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                  August 31, 2025, Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time: 

                      Grades of Prayer – 2. Meditation: Purpose & Subject (2) 

We continue our reflection on meditation. Last week, we considered its definition and its necessity in the life of prayer. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that meditation has a twofold purpose. First, it has an intellectual purpose. Meditation is a discursive form of prayer, and therefore, attention is indispensable. The intellect plays a crucial role in speculative study, in understanding, and in forming firm convictions about supernatural truths. For this reason, the intellect is essential to the prayer of meditation. Second, meditation has an affective and practical purpose: to foster a deeper relationship with God. In this aspect, the will becomes essential, as it moves the soul to make practical resolutions during meditation. As St. Teresa of Ávila aptly states, meditation “consists not in thinking much, but in loving much.” The Catechism reminds us that meditation is not easy. It requires attentiveness, but we are not left to our own efforts: We are usually helped by books, the Sacred Scriptures, particularly the Gospels, holy icons, liturgical prayers, writings of the spiritual fathers, works of spirituality, the great book of creation, and that of history—the page on which the ‘today’ of God is written (Catechism 2705). “There are as many and varied methods of meditation as there are spiritual masters” (Catechism 2707). Among these, the Ignatian and Carmelite methods are especially helpful for those who desire to enter more deeply into meditative prayer. The selection of material or subject matter for meditation is also crucial. Various spiritual authors describe different types of meditation—such as imaginative meditation, dogmatic meditation, liturgical meditation, and moral meditation. One may meditate on a wide range of topics: a scene or mystery from the life of Christ; the virtues and life of Mary or the saints; a particular virtue to be acquired or a vice to be overcome; a truth from dogmatic theology, such as the attributes of God or the indwelling of the Trinity; or the prayers and actions of the sacraments, especially the Mass and the liturgy. Each soul must discern and choose the subject matter that is most suitable for its own growth. Another essential component of meditation is the making of resolutions. St. Teresa observes that a lack of concrete, efficacious resolutions is the reason why many who practice daily meditation see little or no practical fruit. They may spend time in spiritual reading or speculative thought, but fail to make acts of love or resolve to amend their faults, or to grow in virtues such as charity and obedience. As a result, they wither quickly, like the seed that falls on rocky ground.  — Fr. Jesu