Consecration Aids: 9: Improve Your Conversations!
Fr. Christopher Lee, SMM
W hat would you think of a fellow who persistently tried to speak a language he didn’t know the first thing about? – Stupid? Well, it’s not very flattering to admit but that’s precisely what you would have thought of this writer – until his recent True Devotion discovery.
You may be different, but I often find it quite difficult to converse with God for, let’s say, a half hour at a clip. Of course, I’m speaking of ordinary conversation. I don’t mean those days when I’m frantically in need of something, because then there is no end to my prattle. I reckon you know this already without my telling you.
But, to get down on my knees – as I do every morning – to prepare for a short half-hour’s meditation, that I find difficult to do. And yet, I wouldn’t give this practice up for anything in the world because I know the importance of mental prayer and meditation in the life of a Slave of Mary.
I have often wondered why I find it so hard to converse with God. It isn’t that I haven’t read any good books on meditation. I have perhaps read the best. In none of them, however, have I found a fully satisfactory solution to my own problem. And, until a few days ago – when I discovered another gem in my True Devotion – I literally floundered through my daily meditations. But, more of this discovery later.
First I thought it was because I wasn’t sufficiently conscious or mentally alert, this early in the morning, to meditate on things spiritual and serious. Yet I had to admit that, as most spiritual writers point out, this is perhaps the most favorable time for meditation since my mind is not yet harassed with the cares and problems of a closing day. Then it occurred to me that it might be because I’m too worldly. You can say that again, my conscience bellowed. Listen, I didn’t have to tell you this, either; you knew it already. Well, anyway, I did set up a sort of Kefauver Committee within myself and for the longest time (in closed hearings of course) I proceeded to ferret out, to the best of my ability, this enemy of my soul – the SPIRIT OF THE WORLD.
But I soon realized that this was but, the negative side to the solution; and although it did help me considerably in improving my conversations with God, I felt there was still something lacking. Could it be that I didn’t love God enough? – I feared there might be something to that. Matter of fact, I never find it difficult to think of, or to converse with those I love and care for. Still I do love God, I told myself. I do want to love and serve Him better day after day. I do make serious efforts to prove my love for Him every day.
Author: Fr. Christopher Lee, SMM
This is the ninth in a series of articles covering Consecration Aids.
No longer do I dare approach God by myself, relying on my own merits and powers of speech.
Why, then, do I find it so difficult to speak with Him? To think of Him? To tell Him I love Him? The answer came to me, not ‘‘long ago, when I was reading my True Devotion. Here is what I read: ”Be persuaded , then, that the more you look at Mary in your prayers, contemplations, actions and sufferings, if not with a distinct and definite view, at least with a general and imperceptible one, the more perfectly you will find Jesus Christ, Who is always with Mary … as a saint has said: ’No one can be filled with the thought of God except by her.’ ” (True Devotion No. 165 )
These last words literally struck me between the eyes! ”No one can be filled with the thought of God except by her!” And here I was trying to fill myself with the thought of God without Mary! Here I was trying to meditate on, to converse with God, without Mary! In other words, I was trying to speak a language I didn’t know … a language only Mary knows perfectly! … I was trying to have thoughts only Mary could give me – since she alone is the Mediatrix of all the graces Christ gives to us!
No wonder I found it difficult to meditate properly! It’s a wonder I could even meditate at all! I was Attempting something practically impossible – to find grace without Mary!
Needless to tell you, I have learned my lesson since. No longer do I dare approach God by myself, relying on my own merits and powers of speech. My whole trust is now in Mary. And she is teaching me, day by day, in her own motherly way, to speak to her divine Son.
In the meantime, I’m putting into practice my True Devotion and I try to do what St. Louis de Montfort tells us to do in Holy Communion … I think it’s a perfect prelude to one’s meditation. If you care to try it, here is the recipe: ” . you will sit like a slave at the gate of the King’s palace, where He is speaking with the Queen: and while they talk to each other without need of you, you will go in spirit to heaven and over all the earth, praying all creatures to thank, adore and love Jesus and Mary in your place: ’Come, let as adore.’ ” (T.D. No. 271)
Don’t you think a fellow can learn a lot by listening?
