Posted in MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on MEDITATION, QUOTES on PRAYER, Quotes on SALVATION

Thought for the Day – 3 January– Making a Good Meditation

Thought for the Day – 3 January– Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

Making a Good Meditation

“Alessandro Manzoni was once asked how he had managed to penetrate so deeply into the human mind.
Newman was asked how he had succeeded in discovering the law of universal gravity.
Manzoni’s reply was: “By thinking about it.”
Newman’s was: “By thinking intensely.

Now, in our meditations, we must reveal ourselves to ourselves, which is a very difficult thing to do.
It is, nevertheless, supremely important because its purpose, is not literary or scientific but, is the eternal salvation of our souls!
The attaining of such a purpose, demands serious application on our part, as well as, earnest prayer that God will guide us, so that we may lead lives which will be in union with Him and directed towards their eternal goal, the enjoyment of the Beatific Vision of God!

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/01/03/thought-for-the-day-3-january-making-a-good-meditation/
PART TWO:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/01/03/thought-for-the-day-3-january-making-a-good-meditation-2/

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Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on MEDITATION, QUOTES on PRAYER, Quotes on SALVATION

Thought for the Day – 3 January – Making a Good Meditation

Thought for the Day – 3 January – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

Making a Good Meditation

“Some people claim, that they cannot concentrate for any great length of time on meditation.
In their case, it is very helpful to combine mental and vocal prayer.
Short aspirations and expressions of love for God and of an ardent desire for holiness, can restore the atmosphere of recollection, making the intellect more attentive, the heart more fervent and the entire spiritual exercise, more profitable.

When our minds wander or grow drowsy, we must pull ourselves together by placing ourselves once more in God’s presence and beginning to converse with Him, in a humble and loving fashion.
We must remember how much we need Him and how anxious He is to inspire and help us.
We are so poor and weak – He is infinitely powerful and strong.
We are lost in darkness – He is the Light which illumines every man who is travelling through this world.

St Therese of the Child Jesus always held, that anybody who was careful to spend at least ten minutes, everyday, in devout meditation, was certain of salvation!

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

PART ONE HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/01/03/thought-for-the-day-3-january-making-a-good-meditation/

Posted in MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES - J R R Tolkien and MORE, QUOTES on MEDITATION

Thought for the Day – 3 January – Making a Good Meditation

Thought for the Day – 3 January – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

Making a Good Meditation

“It is not enough, simply to make a meditation.
It ought to be made well.
It is well made only when it results in an increase of solid virtue and sanctity.
Meditation, moreover, should not be study but mental prayer – a raising of mind to God, asking Him to illumine the darkness of our hearts, too often entangled with the things of the world and, to reinforce our wills, rescuing them from the violent attractions of evil and drawing them, in the direction of virtue and sacrifice.
To meditate, is not to study but to pray.
Whoever loses himself in subtle investigations of Christian Doctrine in order to learn something or to be able to mystify others, is studying, not meditating.
It would be even worse, to let one’s imaginations wander off into a kind of pseudo-mystic daydream.
Let us be quite clear about this – Meditation is not a waste of time but a very serious occupation.
It consists in placing ourselves in the presence of God, in admitting to Him our misery and weakness, in thinking about the eternal truths, so that our minds may be enlightened and in aiming at a Christian self-renewal, through the making and carrying out, of good resolutions.

Antonio Cardinal Bacci