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As a cradle Catholic, I can’t really begin to tell you when mental prayer became important in my life. Prayer, in general, was just something I did during Mass, before and after meals, and sometimes when I needed help with a big test coming up (that I really didn’t study for).
My prayer life is no different, yet I know that I am longing for something more. Something that mental prayer can give me, almost every time I take steps to make it happen.
When I don’t take time to engage in mental prayer, I become easily angered. I often become bitter and resentful. Then I wallow in self-pity and loneliness as if no one cares about me. Is that who I want to be? Not at all.
That’s where the mental prayer process came in.
I will admit it took me far too long to realize the power and peace that comes from practicing daily mental prayer.
I still struggle with consistency and quality of it at times. But that is human, I think.
Disclaimer: I am not an expert on Mental Prayer, as I am still learning how to do it every day. But I would love to share with you how it has affected my life and my prayer time.
The Mental Prayer Process
You may not have heard of mental prayer at all, and that’s okay. There are spoken prayers, and sung prayers, but mental prayer involves connecting to a text of the Bible or spiritual reading while responding and listening to God.
As I have talked about before, I believe that listening to God and spending quiet time with Him is one thing that many of us forget to do. We always have something else to get to, and we forget the last and most important part of our prayer time.
How is God speaking to us? Are we able to listen to him? How can we turn our thoughts and hearts to do something meaningful and beautiful with our prayer time?
Enter the mental prayer process.
The mental prayer process generally consists of three different steps:
- Preparation
- Meditation
- Conclusion
There are also a few different version of mental prayer processes, but here are a few that are simple and powerful.
Roman Catholic Man’s Guide to Mental Prayer from St. Alphonsus Liguori
The Practice of mental Prayer from the Catholicism website. This whole talk is worth sitting down and reading prayerfully!
An explanation of how St. Teresa of Avila used her prayer time.
Also, I did a quick search on YouTube videos if you are the type of person that needs to watch and hear something. YouTube Videos on Mental Prayer here!
While there are many types of mental prayer processes, many of them focus on contemplation and meditating on a small part of something.
That something could be:
- A sacred piece of art
- Spiritual book
- The Bible
- Gospel reading
- Prayers and Songs
- A prayer
- The Rosary
These are the most popular, though I suppose you could meditate on anything with a spiritual quality and nature.
What do the Saints Know About Mental Prayer?
A lot, as it turns out. They practically lived and breathed the beauty of mental prayer. Hence, I believe, the reason they are all saints. They found the time to spend that meditative practice in communion with God, and became so much like Him that they became Holy.
We could do well to follow in their footsteps. Just to put my point home, here are a few quotes about mental prayer from saints.
“Mental prayer is nothing else but being on terms of friendship with God, frequently conversing in secret with Him.”
-St. Theresa of Avila
(source)
However, St. Theresa also has this to say about it…
” He who neglects mental prayer needs not a devil to carry him to hell, but he brings himself there with his own hands.”
(source)
Wow. Okay. Let’s see what some other saints have to weigh in…
“Consider that the time of pruning is at hand if the time of meditation has gone before. For [says the Saint in another place] meditation regulates the affections, directs the actions, and corrects defects.”
-St. Bernard (source)
“He who does not practice mental prayer deprives himself of the bond that unites the soul with God; hence, finding her alone, the devil will easily make her his own.”
-St. Catherine of Bologna (source)
Okay, I am going to give you one more!
“By the efficacy of mental prayer, temptation is banished, sadness is driven away, lost virtue is restored, fervor which has grown cold is excited, and the lovely flame of Divine love is augmented.”
-St. Laurence Justinian (source)
I would highly recommend reading this article on Our Catholic Prayers. It gives you much food for thought concerning mental prayer and why it is essential for the Christian life.
Now that you know the why and the necessity of it, I’ll tell you a bit about my experience.
How I Do Mental Prayer
I am one of those people who struggles to get up in the morning, and struggles to get to bed at a good time.
The few hours that I get during the day alone are usually riddled with other things to do, like blog work or chores or preparing meals and food for our family. (am I the only one who’s kids eat ALL the TIME?)
The method that was introduced to me was the St. Theresa of Avila meditation. Her process is the four R’s.
- Read – usually read a good spiritual meditation book, the Bible, daily readings, etc
- Reflect – I stop when something hits me. Then take time to slowly go over that word of phrase, think on it, and go to the next step.
