A Sunday Thought About Vocal Prayer and Mental Prayer

We've focused on the subject of prayer on recent Sundays. And why not? For some of us, Sunday may be the only time we devote to any sustained prayer-time. Some of us get so involved with our work and the practical demands of domestic life during the week, squeezing in a few minutes for prayer, maybe first thing (wake-up/morning prayer) and last (prayers at bedtime). It's not ideal, but for many it's reality.

Given that most of us don't work on Sundays, combined with Sunday being the Lord's Day, it stands to reason that such folks would do well to carve out a good thick slice of time for prayer, besides attendance at Sunday Mass.

Hence our special focus on prayer lately.

We moved from the idea of "simple" prayer with the help of some first rate spiritual writers to the concept "prayer of the heart" proposed by Father John Grou the last two Sundays. I liked where Father Grou was going last Sunday, so we'll let him continue his train of thought this Sunday.

We pick up after Father has clearly distinguished between vocal prayer and mental prayer. He desires to promote mental prayer simply because so many only pray out loud, with little time given to the more meditative and/or contemplative prayer that comes with mental prayer.

“My intention is by no means to frighten souls, or to make them uneasy about their manner of prayer. All I wish is to convince them there is a better and more excellent manner of prayer than that by word of mouth. It is that they should beg the Holy Spirit to teach them, and to attempt repeatedly to keep silence in God’s presence for a few moments; to refuse to be discouraged if we should not at once be as successful as we should like; to keep our imagination from taking fright at a method of prayer that it finds strange and difficult; and to accustom our minds to it little by little. I can answer for it that those who adopt this course with discretion will find it profitable to them, and will be glad that they made the effort of renouncing their former practices.” 

“I do not suggest, however, that they should give up vocal prayer entirely, and still less do I wish them to despise it as being only suitable for a lower type of soul. There would be intolerable pride in the idea that they could do without it, and they would be infallibly be led into the deceits of a false piety. Those who have made the greatest progress in mental prayer still have their regular times of vocal prayer, in the morning, the evening, and in the course of the day; to say nothing of the prayers of obligation and public worship. … I do not think, therefore, that on any pretext whatever, except in very rare and extraordinary cases, a Christian should pass a single day without offering or reciting a vocal prayer of some kind. Why is it, I shall be asked, that the Church uses vocal prayers only? The answer is easy. It is because the liturgy of the Church is a public office, and even the priests who recite the breviary in private do so in the name and for the sake of the Church; and because the Sacrifice of the Altar is offered by the minister in common with the faithful who are present, and who are supposed to join in the prayers of the celebrant; and lastly it is because all the sacraments are administered according to a formula prescribed by the canons, and no minister is permitted to make any change in it. Vocal prayer is public prayer; mental prayer is private and personal.”

Sunday affords us all the opportunity to learn about prayer, as well as to pray. It's a great gift to have spiritual directors like Father Grou who can bring us both the knowledge and the inspiration to get down to business. 

If your Sunday is already full of commitments that preclude spending time with prayer, reconsider your priorities. It may take some time, but develop the habit of prayer. It definitely requires firm resolution. Since our eternal life is at stake here, it's worth the time and effort, don't you think?

Happy Sunday!