Transcript Mental Prayer

Mental Prayer
“Prayer is the oxygen of the soul.” – St. Padre Pio
Jesus Prays
Luke 5:12-16.
Short Survey
Please close your eyes and place your
head down on your desk. If you would
answer “yes” to any of the following
questions, raise your hand.
What is prayer?
 For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look
turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love,
embracing both trial and joy. ~ St. Thérèse of Lisieux, (CCC
2558)
 Humility is the foundation of prayer. Only when we humbly
acknowledge that "we do not know how to pray as we
ought,"5 are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer.
(CCC 2559)
 Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of
God's thirst with ours. ~ St. Augustine (CCC 2560)
 Prayer is the response of faith to the free promise of
salvation and also a response of love to the thirst of the
only Son of God. (CCC 2561)
Three Expressions of Prayer
 Vocal Prayer
 Meditation
 Contemplation
Vocal Prayer
 CCC 2722 Vocal
prayer, founded on the
union of body and soul
in human nature,
associates the body
with the interior
prayer of the heart.
 Ex: The Rosary, The
Our Father
Mental Prayer
 2723 Meditation is a prayerful quest engaging thought,
imagination, emotion, and desire. Its goal is to make
our own in faith the subject considered, by confronting
it with the reality of our own life.
 2708 Meditation engages thought, imagination,
emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is
necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith,
prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen
our will to follow Christ.
Contemplation

2724 Contemplative prayer is the
simple expression of the mystery of
prayer. It is a gaze of faith fixed on
Jesus, an attentiveness to the Word
of God, a silent love. It achieves real
union with the prayer of Christ to
the extent that it makes us share in
his mystery.

2709 What is contemplative prayer?
St. Teresa answers: "Contemplative
prayer in my opinion is nothing else
than a close sharing between friends;
it means taking time frequently to be
alone with him who we know loves
us."6 …In this inner prayer we can
still meditate, but our attention is
fixed on the Lord himself.
Mental Prayer as the most
transforming prayer
 Engages the WHOLE person in thought, imagination,
emotion, and desire.
 To meditate on what we read helps us to make it our
own by confronting it with ourselves.
 Opens up the ears of our heart to listening to God.
 Makes us docile to the Spirit in all areas of life.
 Resolution puts our prayer into action.
Response to an Invitation
CCC 2567 God calls man first.
Man may forget his Creator or
hide far from his face; he may
run after idols or accuse the
deity of having abandoned
him; yet the living and true
God tirelessly calls each person
to that mysterious encounter
known as prayer. In prayer, the
faithful God's initiative of love
always comes first; our own
first step is always a response.
Mental Prayer: A Method
1.
Invocation of the Holy Spirit: Once you find a time
and a place, ask the Holy Spirit to come and be with
you in prayer.
2.
Input: Read some spiritual reading, slowly.
3.
Reflection: Think about the passage on two levels:

A. Objective Level: What is the meaning of the passage?

B. Subjective Level: What is the meaning to me?
4.
Listening: Listen for the movements of the Spirit
or the voice of Jesus in your heart.
5.
Resolution: Commit to a concrete action that is doable
in the next 24 hours.
PRS Review
1. What is the first thing that comes to mind when I say “personal prayer”?
2. ________________________ is the foundation of prayer. Only when we
humbly acknowledge that "we do not know how to pray as we ought,"5 are we
ready to receive freely the gift of prayer.
3. Prayer is the ____________________________ to the free promise of
salvation and also a response of love to the thirst of the only Son of God.
4. Three expressions of prayer: Vocal, ______________________,
Contemplation
5. What is the five step method of Mental Prayer we learned today?
6. What does the Mental Prayer Mnemonic Device you made up stand for?
EMLDP
Assignment
 Bring your bible and your prayer card to the chapel.
 Take some time to walk through the steps of mental
prayer with one of the scripture verses on the
invitation/prayer card.
 Follow the steps of mental prayer.