- Relate – I find the relation from what hit me to Jesus, allowing spontaneous conversation and internal thoughts to happen.
- Resolution – I then apply the grace from my meditation to something concrete that I can change in my life. Or, I take the word that stuck out to me and use it as an inspiration or them for the next day or the day.
If nothing strikes me at first, I read it again slowly or ask the Holy Spirit for new insight.
Currently, I try to do my mental prayer after the kids are in bed, or before bed, then apply my concrete resolution to the next day.
My Favorites During Mental Prayer
I didn’t really know about praying this way until I started seeing a spiritual mentor for my prayer life and spiritual priority list. Imagine my surprise when I was introduced to a deeper way of praying.
Imagine my delight when I actually loved it! And really benefitted from it, too. But it is clear that the saints had this practice down, that is my goal (someday!).
This section I will outline some of my favorite things to meditate on. These work well for me, but they may not jive with you, so you will have to find the things that you like to do.
Favorite Prayers
The Litany of Humility – This is extremely hard to say, it humbles you almost instantly. However, I find that it calls out my faults and prides pretty quickly, giving me a great place to start meditating on what God wants me to change in my selfish life.
The Litany of Trust – The first time I read this, I was almost moved to tears. I realized how I wasn’t being trustful at all. In a world where independence and self-reliability is king, this prayer gives you a glance of the peaceful and beautiful reality that God truly wants for you.
Novenas (of any kind, really!) – Head on over to Pray More Novenas. I love these for any time, but especially for special intentions. I recently have done the Novena of Surrender to Jesus, which was excellent and inspired me to make a printable (of course!)
Holy Spirit, I love you, I invite you, I expect you! – I gleaned this powerful little prayer on a retreat one weekend. I’m not sure where it came from or who made it up, but it can be a powerful prayer to really meditate on. Do I really expect the Holy Spirit to show up in my life? How can I invite Him into my day-to-day?
Jesus, I Trust in You – The words given to us by the Lord himself through St. Faustina have extreme promise and hope in them. When I get scared at night in a storm or something goes crazy awry in my life, I repeat this phrase over and over. It brings comfort and allows me to place my life in his hands, no matter what.
My favorite books to read
Searching for and Maintaining Peace – anything by Fr. Jacques Philippe will work actually, but this book in particular has challenged me in ways I never thought possible. It brings to light ways I should be living but aren’t, how I should really trust God, and how to give up worrying about things that are out of my control?
The Flame of Love – I will warn you, this is an intense book. It records the meditations and visions of Elizabeth Kindle, who went through many struggles and triumphs in her prayer life. But a good read for meditating on the spiritual life and warfare that comes with it.
St. John Paul the Great – I thought I knew a lot about Pope John Paul II. This books taught me how amazing of a man and servant to God he was, and it is a great entertaining and contemplative read.
Rediscover Catholicism – It has been a while since I read this one, but I always get inspiration and practicality from Matthew Kelly’s books, and this one is no different. All the books from Dynamic Catholic are phenomenal!
If you would like some more recommendations on great spiritual books I have read, you can go to my Faith page, where I give you a lot of books that have been my favorites!
Related posts:
10 Reasons Saying a Rosary Can Change Your Life
The One Mistake You are Making When You Pray
Create a Catholic Morning Prayer Routine
3 Catholic Ways to Combat Loneliness
How to Practice Stewardship in Your Life
50+ of the Best Articles Written by Catholics
Why Mental Prayer is Life-Changing
You are going to hear the Gospel again and again in Mass, but how many opportunities do you have to fully embrace and take those words to something concrete? How many times will you meet the Lord in your own quiet space?
No matter how many people you pray for, what situations or problems are plaguing you, prayer can be used for anything! It is so versatile!
And the real beauty of mental prayer?
Prayer doesn’t always change those situations or those relationships or that job or whatever you usually petition. Prayer changes you.
The more I can enter into the process of mental prayer and in love and relationship with Christ, the more I am changed. I can become like him. I can become a mirror that brightly reflects the glory of the Lord.
The long days become bearable and even joyful at times. Chores seem trivial and not bothersome. The work that I want to do is put off until the right time. The drama that confronts me on social media seems so small. My goal of heaven becomes more real.
How am I going to get there? By praying, and mental prayer is one very very powerful way of connecting to God.
Do you use mental prayer? If you need a system to help create a routine, you can use my free Create a Catholic Prayer Routine Workbook!
Thanks and Blessings!