#vocalprayer — Public Fediverse posts

Quote of the day, 11 March: St. Teresa of Avila

Now, then, let us speak again to those souls I mentioned that cannot recollect or tie their minds down in mental prayer or engage in reflection. Let’s not mention here by name these two things, since you are not meant to follow such a path. As a matter of fact there are many persons seemingly terrified by the mere term “mental prayer” or “contemplation,” and perhaps one of these might come to this house, for as I have also said not everyone walks by the same path.

Well what I now want to counsel you about (I can even say teach you, because as a Mother, having the office of prioress, I’m allowed to teach) is how you must pray vocally, for it’s only right that you should understand what you’re saying.

And because it can happen that those who are unable to think about God may also find long prayers tiring, I don’t want to concern myself with these. But I will speak of those prayers we are obliged as Christians to recite (such as, the Our Father and the Hail Mary) so that people won’t be able to say of us that we speak and don’t understand what we’re speaking about—unless we think it is enough for us to follow the practice in which merely pronouncing the words is sufficient. I’m not concerned with whether this is sufficient or not; learned men will explain [the matter to those persons to whom God gives light to ask the question. And I’m not meddling with what doesn’t belong to our state.]

What I would like us to do, daughters, is refuse to be satisfied with merely pronouncing the words. For when I say, “I believe,” it seems to me right that I should know and understand what I believe.

And when I say, “Our Father,” it will be an act of love to understand who this Father of ours is and who the Master is who taught us this prayer.

What we ourselves can do is to strive to be alone; and please God it will suffice, as I say, that we understand to whom we are speaking and the answer the Lord makes to our petitions. Do you think He is silent? Even though we do not hear Him, He speaks well to the heart when we beseech Him from the heart.

And it is good for us to consider that He taught this prayer to each of us and that He is showing it to us; the teacher is never so far from his pupil that he has to shout, but he is very close. I want you to understand that it is good for you, if you are to recite the Our Father well, to remain at the side of the Master who taught this prayer to you.

Saint Teresa of Avila

The Way of Perfection, chap. 24, nos. 1–2, 5

Teresa of Avila, St. 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K; Rodriguez, O, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Jude Beck / Unsplash (Stock photo)

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