of man's personal life are ranged in order and marshalled to obedience, so that the will may aim at one thing and one thing alone. It is the hour of the kindling of that precious life - the fire of Divine Love - which must burn through every pulsation of life, or else life's deeds can never be borne to the heavens, but must drop like leaves that wither on earth. It is the hour when the continual presence of the awful Sovereign of the creature is, in a certain sense, made actual and real, when the heart speaks to God, and - what is of infinitely greater moment - when God speaks to the heart."
* In the light of these lofty considerations, what am I to think of my habitual way of looking upon the time of meditation?
Do I hold it sacred and consider it the most valuable time of the day?
Do I not go perfunctorily through it, or find easy pretexts to shorten or omit it?
Do I seek earnestly to overcome the many difficulties of his exercise?
HELPS TO A FRUITFUL MEDITATION
Although meditation holds out such great promises for our spiritual life, must we not confess that we often fail to gather any appreciable fruit from it? ... Many causes may account for this; some of them quite beyond our control, and then - given good will and earnest efforts - the failure is more apparent than real, and God's grace will not be denied us. But often enough the fault is ours and we could improve matters greatly if we were more diligent and sagacious.
Diligent in following a method. There are rules for meditation, as for all other arts. Methods differ; all are good. Let us follow one, and not go on at random, leaving our course to chance. Too often the rules we once used to follow are neglected through carelessness and weariness: it would profit us much, to go back, humbly, to the fidelity of our first years.
Diligence also in preparing overnight the subject of our meditation, suiting the points to ourselves, and trying to select those which will help us to find Our Lord in prayer, and to live in Him afterwards during the day's work.
Sagacity will make us proceed along our arduous path with true supernatural wisdom: adapting our mental prayer to the need of our soul and the promptings of divine grace. People differ from one another, and the same man passes through different states and moods; each one will get the best results if he uses that form of mental prayer which most suits him: discursive meditation, affective prayer, or contemplation. The rule is laid down tersely by St Ignatius:
"For every person that form of prayer is best in which God communicates more freely with him."This last saying sets in relief another point, the most fundamental perhaps, on which the success of our meditation depends: the aim we must have in it, which is to bring us into intimate contact with God. Everything else, forms and methods, reasonings and reflections, are only helps to prepare the soul for God's Light and Love; they are means, not ends in themselves. And consequently, if we wish to reap the fruit of our meditation, we must make it above all a real exercise of prayer, a familiar intercourse with God.
Yet another weighty consideration follows from this: we must ever keep in mind that the work of our meditation is principally the work of divine grace in us: hence the importance of the preparatory prayers, which make us beg for that grace in humble and ardent supplication. For want of earnestness in this, how many fruitless hours have we spent at our prie-dieu, how many vain and discouraging efforts have we made!
Last but not least: When the 'hour of prayer' is over, prayer must continue; it must pervade the whole day and gradually pass into an habitual union with God; in this, ejaculatory prayers are helpful. - Above all, it must produce a firmer determination to mortify our sensual and selfish passions. Progress in prayer is bound up with progress in self-renunciation and self-surrender: how can a man enjoy conversing with God if his heart is elsewhere? how can he rise up to God if he is held down by earthly desires and attachments?
* Each and everyone of our meditations ought to be a step forward in sanctity. Why are mine not so?
An earnest survey of my habitual practice of meditation...A generous and wise plan of reform with the help of God's grace: "Domine, doce nos orare."
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Adapted from Alter Christus, Meditations for Priests by F.X. L'Hoir, S.J. (1958)
Meditation 13.
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