Mary Magdalene de Pazzi is one of my favorite mystics. In addition to her love of mental prayer, she is the patroness of sick people (among other things) and she was a Carmelite nun.
From a very early age, she was attracted to contemplative prayer, and it was so obvious to everyone who knew her that her mother requested of The Church that she be taught mental prayer that involves lengthy sessions of meditation when she was about 9 years old.
I know what it feels like to be attracted to contemplative life at a young age. When I was 11, I was living in Carmel Valley, very near the Carmel mission, and I used to cycle over there on my little Schwinn Bicycle and wander through the grounds, visiting the book store and talking to the nice man behind the counter. Occasionally, he would give me little medals and holy cards. I wish I could thank him today, but he has most probably gone to his reward already.
Unlike Mary Margaret's household, there was NO religion in my family. My mother hated religion and particularly hated Catholics. I had a short series of correspondence with the Catholic nuns in Carmel, but my mother put a stop to it when it became obvious that I was very attracted to the life of silence and contemplative prayer, and her hatred for the Catholic Church resulted in her refusal to allow me near it.
CATHOLIC MENTAL PRAYER
SAME GOAL, DIFFERENT METHOD
I have many years of experience with Buddhist and Hindu (Vedanta style) meditation and, while the goal is substantially the same as the Catholics, the methods differ. Eastern religious traditions generally attempt a type of unitive prayer that quiets the discursive mental processes, while Catholic mental prayer activates it and makes use of our intellect in a targeted fashion.
We all want to be closer to God, spend time with Him, and be as like Him as is possible. The mystics among us long for the unitive state of oneness with The Lord, whether they are Hindu, Buddhist or Catholic.
THE PROCESS
First, a subject of meditation is decided upon, then we examine ourselves in relation to it, resolving to do better and explore how we may do that, opening ourselves to the action of the Divine within us.
MEDITATION TOPICS
You could meditate on the exquisite glory of Heaven, or a particular holy trait, such as love of neighbor. The "practice of the presence of God" is probably my favorite.
The affections of our spirit are drawn into this process, and the degree of our love for God is made obvious at this point because honest self-examination can be difficult to do without a great deal of love for the Lord. A mature intellect is also essential, which would be unusual for a young girl, but Mary Magdalene de Pazzi was unique in this regard.
PETITIONS
This process naturally leads to prayers of petition for the sake of the world and individuals in particular, depending upon the subject of meditation and any insights that may have been gained during that session of mental prayer.
This type of prayer is the precursor to the unitive prayer and advanced mystical states. It is part of the work that one does to clean oneself up, in a sense, and grow in holiness.
Everyone has their own temperament and abilities when it comes to sitting still and working with the mind. I have always enjoyed it. When I was in the Vedanta convent, my yearly "vacation" was taken at a retreat center where I meditated 6 to 8 hours a day. I found it wonderfully inspiring and healing. Others might go mad.
HUMILITY
We can't approach the throne of God in a dirty, fallen state, unrepentant and lacking in virtue. Mental strength and stamina are necessary to endure the stress of comparing oneself to the Divine attributes. The holy characteristic of humility is one of the blessings of the spiritual practice of mental prayer.
SPENDING TIME WITH GOD
This is how I look at this topic:
When we go to visit a king, we do not appear in rags, unwashed, with our hair tangled and stinking of the world. Right? We clean ourselves up! We take a shower, wash our hair, put on clean clothes and usually bring a little present of some sort - something that shows our regard for the ruler of the land. Mental prayer is the way the soul scrubs itself up.
We cannot be perfect, but we can open ourselves to perfection so that when faced with the All Perfect Being, we are equipped to tolerate that experience without suffering shame. We will ourselves shy away from Him if we have not made any effort to present ourselves in the proper condition.
It seems to me that we decide how close we will be to God.
Jesus said that if we love Him we will follow his commandments. It follows then that the degree to which we try to do that is the degree to which we love Him.
But it's not a business arrangement. His arms are open to us all the time He isn't forcing us to come to Him. He gave us free will and is just waiting for us to walk into His open arms. It is up to us if we do it or not.
God doesn't "send" us to Hell either. I am tired of people complaining about the "Christian" God that "sends" people to Hell. Do we gravitate toward Heaven or Hell? That's the key.
Just think about this: It is you who decides where you put your mind. If you incline your mind to God, you will be with Him or at least you will be immersed in thoughts of Him, at first. Eventually, the thoughts move away, like clouds move from in front of the sun.
I have heard many people exclaim that Jesus spent all his time with "sinners" and that they can therefor sin as much as they want, after which they will go to Heaven - easy peasy - a terribly obvious misrepresentation of his message. The "sinners" that He spent time with were repentant people who regretted their former habits and had resolved to do better, under the sheltering umbrella of Jesus's remarkable forgiveness in a milieu that was rather unforgiving. "Once a sinner, always a sinner" was the prevailing attitude in the culture of the time and place.
Jesus reversed that by forgiving repentant sinners. But He clearly told the Apostles that if anyone did not entertain His message, they were to kick the sand of that place from their shoes and move on.
Prayer and meditation are steps toward Him.
THE MYSTICAL STATE
The end result of mental prayer and meditation can be spiritual ecstasy. Saints such as Teresa of Avila have written many hundreds of pages on this type of spiritual experience and I don't pretend to replace or emulate it with this simplified version of it, but I DO hope that you are inspired to take it up on a regular basis.
Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi enjoyed a special personal relationship with Jesus, enjoying divine conversation with Him as a result of her spiritual disciplines, and she is a wonderful inspiration to anyone interested in contemplative life.
As I mentioned before, a portion of her writings have been preserved and I intend to buy them as soon as I am able. Bob and Penny Lord, well known Catholic film makers, have produced an episode about her, and this is available on Amazon and, I assume, elsewhere.
There is such a wealth of spiritual guides available to us, it is really remarkable that we are not all saints by now. But it will not just hit us, like a lightning bolt, because of some wishful thinking or presumption. It is up to us to prepare ourselves to receive God's grace, to be in a ready state, and glance in His direction.
I hope you take some time to get to know Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi and the mental prayers that she practiced. Let me know how it goes and if you need any help locating these resources.
In the meantime, God bless us all.
Silver "Rose"
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