• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
  • Catholic Hymnal
  • Jogues Missal
  • Site Map
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Mental Prayer through Hymns

Veronica Brandt · January 2, 2016

St Ignatius vision INDFULNESS, COMPASSION and meditation: all strongly recommended by mental health experts. For Catholics this really translates into mental prayer.

You may have come across the quote attributed to St Francis de Sales: “Everyone of us needs half an hour of prayer every day, except when we are busy—then we need an hour.” Now, I’m sure that 15 minutes in a busy day is fantastic, but you get the point—make time for prayer!

A few times I’ve mentioned this and some close Catholic friends confided that they didn’t know where to begin with mental prayer—they’re sure they’re hopeless at it—which is an awful thing to think.

Take the first idea of mental prayer, personified in Fr Faber’s hymn:

O Mother, I could weep for mirth,
Joy fills my heart so fast;
My soul today is heaven on earth,
Oh, may the transport last !

I think of thee, and what thou art,
Thy majesty, thy state—-
And I keep singing in my heart;
Immaculate ! Immaculate !

In this idea, you kneel down, open your heart and you are transported to seventh heaven where consolation and bliss fills your soul.

Now, I’m not going to say that’s impossible, but it is certainly not the ordinary experience. With this sort of expectation you are likely to be disappointed and feel like a failure—just like my friends related. But this is not practising mental prayer! This is like sitting at the piano for the first time and wondering why you can’t play Liebestraum.

On the other hand, take St Thomas Aquinas via Gerard Manley Hopkins:

Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore,
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.

There – you kneel down and contemplate God. You acknowledge your own unworthiness – not to feel bad about yourself, but to reflect the reality of the amazing love of God for us.

There are many, many, many methods of mental prayer available. Just like a piano method they require some patience and repetition before prayer starts coming naturally. Just like learning the piano, if it doesn’t seem to be working you can turn to someone for advice. That’s what spiritual directors are for.

Maybe a good way to start is to take this from the new Enchridion of Indulgences:

A partial indulgence is granted to that individual among the faithful who, in carrying out his duties and bearing with the trials of life, raises his mind in humble trust to God, adding—even mentally—some pious invocation.

A little each day for 2016!

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe to the CCW Mailing List

Avatar

About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

5 April 2021 • When Girls *SING*

Covid restrictions here in California are still extremely severe—switching “two weeks to flatten the curve” into “two years to flatten the curve.” Since 2020, we’ve had police breaking into our church to check if everyone is wearing a mask…even when only 5-6 people are present! But we were allowed to have a small percentage of our singers back on Easter Sunday, and here is their live recording of the ancient Catholic hymn for Eastertide: Ad Cenam Agni Providi. The girls were so very excited to sing again—you can hear it in their voices!

—Jeff Ostrowski
29 March 2021 • FEEDBACK

“E.S.” in North Dakota writes: “I just wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU for all the hard work you have put—and continue to put—into your wonderful website. In the past two years, my parish has moved from a little house basement into a brand new church and gone from a few families receiving Low Masses twice a month to several families (and many individuals) receiving Mass every Sunday, two Saturdays a month, and every Holy Day. Our priest has been incorporating more and more High Masses and various ceremonies into our lives, which has made my job as a huge newbie choir master very trying and complicated. CCWatershed has been an invaluable resource in helping me get on my feet and know what to do!!! Thank you more than I can express! May God bless you abundantly and assist you in your work and daily lives!”

—Jeff Ostrowski
29 March 2021 • Condemned?

On Palm Sunday, the Passion was read. Immediately after mention is made of the betrayal by Judas, the Holy Eucharist is introduced. Is this not a condemnation of “Christians” who deny the Church teaching on the SANCTISSIMUM? Here is Matthew 26: And Judas that betrayed him, answering, said: “Is it I, Rabbi?” He saith to him: “Thou hast said it.” And whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to his disciples, and said: Take ye, and eat. This is my body.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The plea that the laity as a body do not want liturgical change, whether in rite or in language, is, I submit, quite beside the point. … (it is) not a question of what people want; it is a question of what is good for them.”

— Dom Gregory A. Murray (14 March 1964)

Recent Posts

  • PDF Download • Vespers for Holy Thursday?
  • PDF Download • “Sanctus for Three Voices” (Soprano, Alto, and Bass)
  • Live Recording • “Jesus My Lord, My God, My All”
  • 5 April 2021 • When Girls *SING*
  • (Hymn) • “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today”

Copyright © 2021 Corpus Christi Watershed · Charles Garnier on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.