According to Father Gabriel Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D. in the book Divine Intimacy.
Mental prayer is indispensable to the spiritual life; normally it is, so to speak, its very breath. However, this spontaneity in prayer is usually realized only if the soul applies itself to meditation for some time by its own personal effort. In other words, one must learn how to pray. It is to teach souls this devout practice that various methods of meditation have arisen.
There are many methods, each with its own merit; among them is the Teresian method, so called because it is based on the teachings of St. Teresa of Jesus, the Foundress of the Discalced Carmelites and the great mistress of the spiritual life.
The idea of mental prayer which St. Teresa has left us is well known today. In her Life she defines it as “an intimate sharing between friends … . taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us” (Life 8).
In these words St. Teresa reveals the affective spirit of mental prayer which is its special characteristic. It is “a friendly sharing” and exchange of “mutual benevolence” between the soul and God, during which the soul “converses intimately with God”—intimacy, as we know, is the fruit of love—and the soul speaks with him whose love she knows. Each element of the definition contains the idea of love, but at the end the Saint mentions that the soul ought also to “know” and be conscious of God’s love for her: this is the part which the intellect plays in prayer.
Therefore, according to St. Teresa, there is an exercise of both the intellect and the will in mental prayer: the intellect seeks to convince the soul that God loves her and wishes to be loved by her; the will, responding to the divine invitation, loves. That is all. There could be no clearer concept of prayer.
But how translate it into practice? This is the task of the method.
In order to understand the structure of the Teresian method clearly, we must keep in mind the definition of prayer given above; then we shall easily see that it is fully realized by such a method, that it truly means conversing lovingly with our Lord, once we understand that he loves us.
We cannot speak to God intimately unless we are in contact with him. For this reason, we make use of “preparation”, which consists in placing ourselves more directly in the presence of God, turning to him by means of a good thought.
In order to convince ourselves that God loves us, we choose for the subject of meditation one of the truths of faith which can make his love evident: this is the purpose of the reading of an appropriate passage.
However, it does not suffice merely to read the matter, we must examine it thoroughly, and there is no better way of doing this than by reflecting upon it—by meditating.
All revealed truth can manifest God’s love for me, but today I try to understand it by reflecting on the theme I have chosen in my reading. I make use of the good thoughts contained in the subject of the meditation to actually convince myself of his love, so that love for him will come spontaneously into my heart, and words perhaps, to my lips.
Thus my colloquy with God begins; I tell Him in every way possible (using the words which come to me most spontaneously) that I love him, that I want to love him, that I want to advance in his holy love, and that I wish to prove my love for him by my actions, by doing his holy will.
And now we are at the center, the heart of prayer.
For many souls, nothing more is needed.
Some, however, prefer greater variety; therefore to facilitate the prolonging of our loving conversation with God, the three final steps of the method are offered. These, however, are optional.
Thanksgiving: After having told Our Lord again that we love him, we thank him for all the benefits we have received from him and show him we are grateful.
Offering: Aware of having received so many favors, we try to repay our debt as far as we can by making some good resolution. It is always useful to end our prayer in this way.
Petition: The consciousness of our weakness and frailty urges us to implore the help of God.
This is the whole Teresian method, divided into seven steps:
Two introductory: the preparation (presence of God) and reading.
Two essential: the meditation and the colloquy.
Three optional, to help in prolonging the colloquy: the thanksgiving, the offering, and the petition.
The meditations in this book are based on this method.
We begin with the presence of God, rather, with an appropriate thought which brings us into contact with God and orientates us toward him.
The reading provides the subject for the meditation. And as many spiritual persons apply themselves to meditation twice a day, each meditation offers two points.
The soul then begins to reflect, using freely the text already read. In this way it will pass spontaneously to the colloquy which, according to the Teresian concept, is the “heart”, the center of prayer.
That is why our meditations are directed toward helping souls especially on this point. To this end we have tried to give the colloquies a form that is sufficiently ample; nevertheless, they may be used freely as desired, each soul choosing whatever corresponds to the need of the moment. To make the colloquies more efficacious, we have selected suitable ardent expressions and thoughts taken by preference from the writings of the saints and other loving souls. Very often we have been obliged to make slight modifications in these texts, in order to adapt them to the intimate form of a colloquy. However we always indicate their source.
The colloquies consist of expressions of love, alternating with petitions, acts of thanksgiving, and transports of the soul toward God; these are made concrete in resolutions.
We hope that these meditations, written in this way, will help souls to apply themselves efficaciously to mental prayer according to the Teresian idea and method.