Some very useful directions concerning meditation.
Above all, Philothea, when you come forth from your prayer, you must hold fast to the resolutions you have made, so that you may carefully put them into practice when occasion offers during the course of the day. Remember that the great fruit of meditation is to lead us to perform acts of virtue; without this, the exercise becomes useless, and often even dangerous. The speculative consideration of virtues, when separated from practice, may so puff up our mind and heart as to make us believe that we are already what we have resolved to be; but we are so in truth only when our resolutions are strong and effective. Whenever they are weak, they are vain; and because they are without effect, they are dangerous. We must therefore strive by every possible means to put them into practice, and to seek occasions for doing so, whether great or small. For example, if I have resolved to win the hearts of those who offend me by gentleness, I will seek that day to meet them, so that I may greet them graciously; and if I cannot meet them, I will at least try to speak of them as well as possible, and I will pray to God for them.
Above all, Philothea, when you come forth from your prayer, you must hold fast to the resolutions you have made, so that you may carefully put them into practice when occasion offers during the course of the day. Remember that the great fruit of meditation is to lead us to perform acts of virtue; without this, the exercise becomes useless, and often even dangerous. The speculative consideration of virtues, when separated from practice, may so puff up our mind and heart as to make us believe that we are already what we have resolved to be; but we are so in truth only when our resolutions are strong and effective. Whenever they are weak, they are vain; and because they are without effect, they are dangerous. We must therefore strive by every possible means to put them into practice, and to seek occasions for doing so, whether great or small. For example, if I have resolved to win the hearts of those who offend me by gentleness, I will seek that day to meet them, so that I may greet them graciously; and if I cannot meet them, I will at least try to speak of them as well as possible, and I will pray to God for them.
On coming forth from prayer, you must take care not to give your heart a sudden jolt, for you would spill the balm you received in prayer; I mean that, if possible, you must keep a little silence still, and move your heart very gently, to lead it from prayer to business, preserving, as far as you can, the sentiments and affections you conceived. A man who had received in a beautiful porcelain vase some precious liquor, to carry it to his home, would walk very gently, looking neither to the right nor to the left, but sometimes before him, for fear of striking against some stone and stumbling, and sometimes at his vase, to see whether it were tilting too much; you must do the same on coming forth from meditation: do not distract yourself all at once, but look simply before you. If you meet someone whom you are obliged to speak with or listen to, there is no remedy; you must needs pass that way; but then do so in such a manner that you also keep watch over your heart, so that the liquor of holy prayer spill as little as possible.
You must even accustom yourself to pass from prayer to all the duties that your vocation and state require of you, although they may seem very far removed from the affections you received in prayer. Thus, a lawyer must know how to pass from prayer to pleading, a merchant to his business, a married woman to the duties of her marriage and the bustle of the household; and all this with such gentleness and tranquillity that the mind be not in the least disturbed thereby; for, since both are equally the will of God, you must pass from one to the other with a great spirit of humility and devotion.
You must even accustom yourself to pass from prayer to all the duties that your vocation and state require of you, although they may seem very far removed from the affections you received in prayer. Thus, a lawyer must know how to pass from prayer to pleading, a merchant to his business, a married woman to the duties of her marriage and the bustle of the household; and all this with such gentleness and tranquillity that the mind be not in the least disturbed thereby; for, since both are equally the will of God, you must pass from one to the other with a great spirit of humility and devotion.
Know yet further, that it will sometimes happen to you that, immediately after the preparation, your affection will be wholly moved in God: then, Philothea, you must give it free rein, without seeking to follow the method I have given you; for although ordinarily consideration ought to precede affections and resolutions, yet if the Holy Spirit should give you the affections before the considerations, you must not seek the considerations, since these are made only to move the affections. Thus, whenever the affections present themselves to you, you must receive them and make room for them, whether they precede or follow the considerations; and although I have placed the affections after all the considerations, I have done so only to distinguish the parts of prayer more clearly; for, as a general rule, the affections must never be restrained, but allowed free course as soon as they present themselves. What I say here of the affections, I say also of thanksgiving, offering, and prayer, which may be made among the considerations, when you feel moved thereto; for they must be restrained no more than the other affections, except that afterwards you may take them up again and repeat them to conclude the meditation. As for resolutions, these must be made after the affections and before the conclusion. For since this requires us to set before ourselves particular and familiar objects, it would open the way to distractions to make resolutions during the time devoted to the affections.
As for the affections and resolutions of which I have just spoken, it is well to make them in the form of a colloquy, addressing oneself now to Our Lord, now to the angels, or to those who had a part in the mystery meditated upon, to the saints, to oneself, to one’s own heart, to sinners, and even to insensible creatures, as we see David doing in his psalms, and other saints in their meditations and prayers.