Meditation & Mental Prayer: Catholics Talking To God.

For Meditation & Mental Prayer Journals go to:
https://meditationjournals.com/
There is an offer of a free meditation journal to download.

The Gospel of John chapter II 1-11
And the third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the mother of Jesus was there.
And Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to the marriage.
And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine.
And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come.
His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye.
Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three measures apiece.
Jesus saith to them: Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
And Jesus saith to them: Draw out now, and carry to the chief steward of the feast. And they carried it.
And when the chief steward had tasted the water made wine, and knew not whence it was, but the waiters knew who had drawn the water; the chief steward calleth the bridegroom,
And saith to him: Every man at first setteth forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse. But thou hast kept the good wine until now.
This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee; and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
After this he went down to Capharnaum, he and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they remained there not many days …

The Ignatian seven steps in doing mental prayer

1.  PREPARATION
The preparation is simply the intention and action of putting ourselves in the Presence of God.
Using thoughts of Him and about Him.

2.  READING 
In order to convince ourselves that God loves us it is best to choose a piece of scripture.
The saints advise us that It is best to begin with the Passion and Death of Christ. 

3.  REFLECTING ON WHAT WE READ
Now reflect deeply what you are reading.  

4 COLLOQUY : It is a descendant of Latin loqui, meaning "to speak."  a high-level serious discussion : conference
The colloquy is the part of Mental Prayer where we tell God how much we love Him.  It is important to be spontaneous.  Important to allow your emotions to flow toward God.  

You can after finishing this conversation of love finish here and carrying on seamlessly into your everyday life.

That is if you have taken some time aside in your busy schedule to be with God awhile.

On the other hand if this is your important morning meditation it is best to follow Three more steps.

5.  THANKSGIVING RESOLUTION
Because God love you so much and you love Him you want to show your thanks by pleasing Him.  What better way to please Him than following His Will. Carrying out His instructions in the gospel.

We do our best to become perfect,  promising Him to work with His grace eradicating sin from our lives.

6. OFFERING
Making a good resolution to amend our lives. 

7. PETITION
WE IMPLORE GOD’S HELP
we ask for God to give us grace to necessary to do His will. 

For Meditation & Mental Prayer Journals go to:
https://meditationjournals.com/
There is an offer of a free meditation journal to download.

The Gospel of John chapter II 1-11
And the third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the mother of Jesus was there.
And Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to the marriage.
And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine.
And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come.
His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye.
Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three measures apiece.
Jesus saith to them: Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
And Jesus saith to them: Draw out now, and carry to the chief steward of the feast. And they carried it.
And when the chief steward had tasted the water made wine, and knew not whence it was, but the waiters knew who had drawn the water; the chief steward calleth the bridegroom,
And saith to him: Every man at first setteth forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse. But thou hast kept the good wine until now.
This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee; and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
After this he went down to Capharnaum, he and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they remained there not many days …

The Ignatian seven steps in doing mental prayer

1.  PREPARATION
The preparation is simply the intention and action of putting ourselves in the Presence of God.
Using thoughts of Him and about Him.

2.  READING 
In order to convince ourselves that God loves us it is best to choose a piece of scripture.
The saints advise us that It is best to begin with the Passion and Death of Christ. 

3.  REFLECTING ON WHAT WE READ
Now reflect deeply what you are reading.  

4 COLLOQUY : It is a descendant of Latin loqui, meaning "to speak."  a high-level serious discussion : conference
The colloquy is the part of Mental Prayer where we tell God how much we love Him.  It is important to be spontaneous.  Important to allow your emotions to flow toward God.  

You can after finishing this conversation of love finish here and carrying on seamlessly into your everyday life.

That is if you have taken some time aside in your busy schedule to be with God awhile.

On the other hand if this is your important morning meditation it is best to follow Three more steps.

5.  THANKSGIVING RESOLUTION
Because God love you so much and you love Him you want to show your thanks by pleasing Him.  What better way to please Him than following His Will. Carrying out His instructions in the gospel.

We do our best to become perfect,  promising Him to work with His grace eradicating sin from our lives.

6. OFFERING
Making a good resolution to amend our lives. 

7. PETITION
WE IMPLORE GOD’S HELP
we ask for God to give us grace to necessary to do His will. 

At first thought meditating on your inevitable death might seem morbid, negative or unnecessary but all the saints did it.  Thomas a Kempis in the Imitation of Christ has a chapter on meditating on our death. 
 
The aim of this mediation is to cut us free from earthly cares that inhibit our loving God and God alone.

We consider how our bodily cares are transient.  St Teresa of Avila says:
"Remember that you have only one soul, that you have only one death to die, that you have only one life,  If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing."

