INSTRUCTION III
THE MEDITATION
Ascetical and Mystical theology; spiritual progress
The two parts of theology which, more than all the rest, everyone must know, study, and aim to put into practice, are Ascetical and Mystical theology.
Ascetical theology is that part of practical spiritual doctrine which guides the soul towards perfection, from the most elementary principles up to infused contemplation. Mystical theology is that part of practical spiritual doctrine which, starting from infused contemplation guides the soul to spiritual espousal. Not included here are extraordinary phenomena such as visions, ecstasies, revelations and so on, graces gratis datae.1
All religious have the calling and the grace to reach spiritual espousal; which is the real vivit in me Christus.2
During the time of formation there should be progress each year, and an increased awareness of living out these two parts of perfection. They will be with us throughout life, until we reach a state of perfection and sanctification which will find us ready to enter heaven.
There are two norms in this basic assignment: 1) To follow Jesus the Teacher, Way, Truth and Life;
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2) to make progress every year, just as would happen with a good study program involving both teacher and pupils.
To this end a progressive cycle of meditations and spiritual readings is to be followed; it is to take account of particular necessities, just as there are special lessons in the school curriculum.
However, for every year of spirituality (from one annual retreat to the following one) there needs to be guidance for one's life and spiritual work. Such could be a series of readings and meditations on the Last Things.
The texts for spiritual reading and meditations are to be handed out to everyone at the beginning of the year, just like the school books.
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Art. 109. Members should always be prepared to accept any office in the Society or in the community, and to discharge it to the best of their ability according to the dispositions of Superiors. Reasons, however, for refusing offices or charges either offered or enjoined may be manifested, but always with humility, moderation and a perfect disposition to conform oneself to the Superiors' will.
Art. 110. Religious obedience should be not only effective but also affective, that is, it should extend to all legitimate commands, considering neither the person commanding nor one's own judgement, but only God who is obeyed in the person of the Superior.
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Art. 111. Therefore, always mindful of the words of the Gospel: Judge not, that you may not be judged, members should refrain from judging, and much more, from criticizing the actions of Superiors. On the contrary, religious subjects should assist their Superiors by filial submission and continual prayer that, in all holiness and orderliness, the latter may direct to God the family committed to their charge.
Art. 112. Let the members always consider that obedience is the safest and the most immediate path to the love of God and personal sanctification. In fact, the obedient Religious always does the will of God, and thus attains more quickly and easily to that form and degree of holiness to which he has been called by Him. Moreover, obedience greatly fortifies among members the bond of unity upon which the Society must be founded, and by which the works of its apostolate must be fostered.
What meditation is
Meditation is mental prayer. It is defined as the application of the faculties of the soul - memory, understanding and will - to a truth, a fact, or a prayer so as to draw strength and conviction from it and thus evoke resolutions for our spiritual advancement.
The principal aim of the meditation is to strengthen the will.
Perfection is to live, as intensely as we possibly can, the life of the Divine Teacher, Way, Truth
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and Life: Vivo iam non ego, vivit vero in me Christus.3
This is achieved by stages, small steps. But we must be constant, advancing a little each day.
To this end we have the morning exercises of piety: Mass, Communion, Meditation, as well as the accompanying prayers. We are thus rooted in Christ. If we begin the day in this way and are vigilant we shall finish the day still rooted in Christ.
The other prayer practices will nourish this life in Christ.
There are two means for perfecting this life in Christ. The first is to purge ourselves of wrongdoing; the second is to stir up feelings of love and trust in the Lord.
If only one faculty is at work, such as the memory, or the understanding, or the will, the soul will be paralyzed; it will grow tired of meditation and there will be no fruit during the day.
The necessity of mental prayer
Mental prayer or meditation is most useful for salvation;
- it is necessary for our sanctification;
- it is laid down by the laws of the Church and the Constitutions;
- it is indispensable for a life that is at once contemplative and active.
Saint Alphonsus Liguori states that mental prayer is incompatible with sin. While practising other exercises of piety one may still continue to live in sin. The habitual practice of mental prayer cannot suffer one to remain long in such a state. One either relinquishes mental prayer or relinquishes sin.
Fr Royo writes in his Theology of Perfection:4 Self-knowledge, deep humility, recollection and solitude, the mortification of the
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senses and the other matters needed to reach perfection are inconceivable or not morally possible without the exercise of a well-prepared and assimilated meditation. The person who would sanctify himself by devoting himself to the apostolic life at the expense of his life of prayer, can kiss holiness goodbye. There is indisputable experiential proof that nothing can make up for the life of prayer, not even the daily reception of the sacraments. There are so many people who receive communion and priests who celebrate Mass every day who yet lead a mediocre spiritual life. The explanation is the lack of mental prayer, which they omit completely or make in such an imperfect and habitual way that it amounts almost to an omission. The spiritual director must unceasingly insist on the need for prayer. The first thing that he must do when a person entrusts himself to his direction is to lead him to the life of prayer. There must be no compromise on this issue. The director is to ask him how he prays, the difficulties he encounters; he is to indicate the ways to overcome them, and the topics that he should instead meditate on, and so on. He will not be able to guide a person unless that person dedicates himself to prayer in an assiduous and persevering way, preferring it to all the other practices of piety.
