Читать книгу The Practice of Mental Prayer - Father Rene de Maumigny - Страница 60

PRINCIPAL ACTS OF PRAYER

flesh and wast born of the Virgin Mary, because Thou hast so revealed it."

Nevertheless, a formal act of faith is most beneficial in meditation and ought to be made frequently, for it contains two advantages:

First, it is an offering which gives special glory to God and at the same time is very profitable to our soul. Being commanded by the will, it has the assent of the intellect. Therefore those who make an act of faith offer to God their noblest and most precious possessions: the intellect and the will. Here we have a spiritual victim, infinitely superior to the bloody offerings of the Old Law as Our Lord says: But the hour cometh and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. God is a spirit and they that adore Him must adore Him in spirit and in truth." ¹

Secondly, a formal act of faith is an excellent way of shaking off torpid feelings and ban- ishing distractions. It is doubtless expedient to follow the advice usually given and banish distractions by returning to our sub- ject humbly and gently, yet should we feel more than usually dull and distracted, it

¹ John 4: 23, 24.