June 8th
St Chantal on Prayer
Mental Prayer

When the hour comes for prayer, our soul which has been awaiting this blessed moment with a holy impatience, must rise up without delay, at the given signal in order to receive the honor which is about to be paid to us.  Then we must call down the Holy Spirit, invoke the Blessed Virgin, our good angel, and take some of the saints to act as advocates in our appeal, and to keep us company in God's presence.

The  most suitable state of mind for mental prayer is that which will lead us into it with a heart completely detached, so that the soul, in all its interior powers and resources, may appear naked before God and may bow down before His will, sometimes doing this by means of a deliberate act and fresh intention.

If prayer is to be good it must be carried out with attention and reverence.  To tell the truth, would it be reasonable for almighty God, before whom the angels efface themselves in awe, to give any heed to a person who addresses Him without due reverence?