Mental Prayer in the Theresian Method

Mental prayer is indispensable to the spiritual life; normally it is, so to speak, its very breath. However, this spontaneity in prayer is usually realized only if the soul applies itself to meditation for some time by its own personal effort. In other words, one must learn how to pray. It is to teach souls this devout practice that various meditation books have been published. There are many methods, each with its own merit; among them is the Teresian method, so called because it is based on the teachings of St. Teresa of Jesus, the Foundress of the Discalced Carmelites and the great mistress of the spiritual life.

Some years ago, we outlined this method in a pamphlet called the Little Catechism of Prayer ¹, which has since been translated into many European languages and into some of the Asiatic tongues. It is a simple exposition of the Teresian method according to the writings of many Carmelite authors; its widespread circulation shows very clearly that this method answers the needs and the desires of many prayerful souls. Hence we judged it timely to offer souls aspiring to advance in the interior life, a collection of subjects for meditation for each day of the year, according to the Teresian idea and method of mental prayer.

The idea of mental prayer which St. Teresa has left us is well known in our day. In her Autobiography she defines it as "friendly intercourse and frequent solitary converse with Him who we know loves us" (Life, 8).

In these words St. Teresa reveals the affective spirit of mental prayer which is its special characteristic. It is "friendly intercourse" and exchange of "mutual benevolence” between the soul and God, during which the soul "converses intimately" with God—intimacy, as we know, is the fruit of love — and the soul speaks with Him whose love she knows. Each element of the definition contains the idea of love, but at the end the Saint mentions that the soul ought also to "know" and be conscious of God’s love for her : this is the part which the intellect plays in prayer. Therefore, according to St. Teresa, there is an exercise of both the intellect and the will in mental prayer : the intellect seeks to convince the soul that God loves her and wishes to be loved by her; the will, responding to the divine invitation, loves. That is all. There could be no clearer concept of prayer. But how translate it into practice? This is the task of the method.

In these words St. Teresa reveals the affective spirit of mental prayer which is its special characteristic. It is "friendly intercourse" and exchange of "mutual benevolence” between the soul and God, during which the soul "converses intimately" with God—intimacy, as we know, is the fruit of love—and the soul speaks with Him whose love she knows. Each element of the definition contains the idea of love, but at the end the Saint mentions that the soul ought also to "know" and be conscious of God’s love for her : this is the part which the intellect plays in prayer. Therefore, according to St. Teresa, there is an exercise of both the intellect and the will in mental prayer : the intellect seeks to convince the soul that God loves her and wishes to be loved by her; the will, responding to the divine invitation, loves. That is all. There could be no clearer concept of prayer. But how translate it into practice? This is the task of the method.

Footnotes:

1. Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, o.c.d., Little Catechism of Prayer, translated by the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Concord, New Hampshire, 1949. ↩