The Invocation (while making the Sign of the Cross)

“O Lord, Thou wilt open my lips: and my mouth shall declare Thy praise.” – “Domine, labia mea aperies, et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam.” (PsalmsL, 17) – Divine Office / Roman Breviary opening prayer

“O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me.” – “Deus, in adjutorium meum intende; Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina.” (Psalms LXIX, 2) – DivineOffice / Roman Breviary opening chant

An Act of Contrition

“O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, andI detest all my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell;
but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and
deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to
confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.”

An Act of the Presence of God (from the Evening Prayers ofthe A.D. 1925 Blessed Be God)

Prayer Upon Rising (from Blessed Be God)

Free My Mind (from Blessed Be God)

A Prayer for Merits, Indulgences, Blessings, and Graces

Heroic Act of Charity (from Blessed Be God)

Morning Offering of St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Act of Adoration (from the Morning Prayers of Blessed Be God)

Act of Devotion (from the Morning Prayers of Blessed Be God)

Act of Faith

Act of Hope

Act of Charity

“For You, God. For You, God. Every thought, word, and deedfor You, God. Every breath for You, God. Every heartbeat for You, God.”

“Thank You, God. I love You, God. I’m sorry, God. Please,forgive me, God.”

“Glory to God on the highest. All praise be to God. Thy willbe done. All for Your greater glory.”

“Not what I want, God. Not what I want, God. What You want,God. What You want, God.”

“Not what I think I need for my spirit but what You know Ineed for my spirit, God. Not what I think I need but what You know I need.”

“Not my thoughts. Not my thoughts. Awareness of You, God. Awarenessof You, God. Contemplatio of You, God.Contemplatio of You, God. Otium sanctum in awareness of Your presenceand Your indwelling.”

“My will is Thine.”

“We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise notour petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O
glorious and blessed Virgin.” – The first prayer the Church ever addressed to St.
Mary

Nada de Turbe, by St. Teresa of Ávila

“Let nothing disturb thee,

Let nothing affright thee,

All things are passing,

God never changeth;

Patience gaineth all things;

Who hath God wanteth nothing;

God alone sufficeth.”

“I endure this suffering in love for Jesus Christ. I unitethis suffering to Jesus Christ crucified for my penance and for the good of our
Church.”

The Angelus (chanted) — at 6 A.M., 12 P.M., 6 P.M.)

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St. Teresa of Ávila’s emphasis regarding prayer:

“Mirar a quién hablamos” / “Poner atención con quién hablamos” — “Look to whom we are speaking.” / “Place attention with [Pay attention to] whom we are speaking.”

Awareness of God’s omnipresence: immanent before you, all around you, pervading through all matter, and dwelling at the core of your essence (indwelling):

Sénsus praeséntiae Déi — Sense of the presence of God

• Ultimate, lofty goal: Sénsus praeséntiae Déi contínuus — Continuous sense of the presence of God

• Note: Br. Lawrence attained the continous sense of the presence of God by ruminating on his past sins for ten years while living his vocation as a Religious.

Simplícitas orátio / Orátio símplex / Orátio affectíva símplex / Recolléctio acquísita / Recolléctio actíva — Prayer of Simplicity / Simple Prayer / Simplified Affective Prayer / Acquired recollection / Active recollection

[See “Instructions for Prayer of Simplicity, Simple Prayer” section below]

Oblátio córdis contínua / Oblátio súi assídua / Oblátio assídua — Continuous Offering of the Heart / Assiduous Offering of the Self / Assiduous Offering (“of the Heart or Self” is implied in ascetical and mystical theology)

[See “Instructions for Assiduous Offering of the Heart” section below]

• Ultimate, lofty goal, and ultimate Catholic position: A constant, ardent desire to glorify God.

• Pauline Emphasis: “Síne intermíssione oráte” (1 Thes. V, 17) — “Without ceasing, pray.”

• Augustinian Emphasis: “Ípsum énim desidérium túum orátio túa est˙ etsi contínuum desidérium• contínua orátio.” — “For your very desire is your prayer; and if the desire is continuous, the prayer is continuous.” / “Ípsum desidérium túum, orátio túa est” / “Desidérium est orátio túa” / “Desidérium est orátio”

• The “loom” or “warp and weft” of continuous prayer: At transitions, from one task to the next or from one location to another, etc., devoutly dedicate your upcoming task to God by saying a short prayer (such as, “For You, God”) or devoutly make the Sign of the Cross with the intention of dedication.

