Of the secunde maner of praier, that is in speche not certayn, but folweth the stirenges
Spontaneous Prayer of the Heart
This chapter describes a form of prayer that arises naturally from the heart's devotion, using spontaneous words to express repentance, petition, and praise.
who are in devotion. The second way to pray is through speech, though it does not follow a fixed set of words. This happens when a person feels the grace of devotion as a gift from God, and in that state, speaks to Him as if He were physically present. They use whatever words best match their current inner stirrings, whatever comes to mind based on what they feel in their heart—whether they are recounting their sins and wretchedness, the malice and tricks of the enemy, or the goodness and mercy of God.1 With that, they cry out with heart-felt desire and spoken words to our Lord for help and rescue, like someone in danger among enemies, or like a sick person showing their sores to a physician, saying: Eripe me de inimicis meis, deus meus—Lord, deliver me from my enemies—or: Sana, domine, animam meam, quia peccavi tibi.✦✦ Ah, Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned against You—or other words that come to mind. They also reflect on the goodness, grace, and mercy in God, finding such delight and deep affection that they love Him and thank Him using words and psalms that express their love and praise, as David says: Confitemini domino, quoniam bonus, quoniam in seculum misericordia eius.✦ Love and praise our Lord, for He is good and merciful—along with any other words they feel moved to say.2
Read the original Latin
that aren in devocioun.
The secunde maner of praiere is bi speche, but it is not of noon certayn special seiynge; and this is whanne a man or a woman felith grace of devocioun bi the gifte of God, and in his devocioun speketh to Hym as yif he were bodili in presence, with sich wordis and acordande most to his stirynge for the tyme as comen to his mynde after sondri rewardes which he felith in his herte, either rehersynge hise synnes and his wrecchidnesse or the malice and the sleightes of the enemye, or ellis the godenesse and the merci of God. And with that he crieth with desire of herte and with speche of his mouth to oure Lord for socour and help, as a man that were in peril amonge his enemyes or as a man in sikenesse, schewynge his sooris to God as to a leche, seiynge thus: Eripe me de inimicis meis, deus meus (Psalms 58:2) Lord, delyvere me fro myn enemyes, or ellis thus: Sana, domine, animam meam, quia peccavi tibi (Psalms 40:5). A, Lord, heele my soule, for I have synned agenys Thee, or sich othere that come to mynde. And also hym thenketh so mykil godenesse, grace, and mercy in God, that hym liketh with grete affeccioun of the herte for to love Hym and thanke Hym by siche wordes and psalmys as acorden to the lovynge and preisynge of God, as Davyd seith: Confitemini domino, quoniam bonus, quoniam in seculum misericordia eius (Psalms 135:1). Loveth and preiseth oure Lord for He is good and merciful, and bi siche othere as he is sterid for to seie.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.58.2 — Do you indeed speak righteousness, O judges? Do you judge uprightly, O children of men?
- ↩Ps.40.5 — Blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, and has not turned to the arrogant or those who follow falsehood.
- ↩Ps.135.1 — Praise the LORD! Praise the name of the LORD! Praise him, O servants of the LORD,
Notes
- 1 ↩ME 'rewardes' here is taken as 'regards/considerations' (from OF regarder), not recompense: the varied interior considerations that shape what words rise.
- 2 ↩ME 'Loveth and preiseth' is read as the vernacular gloss of Confitemini (imperative thanksgiving/praise), parallel to the English glosses of the Latin psalms in s2–s3; alternatively it could be taken as descriptive third person.
Scala Perfectionis (The Scale of Perfection) companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent