by Barbara Schoeneberger

Created on: January 07, 2010

The Catholic Church uses the two words "meditation" and "mental prayer" interchangeably in literature written by traditional spiritual directors.  Mental prayer in the Catholic meaning is prayer that rises from the heart but is not vocalized vs. vocal prayer which is spoken from a written formula such as the "Our Father." 

 We can think of meditation three ways: 

  1.  as the art of being better. 

  2.  as a daily small retreat - a quiet, thoughtful conversation with God where we speak to him interiorly and are spoken to by him 

  3.  as a structured process which is easy to duplicate and become habitual. 

Meditation in the Catholic sense is also different from contemplation, which is yet another form of prayer written about by, among others, the great prayer warriors and Doctors of the Church, St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.

Look at the process as a division of three parts: 

  1. Preparation

  2. Body of meditation (mental prayer)

  3. Conclusion. 

Mental prayer is an audience with the most important Person in our lives.  Bringing it down to earth, if we were going to have an audience with the Queen of England, what would we do to get ready? Before the audience, we would dress properly and learn the protocol to deal with the English head of state.  We would prepare what we wanted to say or questions we wanted to ask. During the audience, we would pay attention and keep our focus on the reason we are meeting.  Finally, we would conclude the audience in a way that shows a right relationship between us and the queen.  With God we follow the same process, concluding in a way that shows a right relationship between us, the creature, and God, the creator. 

Meditation is about honoring the first Great Commandment:  "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind (Matt. 22: 37)."  It is about increasing unity with God which helps us overcome faults and vices and become more Christ-like in our actions.  We cannot really love God if we never spend quiet time with him.  

Preparation for Mental Prayer 

If we're serious about loving God better, preparation is ongoing in our lives. We can divide it into three categories according to Catholic spiritual directors like Father Joseph Simler: 

  1. Habitual

  2. Proximate

  3. Immediate. 

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