• Repeated Aspirations (the phraseology of the Latin ones are frequently attested in Church liturgy or authoritative treatises, and are idiomatic to and morphosyntactically correct for Ecclesiastical Latin):

“Hóc Tíbi offéro, Déus” / “Hóc Tíbi offéro, Dómine” / “Hóc Tíbi offéro, Sáncte Spíritus” — “I offer this to You…”

“Tíbi offéro, Déus” / “Tíbi offéro, Dómine” / “Tíbi offéro, Sáncte Spíritus” — “I offer [this] to You…”

“Tíbi, Déus” / “Tíbi, Dómine” / “Tíbi, Sáncte Spíritus” — “For You…”

“Ád Té, Déus” / “Ád Té, Dómine” / “Ád Té, Sancti Spíritus” — “Unto Thee…”

“For You, God. For You, God. Not for me, God. Not for me, God. Every thought, word and deed for You, God. My every motion for You, God. My every breath for You, God. My every heartbeat for You, God. My every moment to You, God.”

“Sacred Heart of Jesus, in love for Thee, I offer this moment to Thee.”

“The Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, give me love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”

Upon returning from distractions:

“Ád Té convértor, Déus” / “Ád Té convértor, Dómine” / “Ád Té convértor, Sáncte Spíritus.” — “To Thee, I turn…” / “To Thee, I return…”

Assent and Attendance to God for a Minimal Degree of the Prayerful Life (for beginners, or those whose habit of prayer has deteriorated):

“I assent to Thee, God. Now, please, do the rest.”

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Instructions for Assiduous Offering of the Heart

I. Regarding logismoi* or any interior phenomenon, manifestation, appearance, construct, object, stimuli, distraction, perception, element of mental content, feeling, sense of confusion, etc., offer it up to God or to St. Mary as an offering, oblation, sacrifice.

II. Pray for it to be taken from you.

III. Trust it will be taken from you.

IV. Pray for the grace to overcome it.

V. Initiate prayer of simplicity, simple prayer, acquired contemplation, prayer of simple gaze.

VI. Optional: Conduct a task of labor (chore, work, etc.).

VII. Optional: Frequently practice offering up not only evil things but good things and pleasant things as well, such a feelings of joy, experiences of pleasure, etc., as well as every other interior phenomenon or experience of consciousness in order for you to progress in the rejection of distractions for the benefit of maintaining focus.

*logismoi — a Koine Greek word, plural; meaning in ascetical and mystical theology: intrusive, assaultive, or tempting thoughts, or, more generally, benign but subliminal or “little” thoughts that initiate distraction)

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Three-Step Formula for Proper Catholic Disposition

I. Cultivate humility and spiritual humility: “I am nothing without Your consent for me to exist; my existence is contingent upon Thy will. I am sinful without Your grace and without devotion to Thee.” Cultivate humility, such as with prayerful recitation of the words “humílitas” (“humility”) and “húmus” (“dirt”; pronounced “hūmus,” “OO-mus”) – the word from which St. Thomas Aquinas speculated “humílitas” derives. Especially cultivate spiritual humility (the deep belief that, by his own powers, man cannot earn God’s favor or blessings at all, nor achieve any supernaturally spiritual progress, nor achieve spiritual perfection, nor achieve a heavenly afterlife; the opposite of the most insidious vice, spiritual pride). Pray for an increased sense, awareness, and acceptance of your spiritual poverty (“poor in spirit” – from Matthew V, 3), which is a universal and innate trait of human beings (i.e., inherent to fallen human nature). Abhor all interior semblances of spiritual pride. Cultivate and practice generosity, dedication, and devotion to God. To love God more, learn about Him, meditate and contemplate upon the Holy Trinity and His laws, increasingly think about Him, increasingly dedicate every thought, word and deed to Him, every breath and heartbeat to Him, every action and every moment to Him; and increasingly sacrifice other objects of affection (i.e., other loves of your life) for the sake of your love for God – sacrificed in union with Christ’s passion and in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (to the extent that valid ones still occur).

II. Cultivate penitence and contrition: “I’m sorry, God.” Prayerfully list your sins, offenses, objects of guilt; make a spiritual Confession. Meditate upon any and all past sins — the seemingly essential, decade-long element to Br. Lawrence’s gift of the continuous sense of the presence of God.

III. Cultivate primary charity, love for God above all Else: “I love You, God.” Prayerfully list the reasons you love God and the reasons why you should love God.

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Visualization of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

This exercise is an original synthesis developed by the present instructor in June of A.D. 2026 but he suspects it may have been multiply (adverb; pronounced: “multiplē,” “multiplee”) developed by many others before him.

