Guide to Mental Prayer
I came across this Online Spiritual Exercises document you can retrieve from or get more information from:
What are spiritual exercises?
The Spiritual Exercises, designed by St. Ignatius Loyola, encompass a series of meditations, prayers, and contemplative practices intended to assist individuals in deepening their spiritual bond with God. These exercises delve into various essential aspects of spiritual life, with a central focus on the principle of imitating Christ, our Lord.
AIM: Spiritual exercises have three main goals:
1. To know ourselves in God’s eyes
2. To know the person of Jesus Christ.
3. To imitate the person of Jesus Christ.
MEANS:
1. Directed meditation: Two parts meditation that can last up to an hour each. The first part is when the priest provide the individuals retreatants information for the second part and the second part is welcoming the individual to meditate on the points.
2. Conferences: Held daily with different topics to discuss.
3. Personal Questionnaires: Retreatants are given the opportunity to focus on a personal questionnaire. This can help someone get to know themselves better.
4. Mass: The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
5. Spiritual Directions: Opportunity to meet and discuss with a Spiritual Directors questions one may have.
6. Rosary: Private and recited individually.
7. Stations of the Cross: The Stations of The Cross also prayed individually.
8. Silence: Silence is how God communicates with us: internal and external silence. The important kind is internal silence.
Here is some Morning Prayers shared in the document (Page 10)
PRAYER TO THE HOLY TRINITY
“My Lord, God of heaven and earth – Father and Creator, Son and Redeemer, Holy Spirit and Sanctifier – I adore you and love you with all my heart. I thank you for creating me, redeeming me, calling me to the Catholic faith, and watching over me last night. I offer you on this day my prayer, my work, and my struggles, my sufferings and my joys. Enable me to do everything out of love for you and according to your will. Make me steadfast in living my Christian vocation, patient in suffering, courageous in proclaiming my faith; fill me with wisdom on life’s journey and charity in dealing with others. Free me from sin and from all evil. May your grace always remain with me and with all who are dear to me. Amen.”
PRAYER TO JESUS CHRIST
“Lord Jesus, faithful friend of my soul, once more I offer you my life so you can teach me to do your will, give me the strength to follow you, and help me to imitate your virtues, especially those that please you most: charity, humility, justice and honesty. Make me a faithful, zealous apostle of your Church and grant me the grace that will enable me to proclaim your saving message to the brothers and sisters I meet on my journey today. May I live my Catholic faith with such evident conviction and share it with such ardent zeal that I become a fruitful and effective fisher of souls for you. Amen.”
PRAYER TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN
“Mother, I come before you on this new day to bless you for the great things almighty God has done for you, to thank you for the graces you have obtained for me, to consecrate to you all my thoughts, words and actions, and to ask your blessing for me and all those who are dear to me. Intercede with God for all of us as we strive to live the faith, hope and charity of which you set us such an admirable and noble example. Enable me to imitate the life of prayer, obedience, humility, fidelity, sacrifice and simplicity that you shared with your Son, our Brother and Lord. Help me to form a meek and humble heart like that of your son, Jesus Christ, and obtain for me the grace of receiving him in the sacrament of his love as fervently as you throughout the years of your solitude. Mother, tell Jesus how much I want to love him, how ardently I desire to become holy and be his apostle. Tell him how fervently and constantly I want to serve him and be his faithful instrument in fulfilling my specific mission in this world. Amen.”
Here is a Night Prayer shared on the document (Page 11):
“My Lord and my God, I give You thanks for the countless benefits You have given me, and especially for creating me, redeeming me, calling me to the Catholic faith, choosing me to be an apostle among my neighbors and freeing me from many dangers of soul and body. Enlighten my mind so that I may recognize my faults and grant me the grace to be truly sorry and sincerely mend my ways. Amen.”
If you took the time to read this, thank you. Please feel free to comment your thoughts or any questions.
