How
the Soul Proceeds from Vocal to Mental Prayer
Here, touching something concerning the Sacrament of the Body of Christ, the complete doctrine is given; and how the soul proceeds from vocal to mental prayer, and a vision is related which this devout soul once received.
“Know, dearest daughter, how, by humble, continual, and
faithful prayer, the soul acquires, with time and perseverance, every virtue.
Wherefore should she persevere and never abandon prayer, either through the
illusion of the Devil or her own fragility, that is to say, either on account
of any thought or movement coming from her own body, or of the words of any
creature. The Devil often places himself upon the tongues of creatures, causing
them to chatter nonsensically, with the purpose of preventing the prayer of the
soul. All of this she should pass by, by means of the virtue of perseverance.
Oh, how sweet and pleasant to that soul and to Me is holy prayer, made in the
house of knowledge of self and of Me, opening the eye of the intellect to the
light of faith, and the affections to the abundance of My charity, which was
made visible to you, through My visible only- begotten Son, who showed it to
you with His blood! Which Blood inebriates the soul and clothes her with the
fire of divine charity, giving her the food of the Sacrament [which is placed
in the tavern of the mystical body of the Holy Church] that is to say, the food
of the Body and Blood of My Son, wholly God and wholly man, administered to you
by the hand of My vicar, who holds the key of the Blood. This is that tavern,
which I mentioned to you, standing on the Bridge, to provide food and comfort
for the travelers and the pilgrims, who pass by the way of the doctrine of My
Truth, lest they should faint through weakness. This food strengthens little or
much, according to the desire of the recipient, whether he receives
sacramentally or virtually. He receives sacramentally when he actually
communicates with the Blessed Sacrament. He receives virtually when he
communicates, both by desire of communion, and by contemplation of the Blood of
Christ crucified, communicating, as it were, sacramentally, with the affection
of love, which is to be tasted in the Blood which, as the soul sees, was shed
through love. On seeing this the soul becomes inebriated, and blazes with holy
desire and satisfies herself, becoming full of love for Me and for her
neighbor. Where can this be acquired? In the house of self-knowledge with holy
prayer, where imperfections are lost, even as Peter and the disciples, while
they remained in watching and prayer, lost their imperfection and acquired
perfection. By what means is this acquired? By perseverance seasoned with the
most holy faith.
“But do not think that the soul receives such ardor and
nourishment from prayer, if she pray only vocally, as do many souls whose
prayers are rather words than love. Such as these give heed to nothing except
to completing Psalms and saying many paternosters. And when they have once
completed their appointed tale, they do not appear to think of anything
further, but seem to place devout attention and love in merely vocal
recitation, which the soul is not required to do, for, in doing only this, she
bears but little fruit, which pleases Me but little. But if you ask Me, whether
the soul should abandon vocal prayer, since it does not seem to all that they
are called to mental prayer, I should reply ‘No.’ The soul should advance by
degrees, and I know well that, just as the soul is at first imperfect and
afterwards perfect, so also is it with her prayer. She should nevertheless
continue in vocal prayer, while she is yet imperfect, so as not to fall into
idleness. But she should not say her vocal prayers without joining them to
mental prayer, that is to say, that while she is reciting, she should endeavor
to elevate her mind in My love, with the consideration of her own defects and
of the Blood of My only- begotten Son, wherein she finds the breadth of My
charity and the remission of her sins. And this she should do, so that self-
knowledge and the consideration of her own defects should make her recognize My
goodness in herself and continue her exercises with true humility. I do not
wish defects to be considered in particular, but in general, so that the mind
may not be contaminated by the remembrance of particular and hideous sins. But,
as I said, I do not wish the soul to consider her sins, either in general or in
particular, without also remembering the Blood and the broadness of My mercy,
for fear that otherwise she should be brought to confusion. And together with
confusion would come the Devil, who has caused it, under color of contrition
and displeasure of sin, and so she would arrive at eternal damnation, not only
on account of her confusion, but also through the despair which would come to
her, because she did not seize the arm of My mercy. This is one of the subtle
devices with which the Devil deludes My servants, and, in order to escape from
his deceit, and to be pleasing to Me, you must enlarge your hearts and
affections in My boundless mercy, with true humility. You know that the pride
of the Devil cannot resist the humble mind, nor can any confusion of spirit be
greater than the broadness of My good mercy, if the soul will only truly hope
therein. Wherefore it was, if you remember rightly, that, once, when the Devil
wished to overthrow you, by confusion, wishing to prove to you that your life
had been deluded, and that you had not followed My will, you did that which was
your duty, which My goodness (which is never withheld from him who will receive
it) gave you strength to do, that is you rose, humbly trusting in My mercy, and
saying: ‘I confess to my Creator that my life has indeed been passed in darkness,
but I will hide myself in the wounds of Christ crucified, and bathe myself in
His Blood and so shall my iniquities be consumed, and with desire will I
rejoice in my Creator.’ You remember that then the Devil fled, and, turning
round to the opposite side, he endeavored to inflate you with pride, saying:
‘You are perfect and pleasing to God, and there is no more need for you to
afflict yourself or to lament your sins.’ And once more I gave you the light to
see your true path, namely, humiliation of yourself, and you answered the Devil
with these words: ‘Wretch that I am, John the Baptist never sinned and was
sanctified in his mother’s womb. And I have committed so many sins, and have
hardly begun to know them with grief and true contrition, seeing who God is,
who is offended by me, and who I am, who offend Him.’ Then the Devil, not being
able to resist your humble hope in My goodness, said to you: ‘Cursed that you
are, for I can find no way to take you. If I put you down through confusion,
you rise to Heaven on the wings of mercy, and if I raise you on high, you
humble yourself down to Hell, and when I go into Hell you persecute me, so that
I will return to you no more, because you strike me with the stick of charity.’
