Catechism of Mental Prayer

I wanted to read this book because I had done a lot of mental prayer, but I didn't really know the rules or best practices. I just sort of sat down at adoration and thought about my life, God, and the mysteries of the rosary. I knew from a different book on eucharistic adoration that it's generally good to do several types of prayer: thanksgiving, adoration, supplication, and repentance. Beyond that I knew nothing. This book really helps you solidify some of the methodologies to keep in mind, and it explains the logic and reasoning behind each. Basically, this book is going to give you a firm foundation of principles to rely on for mental prayer moving forward.

Before I purchased the booklet I knew very little on mental prayer, but now I am confident in my abilities to prayerfully contemplate. It is quite short but concise, and can be read in 20 minutes or so. It is similar in size and length to a “pocket Constitution.” If you are looking for a lengthy book on mental prayer, this is not it, but if you are looking for easy to understand and short instructions, this is your booklet. I would especially recommend purchasing it with a larger item as it can cover its cost in what is saved in shipping (I bought this with the very great Joseph Kochiss book on St. Therese of Liseux). Don’t expect this to be a lengthy treatise, but if you want a quick rundown on mental prayer, I couldn’t recommend this more.

This booklet begins with a catechism (question & answer), the hows and whys of mental prayer. It also contains prayers of preparation to enable a beginner to begin and end a session of meditation. It contains a helpful list of meditation subjects, and aspirations called spiritual bouquets. This booklet can be used by itself, or a together with another devotional book, such as books by St. Alphonsus Ligouri, or St. Louis De Montfort. With this booklet's help, I've begun and you can too!