Fr Chautard recalls these words of a priest: My ruination was to dedicate myself to others. My natural flair brought out a joy in helping others, happiness in being of service to others. Helped by the apparent success of my undertakings Satan kept everything going for a number of years, getting me obsessed with action, deadening my senses
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to any kind of interior work and dragging me finally over the precipice. What this insightful author says about the necessity of the interior life, can equally be applied to prayer, which is one of the most effective ways of cultivating this life.
When I make meditation says Fr Chautard I am clothed in an armor of steel and thus invulnerable to the enemy's arrows. But without meditation I would surely be struck down… For the priest in contact with the world it is a question of meditation or a very grave danger of damnation. Such an assertion comes from the pious, scholarly and prudent Fr Desurmont, one of the most experienced preachers of retreats to priests.
Questions we need to ask. What results, if any, do I get from my meditation? Do I remember it during the day?5
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Particular points for the Pauline Family
a) Meditation is the one prayer practice to be made in common, unless one is dispensed for a very serious reason. It keeps everyone spiritually united, nourishes everyone with daily food, maintains and strengthens our Pauline spirit.
b) In the Pauline Family the superior is to guide and give the meditation to all; likewise the head of a group, that is, a Master for his own.
Orders, arrangements, and general directives given during the meditation are to be prefaced by supernatural considerations, prayer and encouragement. This makes easier their acceptance and observance.
c) It is however necessary to accustom people to reflect, to pray and to renew their high ideals and particular resolutions. Therefore the superior and the group Master will start teaching people how to make the meditation properly. They will set out the method and guide them; on two or three days a week they will assign them a book and the topic; they will assist them but allowing each one freely to exercise his interior faculties - mind, feelings and will.
d) It can sometimes be helpful, in the judgement of the superior, for the clerics and brothers in temporary vows, as also for the priests and brothers in perpetual vows, to come together for the monthly day of recollection and the morning meditation.
Method: At the start of the spiritual life it is almost indispensable to keep to a specific and detailed method. The soul is as yet unable to walk by itself; like a child it needs support. But, as it advances, it finds it needs a less rigid framework; then it will act spontaneously,
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spurred on by fervor and the action of the Holy Spirit.
There are various methods and all of them are good when they have undergone the test of time and have proved helpful to people.
The Pauline method will be our guideline.
The conventional meditation cannot simply be a sermon where, once the priest has finished, each one goes off to his other occupations. Perhaps that could be called, but not always!, an instruction. How often it happens, even during the spiritual exercises, that people do not meditate. Nor is there in any sense a real change in one's way of thinking, outlook, or of life itself. The spiritual exercises can be made without a preacher and without books; they can never be made without recollection and prayer.
The most necessary part of the meditation is in reflection, application, examination, resolution and prayer.
The Master who oversees the formation of the young candidates is to limit the socalled sermons and to be moderate in giving warnings. He is to train them to have an upright conscience and deep convictions; to accustom them to think, and to guide them to the practice of faith, hope and charity!
He is to choose a suitable text, read part of it or rather have it read; then he will repeat it, stopping on the main point, which he will then explain and apply appropriately. Then another point is read and he will do the same; and then again a third time. He will guide the reflection, emphasizing a point, perhaps questioning the listeners, and so on. Lastly, there is a lengthy examination of conscience, a practical resolution (each person will repeat the one made in the spiritual exercises or monthly day of recollection), and a well chosen prayer, recited slowly.
Let the aspirant make notes in his notebook; let him activate his spiritual faculties as much as possible. Even when there are lessons in singing,
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music, Latin and arithmetic the teacher gives and corrects homework, provides examples, and so on.
Rouse the pupil's active cooperation as much as possible. It is a matter of training a man, a Christian, a religious, an apostle!
If a priest or other person guides the meditation their words are to be received with a docile spirit. If the meditation is made alone, choose the book specified. There is a need to keep going back over the eternal truths and the teaching of Jesus Way, Truth and Life, as set out in the Gospels or in authoritative commentaries.
We must be on our guard against reducing the meditation to a simple instruction of the mind or a spiritual reading. Give the greater amount of time to self-examination, repentance, resolutions and prayer. Thus, if the meditation is a half hour's duration, spend about half of it on these acts.
Mind, will and heart
The meditation consists of three parts, apart from the prayer of preparation and that of thanksgiving.
The threefold prayer of preparation is to put oneself in God's presence, to ask the Lord for enlightenment, and the grace to make determined and effective resolutions.
The first part: After reading the topic of the meditation, sum it up briefly; or you can apply yourself to contemplate a truth or mystery. You will thus exercise your mind and the Divine Teacher will enlighten you with his moral and practical truths. Often, people quite simply
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contemplate a mystery, an episode in the life of Jesus Christ, his Passion, a practical maxim, or one of the eternal truths.
