A Short Plan for Meditation
-Concerning the Presence of God-
(St.Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Church, 1567-1622)
You may perhaps not understand how to practice mental
prayer, for unfortunately at the present time it is too much
neglected. I will therefore give you some short and simple
instructions concerning it.
First, I would notice the preparation, which may be divided
into two parts--placing yourself in the presence of God, and
invoking His help. To the first end, placing yourself in the
presence of God, I will give you four chief means, whereby to
begin.
The first consists in a keen and attentive realizing of God's
omnipresence; that He is in all and everywhere: that there is no
place nor thing in the world where He is not; so that, as the
birds, let them fly where they will, always meet the air, so we,
let us go where we will, be where we will, shall always be where
God is. We all know this as an intellectual truth, but we do
not always receive and act upon it.
A blind man does not does not see his sovereign, but if he is
informed of his presence he maintains an attitude of reverence:
yet not seeing the object of respect he easily forgets that it is
present, and so forgetting soon loses his reverence. So with us,
we do not see God, and although faith warns us that He is
present, yet not seeing Him with our own eyes we soon forget it,
and act as though He were afar off. For though as a mere
matter of reasoning we know that He is everywhere, if we do not
think about it, the result is the same as if we did not know it.
For this reason we should always, before we pray, excite our
souls to an attentive recollection of the presence of God. Thus,
David says, "If I ascend into Heaven, Thou art there: If I
descend into Hell, Thou art present" (Psalms 138:8). And so may
we use the words of Jacob, who when he had beheld the holy
ladder of Angels, exclaimed, "How terrible is this place! Indeed
the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not!" (Genesis 28:16-17)
That is, he had not thought about it, for surely he knew that God
was everywhere. When, therefore, you would pray, say to your
heart, and with your whole heart, "Surely God is in this place."
The second means by which you may realize this Sacred
presence, is to remember that not only is God in the place where
you are, but that He is also specially within your heart and
spirit, which He animates and quickens with His divine presence;
the Heart of your heart, the Spirit of your spirit; for just as the
soul animates the whole body, yet above all inhabits the heart, so
God being present everywhere is yet specially present within our
spirit. Therefore David calls God the "God of his heart"(Psalms
72:26), and St. Paul says, that "in Him we live, and move, and
are" (Acts 17:28). This reflection will excite deep reverence within
your heart for that God who is ever so close to you.
The third means is to reflect upon our Saviour, who in His
Humanity looks down from Heaven upon all men, but chiefly on
Christians, who are His children: and still more especially on
those who pray, to whose thoughts and actions He gives careful
heed. Nor is this a mere supposition, but an assured truth: for
although we see Him not, He is ever looking down upon us. The
martyr St. Stephen beheld Him thus; and we may say with the
Bride, "Behold He standeth behind our wall, looking through the
windows, looking through the lattices" (Canticles 2:9).
The fourth means is in imagination to behold the Saviour
in His Sacred Humanity as actually present with us; just as
we do with our friends we love, saying, "I can see him doing or
saying such and such things." But if the Blessed Sacrament be
present, this presence becomes no longer imaginary, but actual;
for hidden under the veil of bread and wine the Saviour is really
present, beholding and watching us, although we can not see His
bodily presence. Before you pray, then, make use of some of
these methods whereby to place your soul in the presence of God,
and do not attempt to use them all at once, but one at a time,
and let what you do be short and simple.
Taken from: An Introduction to the Devout Life (pp 58-61)
Authored by: St. Francis de Sales
Imprimatur: D. Cardinal Dougherty, Archiep. Philadelphia
Published by: www.TanBooks.com
Copyright: Original 1923
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