CHAPITRE III.
Prayer for the Simple
The author introduces a method of meditative prayer accessible to those who cannot read, centered on the indwelling Kingdom of God.
1. A method of meditative prayer for those who cannot read. 2. 3. Applied to the Lord's Prayer and to some of God's attributes.✦ 4. Moving from the first level of prayer to the second. 1. Those who cannot read will not be deprived of prayer for that reason. Jesus Christ is the great book written on the outside and on the inside, and He will teach them all things.✦✦ They must practice this method. First, they must learn a fundamental truth: that (a) the Kingdom of God is within them, and that it is there they must seek it.✦ (a) Luke 17:✦ verse✦ 21.✦
The Practice of Interior Prayer
A practical guide for using the Our Father as a framework for interior recollection, silence, and abandonment to God's will.
Parish priests should teach their parishioners how to pray, just as they teach them the Catechism.1 They teach them the end for which they were created, but they do not teach them enough how to enjoy that end.2 Let them teach it to them in this way. You must begin with a deep act of adoration and self-emptying before God; then, trying to close the eyes of the body, open those of the soul. Gather it inward, and occupy yourself directly with the presence of God by a living faith that He is in us; without letting the faculties and the senses scatter outward, keep them as captive and subject as you can.3 2. Let them say their Our Father in French in this way, understanding a little of what they say, and thinking that God is within them and is glad to be their Father. In this state, let them ask Him for what they need; and after they have spoken the word 'Father,' let them remain in silence for a few moments with great reverence, waiting for this heavenly Father to make His will known to them. At other times, the Christian should see himself as a child, dirty and ruined by his falls, with no strength to stand or clean himself. He should come before his Father in humility and shame, sometimes mixing in words of love and sorrow, and at other times remaining in silence.4 Then, continuing with the Our Father, let him pray to this King of glory to reign within him, abandoning himself to Him so that He may do so, and yielding to Him the rights he has over himself.5 If he feels an inclination to peace and silence, he must not go on, but remain that way as long as this state lasts; after which one continues with the second petition: 'Your will be done on earth as in Heaven.' In this, these humble petitioners should desire that God fulfill in them and through them all His wills; they will give God their heart and their freedom, so that He may dispose of them as He pleases. Then, recognizing that the work of the will should be to love, they will desire to love and will ask God for His love. But this will be done gently, peacefully; and so with the rest of the Our Father, which parish priests can teach them.
Simplicity and the Presence of God
The transition from vocal prayer to the experiential taste of God's presence, emphasizing the movement toward deeper silence and grace.
They must not overload themselves with an excessive number of Our Fathers and Hail Marys, or with other vocal prayers; a single Our Father said in the way I have just described will bear very great fruit. 3. At other times, they stay close to their Shepherd like sheep and ask Him for their true food. O divine Shepherd, You feed Your sheep with Yourself, and You are their daily bread. They may also bring the needs of their family before Him; but all of this must be done with that direct and primary focus of faith upon God within us.6 Everything we picture to ourselves is not God. A living faith in His presence is enough; for we must form no image of God, though we may form one of JESUS CHRIST, looking at Him as crucified, or as a child, or in some other state or mystery, provided the soul always seeks Him in its depths.7 At other times one looks at Him as a Physician, and presents one's wounds to Him so that He may heal them: but always without effort, and with a little silence from time to time, so that silence may be mixed with action, increasing the silence little by little and lessening the speech, until at last, by yielding little by little to the operation of God, it gains the upper hand, as will be said later. 4. When God’s presence is given and the soul begins, little by little, to experience silence and rest, this taste of God’s presence leads it into the second degree of prayer. This is usually reached by starting in the way already described—both for those who can read and those who cannot—though God does grant it to some privileged souls from the very beginning.8
Read the original French
1. Maniere d’Oraison méditative pour ceux qui ne savent pas lire.
2. 3. Appliquée au Pater, & à quelques qualités de Dieu.
4. Passage de ce premier degré d’Oraison au second.
1. CEUX qui ne savent pas lire, ne seront pas privés pour cela de l’Oraison. Jésus-Christ est le grand livre écrit par déhors & par dedans, qui leur enseignera toutes choses.
Ils doivent pratiquer cette méthode. Premierement, il faut qu’ils apprennent une vérité fondamentale, qui est que (a) le Royaume de Dieu est au-dedans d’eux, & que c’est là qu’il le faut chercher.
(a) Luc 17. v. 21.
Les Curés devroient apprendre à faire Oraison à leurs Paroissiens, comme ils leur apprennent le Catechisme. Ils leur apprennent la fin pour laquelle ils ont été créés, & ils ne leur apprennent pas assez à jouir de leur fin. Qu’ils le leur apprennent de cette maniere.
Il faut commencer par un acte profond d’adoration & d’anéantissement devant Dieu; & là tâchant de fermer les yeux du corps, ouvrir ceux de l’ame : puis la ramasser au-dedans, & s’occupant directement de la présence de Dieu par une foi vive, que Dieu est en nous, sans laisser répandre les puissances & les sens au-déhors, les tenir le plus qu’il se peut captifs, & assujettis.