And this is the goal of St Ignatius Loyola in this  meditation and mental prayer, that is to separate us from our attachment to family and friends and worldly paraphernalia.   This is in order to give us total freedom to know, love and serve God freely. 

At first thought meditating on your inevitable death might seem morbid, negative or unnecessary but all the saints did it.  Thomas a Kempis in the Imitation of Christ has a chapter on meditating on our death. 
 
The aim of this mediation is to cut us free from earthly cares that inhibit our loving God and God alone.

We consider how our bodily cares are transient.  St Teresa of Avila says:
"Remember that you have only one soul, that you have only one death to die, that you have only one life,  If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing."

And this is the goal of St Ignatius Loyola in this  meditation and mental prayer, that is to separate us from our attachment to family and friends and worldly paraphernalia.   This is in order to give us total freedom to know, love and serve God freely. 

Why would St Ignatius want us to meditate on Hell?  God does not send anyone to Hell.  When we commit a mortal sin we take the hand of Satan and say, lead me on.  And on we go with him into Hell.  If we are still holding a demon’s hand when we die: he will lead us down into Hell.  Why would that be so difficult to understand.  That’s justice, we have free will to choose and we chose.  St Ignatius wants us to be in no doubt about the horrors of Hell according to scripture so that we will take better care not to go there.

For meditation journals to to meditationjournals.com

Bible verses in this episode:
Phil 2:12
St Luke 16:28
Isaiah 24:22
Job 10:22
Rev(Apoc.) 21:8
Isaias 30:33
St Luke 16:22
2 Peter 2:4
Matt 23:33
Isaish 1:2

Why would St Ignatius want us to meditate on Hell?  God does not send anyone to Hell.  When we commit a mortal sin we take the hand of Satan and say, lead me on.  And on we go with him into Hell.  If we are still holding a demon’s hand when we die: he will lead us down into Hell.  Why would that be so difficult to understand.  That’s justice, we have free will to choose and we chose.  St Ignatius wants us to be in no doubt about the horrors of Hell according to scripture so that we will take better care not to go there.

For meditation journals to to meditationjournals.com

Bible verses in this episode:
Phil 2:12
St Luke 16:28
Isaiah 24:22
Job 10:22
Rev(Apoc.) 21:8
Isaias 30:33
St Luke 16:22
2 Peter 2:4
Matt 23:33
Isaish 1:2

St Ignatius Loyola wants to show us how to become perfect through Meditation and Mental Prayer.  So he begins at the beginning, that is with God and our relationship to Him.  St Ignatius wants us to understand the reality of the grievousness of our sins which are a huge insult to God.
In helping us to understand the magnitude of our offenses, Ignatius shows us the Majesty of the Most High God who as Our Lady described at Fatima, is “…already too much offended.”
To enter into the depth of God in prayer it is necessary to remove the barriers that block our way.  Those barriers are our sins and our faults.  There is no way around them.  They must be removed first.  

St Ignatius Loyola wants to show us how to become perfect through Meditation and Mental Prayer.  So he begins at the beginning, that is with God and our relationship to Him.  St Ignatius wants us to understand the reality of the grievousness of our sins which are a huge insult to God.
In helping us to understand the magnitude of our offenses, Ignatius shows us the Majesty of the Most High God who as Our Lady described at Fatima, is “…already too much offended.”
To enter into the depth of God in prayer it is necessary to remove the barriers that block our way.  Those barriers are our sins and our faults.  There is no way around them.  They must be removed first.  

Bible references in this Episode 10
Ps xviii 5
Gen Chapters 1, 2 & 3
Ecclus 18: 6
Ecclus 18: 3,4
Ecclus  17: 10,11
Ps 8: 67 
Ps 17: 21
Sirach 17: 3,4,10,11,
Matt 12:36
Hebrew 10:31
In this episode we follow the meditation and mental prayer from St Ignatius Loyola's Spiritual Exercises.  Our Paradise Squandered encourages us to ponder on the greatest mistake of all time and to consider our own position before God.   

Bible references in this Episode 10
Ps xviii 5
Gen Chapters 1, 2 & 3
Ecclus 18: 6
Ecclus 18: 3,4
Ecclus  17: 10,11
Ps 8: 67 
Ps 17: 21
Sirach 17: 3,4,10,11,
Matt 12:36
Hebrew 10:31
In this episode we follow the meditation and mental prayer from St Ignatius Loyola's Spiritual Exercises.  Our Paradise Squandered encourages us to ponder on the greatest mistake of all time and to consider our own position before God.