The soul, therefore, should season the knowledge of herself with the knowledge
of My goodness, and then vocal prayer will be of use to the soul who makes it,
and pleasing to Me, and she will arrive, from the vocal imperfect prayer,
exercised with perseverance, at perfect mental prayer; but if she simply aims
at completing her tale, and, for vocal abandons mental prayer, she will never
arrive at it. Sometimes the soul will be so ignorant that, having resolved to
say so many prayers vocally, and I, visiting her mind sometimes in one way, and
sometimes in another, in a flash of self-knowledge or of contrition for sin,
sometimes in the broadness of My charity, and sometimes by placing before her
mind, in diverse ways, according to My pleasure and the desire of the soul, the
presence of My Truth, she (the soul), in order to complete her tale, will
abandon My visitation, that she feels, as it were, by conscience, rather than
abandon that which she had begun. She should not do so, for, in so doing, she
yields to a deception of the Devil. The moment she feels her mind disposed by
My visitation, in the many ways I have told you, she should abandon vocal
prayer; then, My visitation past, if there be time, she can resume the vocal
prayers which she had resolved to say, but if she has not time to complete them,
she ought not on that account to be troubled or suffer annoyance and confusion
of mind; of course provided that it were not the Divine office which clerics
and religious are bound and obliged to say under penalty of offending Me, for,
they must, until death, say their office. But if they, at the hour appointed
for saying it, should feel their minds drawn and raised by desire, they should
so arrange as to say it before or after My visitation, so that the debt of
rendering the office be not omitted. But, in any other case, vocal prayer
should be immediately abandoned for the said cause. Vocal prayer, made in the
way that I have told you, will enable the soul to arrive at perfection, and
therefore she should not abandon it, but use it in the way that I have told
you.
And so, with exercise in perseverance, she will taste prayer
in truth, and the food of the Blood of My only-begotten Son, and therefore I
told you that some communicated virtually with the Body and Blood of Christ,
although not sacramentally; that is, they communicate in the affection of
charity, which they taste by means of holy prayer, little or much, according to
the affection with which they pray. They who proceed with little prudence and
without method, taste little, and they who proceed with much, taste much. For
the more the soul tries to loosen her affection from herself, and fasten it in
Me with the light of the intellect, the more she knows; and the more she knows,
the more she loves, and, loving much, she tastes much. You see then, that perfect
prayer is not attained to through many words, but through affection of desire,
the soul raising herself to Me, with knowledge of herself and of My mercy,
seasoned the one with the other. Thus she will exercise together mental and
vocal prayer, for, even as the active and contemplative life is one, so are
they. Although vocal or mental prayer can be understood in many and diverse
ways, for I have told you that a holy desire is a continual prayer, in this
sense that a good and holy will disposes itself with desire to the occasion
actually appointed for prayer in addition to the continual prayer of holy
desire, wherefore vocal prayer will be made at the appointed time by the soul
who remains firm in a habitual holy will, and will sometimes be continued beyond
the appointed time, according as charity commands for the salvation of the
neighbor, if the soul see him to be in need, and also her own necessities
according to the state in which I have placed her. Each one, according to his
condition, ought to exert himself for the salvation of souls, for this exercise
lies at the root of a holy will, and whatever he may contribute, by words or
deeds, towards the salvation of his neighbor, is virtually a prayer, although
it does not replace a prayer which one should make oneself at the appointed
season, as My glorious standard-bearer Paul said, in the words, ‘He who ceases
not to work ceases not to pray.’ It was for this reason that I told you that
prayer was made in many ways, that is, that actual prayer may be united with
mental prayer if made with the affection of charity, which charity is itself
continual prayer. I have now told you how mental prayer is reached by exercise
and perseverance, and by leaving vocal prayer for mental when I visit the soul.
I have also spoken to you of common prayer, that is, of vocal prayer in
general, made outside of ordained times, and of the prayers of good-will, and
how every exercise, whether performed in oneself or in one’s neighbor, with
good-will, is prayer. The enclosed soul should therefore spur herself on with
prayer, and when she has arrived at friendly and filial love she does so.
Unless the soul keep to this path, she will always remain tepid and imperfect,
and will only love Me and her neighbor in proportion to the pleasure which she
finds in My service.”
Taken from Saint Catherine of Genoa Treatise on Prayer
Photo taken from Wikimedia
Commons
