Oct 25 2008
Meditation — Its Main Aim
From Great Means of Salvation and of Perfection by St. Alphonsus Liguori.
We must meditate in order to unit ourselves more completely to God. It is not so much good thoughts in the intellect as good acts of the will, or holy desires, that unite us to God; and such are the acts we perform in meditation — acts of humility, confidence, self-sacrifice, resignation and, especially, love, and repentance for our sins. Acts of love, says St. Teresa [of Avila], are those that keep the soul inflamed with holy love.
But the perfection of this love consists in making our will one with that of God . . . St. Teresa always says, “All that he who exercises himself in prayer should aim at is to conform himself to the divine will, and he may be assured that in this consists the highest perfection; he who best practices this will receive the greatest gifts from God and will make the greatest progress in the interior life.”
We must meditate in order to obtain from God the graces that are necessary to advance in the way of salvation, and especially to avoid sin, and to use the means which will lead us to perfection.
The best fruit which comes from meditation is the exercise of prayer. Almighty God, ordinarily speaking, does not give grace to any but those who pray.
A few comments.
1. The “holy desires” and “acts we perform in meditation” are technical phrases that mean “prayer.” It works like this. Suppose we are meditating on the Annunciation — when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would have a son. That episode in the life of Christ is a spiritual feast; it can feed our souls in many ways. Suppose we hone in on the words of Gabriel: “For with God nothing will be impossible.” Meditating on these words will lead us to all sorts of ideas — ideas that we need to express in prayer. Perhaps we are convicted that we don’t pray and act as if nothing is impossible for God. We take that conviction and turn it into prayer: “Lord, give me confidence in you.”
2. People often think that pray is nothing more than asking God to help us in different ways. But as St. Alphonsus reminds us, the ultimate goal of prayer is to unite our wills to God’s will. This is why the best sources for meditation are the Gospels. By meditating on the life of Christ, holy desires are formed into us, and we begin to pray to be more like Christ.
3. If we want grace, we must pray. This may sound quaint, but it is not. We need grace to avoid sin. We need grace to imitate Christ. We need grace to advance in holiness. We need grace to persevere to the end; this is called the grace of final perseverance — the grace necessary to remain true to God during the last moments of life. As Fr. John Hardon often said: Those who do not pray will not be saved.
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A simple concept that has stuck with me since I was a teenager was said by Thomas Merton in one of his books: ”If you want a life of prayer, the way to get it is by praying.”I remember this because I had been doing so much reading ABOUT prayer trying to figure out what I should be doing…. when all I really needed to do was PRAY!
Hi Dan,
I agree with the essence of what Merton says. It’s very easy to get caught up in reading about prayer than in spending time in actual prayer.
However, sometimes we need some help — particularly if we think prayer is only about asking God for things. Prayers of petition are indeed prayer, but they’re not the only kind of prayer.
PS — You were thinking about these things as a teenager? I’m impressed.