This exercise is Ignatian (i.e., in the manner of St. Ignatius of Loyola’s teaching on mental prayer) in character, as it employs the imagination.

The Object of this particular exercise is the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The work of this exercise is the imagining of a phantasm of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Requisite Knowledge

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is conventionally depicted as being crowned with thorns as Jesus Christ’s head was at His Crucifixation. Jesus Christ’s body is alive again since His Resurrection, therefore, His corporal Heart beats. Shortly after His death upon the Cross, Jesus Christ’s Heart was pierced with a spear by the Roman centurion Longinus to confirm Jesus’s death. Jesus’s Heart bled (or more precisely, released blood) whereupon both blood and water poured out from the wound on His side (which cured the blindness that Longinus had in one of his eyes when the divine fluids touched it). Thus is given as the details for the phantasm and as the words of the allocution (below): thorn-crowned (His Sacred Heart), beating (His Heart beats), pierced (by the Holy Lance, the Spear of Longinus), and bleeding (from the wound made by the Lance).

This exercise, like most others, is additionally efficacious for the impromptu rejection and replacement of temptations outside of a session of mental prayer.

When your mind wanders away from focus upon the phantasm, articulate again the Object of the mental prayer, i.e., the Sacred Heart of Jesus; and when your phantasm becomes devoid of its details, articulate again the given facts about it. Reject all distractions and all temptations to distraction. Maintain single-pointed focus upon your phantasm of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

To add a bit of sacred language to this practice, one can use the Ecclesiastical Latin for “the Sacred Heart of Jesus” which is “Sacratissimum Cor Iesu.” Conventionally, that is abbreviated to “Cor Iesu” (“Heart of Jesus”). But beware that the use of words that are not of one’s native language, or that have not been deeply internalized by oneself, can be much less powerful for one’s mental acts.

Note that it is a pious practice to slightly bow one’s head every time he speaks or hears the name “Jesus” in any language, except when it is taken in vain – but do not let this become a pang of scrupulosity if it distracts you from focus, as it is not a sin to not do so.

Instructions, with an Allocution

Kneel (unless doing so causes distraction, such as pain, to the extent of failure to persevere in prayer). Close your eyes. Make the Sign of the Cross upon yourself while simultaneously saying the Invocation (i.e., “In the Name of the Father...”). Fold or clasp your hands together in the Catholic manner (fingers straight; hands in front of the chest and neck).

Pray a prefatory prayer in preparation for conducting the forthcoming mental prayer, petitioning assistance (for focus, perseverance, devotion, sincerity, integrity) in your session of mental prayer from, for example, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Holy Ghost, the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, your Guardian Angel, or all of them.

With your eyes remaining closed, as vividly and as durably as possible, imagine the Sacred Heart of Jesus. As effortfully as possible, try to increase the vividness of your phantasm of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And for as long as possible, try to maintain mental focus upon your phantasm of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

To aid in the visualization of the phantasm, utilize the facts from the “Requisite Knowledge” section above by slowly articulating them vocally (rather than mentally), and interposed between articulating the name of the Object. Repeat any or all parts of this short allocution as needed to maintain focus or to return focus upon the Object and Its details:“Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Thorn-crowned, beating, pierced, and bleeding.

Sacred Heart of Jesus.”

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Mental Focus on Primary Charity

Discern and separate your will from your intellect. Renounce every thought, every object of cognitive content,every apprehension of the intellect. Focus entirely on love for God from yourwill. Repeatedly return to your volition on love for God. Do not lend anyvolition to any thought. Solely attend to your live for God. Allocutions (minimal): “Caritas.”; “Love for God,”; “I love You, God.”

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“What You want, God. What You want, God. Not what I want. Not what I want.”

“Not what I think I need for my spirit but what You know I need for my spirit, God.
Not what I think I need but what You know I need.”

“Not my thoughts, God. Not my thoughts, God. Otium sanctum in awareness ofYour indwelling and presence (or, contemplatio of You). Otium sanctum in awareness of Your indwellingand presence (or, contemplatio of You).”

Inspired from one of St. Teresa of Ávila’s sentences in The Way of Perfection (in the Pater Noster part of it): “My will is Thine.”

The present instructor endorses the original understanding of contemplation as an infused gift from God; it does not endorse the misnomer of acquired contemplation, which is a contradiction in terms and a confusion in commentary, analysis, and systemization that had been refuted by the early 20th C. This group sides with Prior Guigo II, O.Cart., Prioress (Mother) St. Teresa of Ávila, O.C.D., and Fr. Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. as regards the rejection of the category of acquired contemplation and the phenomenon’s proper category as simplified affective prayer and acquired recollection.

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