Читать книгу The Practice of Mental Prayer - Father Rene de Maumigny - Страница 39

PRINCIPAL ACTS OF PRAYER

CHAPTER II

THE FIRST ACT, THAT OF PLACING ONESELF IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD, WHICH MUST NEVER BE OMITTED IN BEGINNING A MEDITATION

WHEN a person has been admitted to the presence of an earthly king, it would be most unbecoming for him not to think from the very first of what he is going to say. What can be said, then, of a soul which has been granted the unspeakable privilege of conversing with God and is bold enough to forget that it is in presence of the Divine Majesty, or only to think of it in a more or less vague way?

And here a question arises. Is it enough to place oneself in presence of God by an act of the reason, which proves to us that He is present everywhere?

No, that is not enough. We must place ourselves in presence of God by faith. Prayer is more than an audience granted by God, the Creator and Sovereign Lord of all things, to a creature; it is familiar intercourse like that of children with their father, or of friend