1st, Some speak to God, but hear no answer, like the populace in the street crying to a distant king.
2nd, Others receive some token that they are attended to, like men admitted to an audience and allowed to file a petition.
3rd, Others converse with God and He with them; they hear more than they say, and, like courtiers, can approach their Lord frequently. How is it with us? Are we accustomed to turn to God readily, confidently, lovingly? Some have the gift of prayer before they enter the novitiate, some get it during their early years of religious life and ever increase it, some partly lose it amid active duties, some get it at their ordination, some during their third year of probation, while others never acquire it to any great extent. It can be obtained by earnest petition and fidelity in the practice of devout prayer.
POINT III. What difference does it make in a man? He may be a religious, but not a good one unless he becomes a man of prayer; nor is he safe meanwhile. For one cannot lead the life of a fervent and faithful religious unless he possess considerable command over his passions, and he cannot maintain this self-mastery without much good prayer. Yet he may do so without attaining the third degree of prayer. But when he reaches that, he becomes a different man, a special friend of God, enlightened, strengthened, not impeccable, yet pretty safe; a powerful means for the salvation of souls. Such have been all the models proposed by holy Church for our imitation.
POINT IV. What chance have we Jesuits of becoming men of prayer? An excellent chance. The third degree of prayer is a common gift of God in our Society. It is the obvious tendency of our frequent retreats. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius aim directly to produce this fruit, and the Lord has entrusted the direction of them to our Fathers, whose duty it is to give them to priests and the laity, even to members of the most contemplative Orders. Many of our ascetic writers exhibit this gift in a conspicuous degree. Am I a man of prayer? What can I do to improve in this important matter?
Colloquy. Earnest petition for the gift of prayer, and for light and grace to take the proper measures to procure progress.
MEDITATION V
The Power of Prayer to Obtain Perfection
1st Prelude. Imagine you are listening to Christ at the Sermon on the Mount while He says: “Ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you” (St. Matth. vii, 7).
2nd Prelude. Ask earnestly to obtain great confidence in prayer.
POINT I. Prayer is a spiritual gold mine. When gold is discovered on a piece of arid land, the owners have at once at their disposal the means of becoming very rich. Similarly the soul that begins to understand the efficacy of prayer can obtain by its means a copious supply of actual graces, by which Heaven and perfection are easily secured. For Providence has so disposed that grace is readily obtained by prayer, and some holy Doctors therefore call it the key to the treasury of God. The riches of that treasury are inexhaustible. They are intended for us and put at our disposal. It was by prayer that a St. Aloysius, a St. Stanislaus and countless others became saints in their childhood, that St. Ignatius, St. Francis Xavier, etc., etc., were led from a worldly to a holy life. All of us have the same means at our disposal.