The soul delights in the beauty, advantage and necessity of following the instruction of the Divine Teacher; it enjoys the life of union with God, and experiences a taste of the reward promised by the Lord to his faithful servants, to generous and loving souls.
The second part: This is to stir up the will to an intense desire for holiness of life and to follow Jesus who precedes us on the way to heaven.
Consequently we stir up acts of desire; carry out an examination of our past life; arouse sorrow for our past sins; and make resolutions for the future.
The third part: Here it is necessary to pray and to ask for the grace of perseverance; that what we have not yet put into practice because of human failing may, through God's bountiful help, be made possible, easy and joyful: Lord, you know we can place no trust in any virtue of our own; grant us, in your mercy, through the intercession of Saint Paul, the Doctor of the Gentiles, the strength to conquer all adversity.
This can be followed up by various prayers: the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory be to the Father; one or more mysteries of the Rosary, the Veni Creator Spiritus, the Anima Christi [Soul of my Saviour], the Miserere.
The final prayer combines thanksgiving for divine assistance, the offering of our resolutions and a short petition to resolve to keep them.
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1 Literally “given gratuitously.” Although all grace by definition is “gratuitous”, scholastic theology attributed the expression “gratia gratis data” to the grace of ministry for the salvation of others, meaning especially charisms.
2 “Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20).
3 “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20).
4 Cf. A. ROYO MARIN, Teologia della perfezione cristiana, Edizioni Paoline 1960. This work, which can be considered an updating or a paralleling of A. Tanquerey's manual, had a great influence on Fr Alberione and on those Paulines who studied it. Fr Alberione kept these two manuals in his private study and made use of them quite often. It might be helpful to know the contents of this updated and oftreprinted work: General Introduction (sources and method of the Theology of Christian Perfection): Part I: The Purpose. 1. The purpose of the Christian life (glory to God and sanctification of the soul); 2. Configuration to Christ (Way, Truth and Life); 3. The Virgin Mary and our sanctification (slaves of Jesus through Mary). Part II: Basic Principles of the Theology of Perfection. 1. Nature and make-up of the supernatural life (virtues: infused, theological, moral, cardinal - the gifts of the Spirit - actual graces - indwelling of the Trinity in the soul); 2. The development of the supernatural system (sacraments, merit, prayer); 3. Christian perfection (nature and degrees); 4. Nature of mystical theology (method and authors: Benedictines, Dominicans, Carmelites, Jesuits, independent Authors); 5. Relationship between Christian perfection and mystical theology. Part III: The Christian life in its ordinary development. Book I: Negative aspect of the Christian life. 1. The fight against sin (mortal; of ignorance, fragility, indifference, obstination and malice; venial sin; imperfections); 2. The fight against the world; 3. The fight against the devil; 4. The fight against the flesh; 5. The active purification of the power (of the senses, passions, the intellect and the will); 6. The passive purifications (night of the senses and of the spirit). Book II: Positive aspect of the Christian life: The basic means of perfection. 1. The sacraments (Penance, Eucharist, Mass…); 2. The infused virtues and the gifts of the Spirit (faith, hope and charity - understanding, knowledge, fear, wisdom, counsel, piety, fortitude, gift of fear and virtue of temperance…); 3. The life of prayer (degrees: vocal, meditation, affective prayer, of simplicity, contemplative prayer of infused recollection, prayer of quiet, of union, ecstatic union or spiritual espousals, transforming union or spiritual marriage); 4. Internal secondary means (understanding and will); 5. External secondary means (reading, friendships, spiritual direction - discernment of the spirits). Part IV: Extraordinary mystical phenomena. 1. The causes of extraordinary phenomena (grace, imagination, sickness, the diabolic); 2. The phenomena in particular (visions, locutions, revelations, discretion of the spirits, hierognosis, fire darts of love, stigmata, tears of sweat and blood, renewal or change of hearts, starvation or absolute fasting, wakefulness or prolonged privation of sleep, agility, bilocation, levitation, luminous rays, fragrant odors).
5 Reflection or habitual recollection is an effective means of perfection. It is a continual praying in accordance with what our Lord said: “Oportet semper orare et non deficere” [the need to pray always and not lose heart (Lk 18:1)]; the same thing is confirmed and counselled by Saint Paul through example: “Sine intermissione orate… Memoriam vestri facientes in orationibus nostris sine intermissione” [Pray constantly… We constantly mention you in our prayers (1 Thess 5:17; cf. 1:2)]. But how can we pray continually and at the same time attend to the duties of our state? Is not this impossible? There is no difficulty, for to succeed we need: 1) to put into practice our exercises of piety; 2) to transform our everyday actions into prayer. Habitual recollection prepares our union and also our transformation in God: a conversing with God, each day ever more intimate and affectionate, which goes on during the course of the day, even in the midst of our occupations. (Author's note, in the printed text.)