Part 2, Chapter 8
Okay, I thought this chapter was excellent, but it also felt like random thoughts. So I will change the order a little because it would make more sense to me in doing that.
“When the Holy Spirit gives you those affections at once, it is unnecessary to use the machinery that was intended to bring about the same result” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 46). There are many things that we do to help foster our prayer life. These are done to help us to have a devout life. Many of these things are done to help prepare us for deep prayer, but if we immediately enter into deep prayer before we have gone through our routine of things to help us get there, we shouldn’t feel guilty like we have to do those things anything more. We are there, God is gracing us, and all we need to do now is receive His gift. Sometimes this happens and we think, well when this is done, I will go back and do my normal starting stuff. This is not what should happen, if God brings us deep into prayer, just receive it!
At the end of our prayer time, spending sometime in a colloquy with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, as well as our Blessed Mother and any Saint that we are feeling particularly close to that day is a great gift. What is a colloquy? It is a conversation with them where we talk about our resolutions, what happened during the prayer, and anything else that pops into our heads at this point. It doesn’t take long, approximately 3 to 5 minutes. I say an “Our Father” and then proceed to the colloquy. I have had at times very dry prayer up until this point and then the Lord allows me to drink deeply of what He wants to give at this moment. This is a great step and it helps us to finish the meditation time.
It may be good as St. Francis De Sales suggests having a few minutes of transition from prayer into activity. Take a little longer with the silence and transition into what needs to be done. Take this gradually because it will help us to retain what God has done during our time of meditation. This will help us to take our resolutions and live them throughout the day.