2. Qu’ils disent donc ainsi leur Pater en François, comprenant un peu ce qu’ils disent, & pensant que Dieu est au-dedans d’eux, veut bien être leur Pere. En cet état, qu’ils lui demandent leurs besoins; & après avoir prononcé ce mot de Pere, qu’ils demeurent quelques momens en silence avec beaucoup de respect, attendant que ce Pere céleste leur fasse connoître ses volontés.
D’autres fois le Chrétien se regardant comme un enfant tout sale & gâté de ses chûtes, qui n’a point de force ni pour se soutenir, ni pour se netoier; qu’il s’expose à son Pere d’une maniere humble & confuse, tantôt mêlant quelque mot d’amour & de douleur, puis demeurant en silence.
Ensuite poursuivant le Pater, qu’il prie ce Roi de gloire de regner en lui, s’abandonnant à lui-même afin qu’il le fasse, & lui cédant les droits qu’il a sur soi.
Sentant une inclination à la paix & au silence, il ne faut pas poursuivre; mais demeurer ainsi tant que cet état dure : après quoi on continuera la seconde demande : Que votre volonté soit faite en la terre comme au Ciel. Sur laquelle ces humbles supplians désireroient que Dieu accomplisse en eux & par eux, toutes ses volontés; ils donneront à Dieu leur cœur & leur liberté, afin qu’il en dispose à son gré. Puis voyant que l’occupation de la volonté doit être d’aimer, ils désireront d’aimer, & demanderont à Dieu son AMOUR. Mais cela se fera doucement, paisiblement; & ainsi du reste du Pater, dont Messieurs les Curés peuvent les instruire.
Ils ne doivent point se surcharger d’une quantité excessive de Pater & d’Ave, ni d’autres prieres vocales; un seul Pater dit de la maniere que je viens de dire, sera d’un très-grand fruit.
3. D’autres-fois ils se tiendront comme des brebis auprès de leur Pasteur, & lui demanderont leur véritable nourriture. O divin Pasteur, vous nourrissez de vous-même vos brebis, & vous êtes leur pain de chaque jour.
Ils pourront aussi lui représenter les besoins de leur famille; mais il faut que tout cela se fasse avec cette vue de foi directe & principale de Dieu en nous.
Ce n’est rien de Dieu que tout ce que l’on se figure; Une vive foi de sa présence suffit; car il ne se faut former nulle image de Dieu, quoique l’on puisse s’en former de JÉSUS-CHRIST, le regardant comme crucifié, ou comme enfant, ou dans quelqu’autre état ou mystere, pourvû que l’ame le cherche toujours dans son fond.
D’autres fois on le regarde comme un Médécin; & on lui présente ses plaies afin qu’il les guérisse : mais toujours sans efforts, & avec un petit silence de tems en tems, afin que le silence soit mêlé d’action, augmentant peu-à-peu le silence, & diminuant le discours, jusqu’à ce qu’enfin à force de céder peu-à-peu à l’opération de Dieu, il gagne le dessus, comme il sera dit dans la suite.
4. Lorsque la présence de Dieu est donnée, & que l’ame commence à goûter peu-à-peu le silence & le repos, ce goût expérimental de la présence de Dieu l’introduit dans le second degré d’Oraison, que l’on obtient d’ordinaire en commençant comme il a été dit, & pour ceux qui savent lire, & pour ceux qui ne le savent pas; quoique Dieu en gratifie dès le commencement quelques ames privilegiées.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.6.9-Matt.6.13 — Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Matt.6.10 — Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matt.6.11 — Give us today our daily bread. Matt.6.12 — And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Matt.6.13 — And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
- ↩Rev.5.1 — And I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.
- ↩John.14.26 — But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and remind you of everything that I have told you.
- ↩Luke.17.21 — nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.
- ↩Luke.17.21 — nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.
- ↩Luke.17.21 — nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.
- ↩Luke.17.21 — nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.
Notes
- 1 ↩Oraison here is interior prayer, the practice this treatise teaches, not merely saying prayers aloud.
- 2 ↩fin is the created purpose (God); jouir de leur fin is to possess and rest in that end, not mere pleasure.
- 3 ↩anéantissement is Guyon's technical self-annihilation before God: becoming nothing, not destruction of the person. puissances are the soul's faculties.
- 4 ↩confuse in this older French is shamefaced confusion, not mental muddle; gâté is spoiled in the sense of damaged, not pampered.
- 5 ↩s’abandonnant à lui-même: the Christian abandons himself to God (the King), so that God may reign in him; soi is the self whose rights are ceded.
- 6 ↩"vue de foi directe & principale de Dieu en nous" is rendered as a direct, primary gaze of faith upon God in us, not as a merely conceptual idea of God.
- 7 ↩"fond" is the soul's inmost ground or depth, not a physical bottom.
- 8 ↩"gout experimental" means a taste known by lived experience, not a scientific experiment.
Moyen court et très facile de faire oraison companion
A prayer for every moment, already on your phone
Chosen Portion puts a curated historic prayer in front of you each day — so the words are there before the moment arrives.
Chosen Portion is the digital descendant of the carried prayer book: the short daily prayers this collection preserves, delivered one a day to your pocket.
- One short, memorable prayer delivered daily — build your repertoire a card at a time
- Prayers matched to real situations: fear, gratitude, decisions, grief, sleep
- Save favourites into your personal pocket collection you can open anywhere