An Excerpt from 'Le Methode' Manual on Mental Prayer
On Practicing the Presence of God and the Beginnings of the Mystical Life
I’m currently trying to complete a translation project, of several works by 17th century French Carmelites of the Touraine Reform of the Order. I’ve been working on this project for five years or so, and am wrapping it up. It’s incredibly tedious, and only occasionally feels rewarding. I swear, I’m never going to embark on another translation project again. Lately, I’m more interested in things like this method of growing potatoes in old car tires. But anyway, I was struck by the final section of this manual on mental prayer given to the novices of the reform province. Passages like this make it worthwhile.
Eighth Advice
An Excellent way of practicing the Presence of God
There is, besides all we have said about the subject, an even more excellent way of walking in the presence of God, and that is to seek him and find him within ourselves, where we know by the certitude of faith that he is present by his immense omnipresence, and where we believe, as much as we can be certain of our justification, he remains by grace. And following this conviction, and this belief, the soul that reunites all its powers, recalling them from all sorts of external preoccupations, to recollect them within, and to make them attentive to what God is doing there, is accustomed to find herself in a certain very tranquil disposition, in which she feels God’s presence, and tastes I-know-not-what of his heavenly operations. The soul addresses all her colloquies to him there, in the depths of her heart, remaining more disposed to listen to him than to speak to him, while consulting him in all things, as she carefully guards all the entrances and avenues to her heart, out of fear that she may admit anything in that could displease him.
And from this state of interior recollection, the soul is often drawn beyond itself, into a sovereignly peaceful region, full of a very intimate repose, accompanied also by a very effective desire to love, with all her power, the One to whom she feels very sweetly and very powerfully attracted.
The Beginning of the Mystical Life
This is the beginning the mystical life, of which we will treat in the second tome of our Spiritual Guide, contenting ourselves now with saying only that, although this state seems less active than the preceding states, it is not less holy, but on the contrary, it is much more holy. Similar to how old wine, after being left to rest, tastes better than new wine, although it may not bubble as much nor smell as nice. Likewise, this simple contemplation of God (accompanied by secret affections and desires to belong totally to him, to love him and please him with all her strength) says more than a thousand other acts practiced in other states. So that, what appears to be pure silence, is in reality, full of lively expression, and admirable outbursts of love, as can be found in the praises of Holy Scripture and other contemplatives.
Those who have arrived in these mystical ways, walk always in deep recollection, is if carrying God within themselves, and with a reverence and modesty that reveals to others that God possesses them, and that they reciprocally possess God. In addition, they enjoy a marvelous interior sweetness, and it can be said of them, as David said: Domine, in lumine vultus tui ambulant tota die. Abscondes eos in abscondito faciei tuae a conturbatione hominum (Ps 88:17). “Lord, they walk in the light of your Face, and rejoice in your Name all the day. You will hide them in the secrecy of your Face, and shelter them from the tumults of men.”
Behold, these are the borders of that region, to which all the exercises of prayer and the practice of the presence of God are directed; and if our brothers devote themselves seriously to these practices, and with perseverance, then we can promise them that they will come to see the God of Gods in Zion, by a blessed arrival onto the holy mountain of contemplation. May God give them grace.