St. Francis goes on to give some specific advice about dealing with dryness in prayer, and then spells out formulas for brief sessions of morning and evening prayer. Morning prayer has you looking at the details of your spiritual life, not just the generalities:
Anticipate the various opportunities you will have during the day to serve God, as well as the temptations you may encounter, for example, temptations to anger, vanity, lack of restraint, and so on. Then resolve (a) to make good use of the opportunities to advance in the love of God and (b) to resist and avoid anything contrary to the good of your soul and God's glory, determining also how you will put this into practice. For example, if you anticipate a discussion with some hot-tempered person, resolve not to offend him but also choose beforehand what you will say, avoiding any words which might annoy him, or arrange for someone else to be present to ensure that he keeps his temper.
Evening prayer has some advice for making a brief examination of conscience. These are, of course, basic and essential instructions for beginners. A little more fresh and interesting, I thought, was this advice in 2-12, "Spiritual Recollections."
As the birds have nests in the trees to which they may fly for rest, and as the deer have their bushes and thickets in which to hide and shelter themselves and enjoy the coolness of the shade in summer, so, Philothea, our hearts should seek out some place every day either on Mount Calvary or in the wounds of our Lord or in some other place near him, to which we may retire occasionally for rest and peace and forget our exterior occupations, and defend ourselves against temptation as in a castle....Remember to retire often then, Philothea, into the solitude of your heart while you are outwardly engaged in work or with others. This spiritual solitude can be preserved no matter how many people there are about you, for they are only about your body and not about your heart, which can remain all alone with God...
In any case our work is rarely so serious that we cannot now and then stand aside from it and enter this place of divine solitude.
I like the idea of having a "place" to retire in meditation, a favorite mystery to place oneself in over and over as one needs it. I would think that the habit of always going to the same place (rather than casting about each time for a new meditation) would make it easy, with practice, to go there quickly and with hardly any thought.
I too like the idea of a favorite place to retire in meditation. Just not sure how to go about choosing one. Or does one choose you, so to speak?
Posted by: MelanieB | 06 August 2010 at 02:17 PM