Meditative prayer: how a session unfolds

How do I pray in prayer? There are different ways of praying oraison, such aspraying from the heart, or repeating a Bible verse. Mental prayer - or silent prayer - refers to a type of prayer developed by Saint Teresa of Avila and still practiced daily in Carmel.
Here's an outline of a meditation session to introduce you to the practice of meditative prayer. You can also discover the meditations found in Saint Francis de Sales' work, or meditate in the manner of Teresa of Avila.

Installation and preliminary advice

Before you even begin, it's important to plan how much time you want to - and can - devote to this meditation. Ideally, you should allow enough time to fully experience this rendezvous with God, but this should be consistent with what you are actually able to do. For this meditation, we suggest you choose a time of 10, 15 or 20 minutes.

It's also important to settle down in a quiet, meditative place. If possible, lighting a candle or placing a cross, icon or holy image in front of us will help us to enter into this moment of prayer.

Our position should allow us to remain undisturbed for the next few minutes, but with our mind alert. It should not be a source of discomfort, but should not be conducive to falling asleep. This could be sitting on a chair or kneeling on a small prayer bench, for example.

Example of a time of prayer

Saint Theresa used to say that prayer was a "relationship of friendship with the one we know we love". Finding a close friend is what should guide us in this time of prayer.

Entering prayer

Just as when we meet a friend, let us first take the time to turn towards God, to greet him, to place ourselves in his presence. This can be done with a slow sign of the cross , for example. We become aware that he is there, present, with us.

A few deep, conscious breaths can help us refocus and calm our bodies and thoughts, so that we're better prepared for the time ahead.

Reading a Bible verse

We'll now read a verse from the Bible:

"The Lord is my strength and my stronghold; in him my heart trusts: he has healed me, my flesh has blossomed again, my songs give thanks to him" (Psalm 27 (28), 7).

We can read it aloud, then a second time, either quietly or inwardly.

Let's take our time with this reading, paying close attention to each word. Then let's take a moment of silence, which can be shorter or longer, to let the verse resonate within us.

(Find many Bible verses to meditate on, sorted by theme)

Meditative silence

With this verse in our minds, let's let silence settle in our hearts and minds.

Let ourselves be contemplated by God, who is there and who loves us infinitely. With simplicity and humility, let us welcome this gaze upon us. Let ourselves be loved.

It's not easy to keep this inner silence. Thoughts can distract us, and that's normal, especially when we start practicing prayer. When a thought comes, let's welcome it and then let it go without clinging to it. We can entrust it to God too.

To stay anchored in prayer, we can also help ourselves:
- by looking at a holy image, or a candle
- by repeating, in tune with our breathing: "Abba Father" or "Jesus"
- by repeating a word, an expression or part of the Bible verse from the beginning.

While the aim of this silent prayer is to listen to God, we can of course also talk to him if we feel the need. Just as a friend talks to a friend.

We can stay like this for a few minutes, depending on what's possible for us. Ideally, so as not to disturb our meditation, we should define in advance the time we wish to allow for this meditation, and we can program an alarm or an alarm clock to tell us when it's over.

Closing the meditation time

After this time of meditation, we can repeat the opening verse one last time: "The Lord is my strength and my stronghold; in him my heart trusts: he has healed me, my flesh has blossomed again, my songs give thanks to him."

Finally, let us thank God for this time spent with him. As a final greeting, we can make a beautiful sign of the cross.

Conclusion of the prayer

Any time offered to the Lord is a fruitful time, even if we don't feel the fruits of it. Sometimes we can clearly feel the benefits of this prayer and the presence of God, but it's also possible to feel nothing in particular. Sometimes we may even feel as if we've missed the appointment because we've been busy with so many thoughts. This doesn't mean that nothing happened. The simple act of making ourselves available allows God to do great things. Let's not be discouraged, and with confidence, let's continue to offer these moments to God, who will always be at the rendezvous even if we are only imperfectly there.

However, we can take a little time at the end of the oraison to see what may or may not have helped us to live this meditation. Perhaps the time of day wasn't the most suitable (for example, after a meal, we tend to doze off...)... or the place chosen wasn't conducive to meditation?

Identifying what was difficult can help us to find what can help us to better live this moment: support through audio guided meditations? time beforehand to prepare the verse and an associated image? ...
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