Of the practical utility of "methods" there can be no doubt whatever; but it is always useful to go back to the teachings of the desert-that a man has no other purpose in this life except to fix his spirit upon his God. It is not in itself a sin if he fails to make any considerable success in this great undertaking, but the better he succeeds the more perfect he is. Meanwhile he may, and must, make use of means, instruments, and "methods," but must never mistake the means or the method for the end itself. Almost the only direction which St. Benedict gives in regard to mental prayer-oratio, as he calls it, in distinction to psalmodia-is that it should be "short and pure"-brevis et pura. Here, again, he follows Cassian. What is meant by "pure" prayer is explained in the third chapter of the ninth Conference. "Pure" prayer in that chapter is the prayer of a soul that is neither under the dominion of passions and lusts, nor habitually distracted with earthly solicitudes. No one can hope to attain to genuine and constant prayer unless he has subdued his nature, his self-love, and his pride. For "pure" prayer is prayer made with all the force of the purified heart. When St. Benedict goes on to say that prayer should be short, he is again referring to the teachings of the Conferences. The ancient Fathers recommended short forms and short spells. They found a pattern for all Christian prayer in the Our Father. It was in the ardent and fervent utterance of its petitions, and in the use of the innumerable pregnant elevations of Holy Scripture, that they found the shortest and most effective way to intimate communion with God. Prayer, moreover, was not to be kept too long at its highest point of intensity. For beginners, and proportionately for all, it was advisable not to strain Nature too severely. We read, indeed, that not a few of the monks of the desert, in their ardour, and, we may say, with that indiscretion which was sometimes found among them, would prolong the effort of prayer till exhausted nature broke down, and fervour gave way to discouragement and disgust. St. Benedict recognized that no general rule could be given for the length of each individual monk's strenuous prayer; the inspiration of the Holy Spirit was to be the guide. But we cannot be wrong in supposing that he would not have considered two half-hours daily, or, indeed, two hours, to be more than discretion would allow. 66 There is a phrase in the twentieth chapter of the Rule which has sometimes been misunderstood. The holy legislator goes on to say that "in the assembly "—that is, when the community are making prayer in common- prayer should never be prolonged "-omnino brevietur. This direction does not refer, as has already been implied, to what we now know as the "meditation" made by the whole of the monks together. We are told that the monks of the earliest times were accustomed at the end of each psalm of the Office to fall prostrate for a period of silent prayer. This custom survives in the collect, or oratio, which is said by the priest at the end of each canonical hour. Perhaps also, at the termination of each Office, this secret prayer was usually more distinctly prolonged. It is easy to see how an indiscreet fervour might lead the presiding Superior to lengthen out this feature of the common Office, and it is against this that St. Benedict here lays down a rule. No book that is offered as an aid to mental prayer can be expected to be useful to all persons and at all times. But there will be many, especially among those who wear the habit of St. Benedict, who will be assisted at some period of their spiritual experience by the reflections and pious acts of which this book is made up. It seems to suggest most efficiently the true relation of meditation or consideration to what the Ven. Father Baker calls "affectuous actuation "-a relation which is insisted upon in all the text-books, but which is much more readily taken in when, as in these pages, it is shown by example. J. C. H. |