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====Ordinary prayer or ascetical stage==== =====Mental or meditational prayer===== Mental prayer is a form of [[prayer]] "performed without aid of any particular formula."{{sfnp|Simler|2009}} It is distinguished from vocal prayers, "prayers performed by means of a given formula",{{sfnp|Simler|2009}} Prayer is mental when the thoughts and affections of the soul are not expressed in a previously determined formula.<ref group=web>[http://www.ewtn.com/library/SPIRIT/MENTAL.TXT Leen, Edward, ''Progress Through Mental Prayer'']</ref> According to Teresa of Ávila, mental prayer is meditational prayer, in which the person is like a gardener, who, with much labour, draws the water up from the depths of the well to water the plants and flowers.{{sfnp|Wynne|1911}}{{sfnp|Lehodey|1912|p=13}} According to Teresa of Avila, mental prayer can proceed by using vocal prayers in order to improve dialogue with God.{{sfnp|Teresa of Ávila|2007|p=141}} According to Lehodey, mental prayer can be divided into meditation, more active in reflections, and contemplation, more quiet and gazeful.{{sfnp|Lehodey|1912|p=5}} ===== Natural or acquired contemplation – prayer of simplicity ===== For Teresa of Avila, in natural or acquired contemplation, also called the prayer of simplicity{{efn|name=prayer_of_simplicity|Catholic Dictionary: ''Prayer of simplicity'': "Meditation replaced by a purer, more intimate prayer consisting in a simple regard or loving thought on God, or on one of his attributes, or on some mystery of the Christian faith. Reasoning is put aside and the soul peacefully attends to the operations of the Spirit with sentiments of love."<ref>Catholic Dictionary: ''Prayer of simplicity'', [https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=35703 Catholic Dictionary: ''Prayer of simplicity'']</ref> }} there is one dominant thought or sentiment which recurs constantly and easily (although with little or no development) amid many other thoughts, beneficial or otherwise. The prayer of simplicity often has a tendency to simplify itself even in respect to its object, leading one to think chiefly of God and of his presence, but in a confused manner.{{sfnp|Poulain|1908}} In the words of Saint [[Alphonsus Maria de Liguori]], acquired contemplation "consists in seeing at a simple glance the truths which could previously be discovered only through prolonged discourse": reasoning is largely replaced by intuition and affections and resolutions, though not absent, are only slightly varied and expressed in a few words. Similarly, Saint [[Ignatius of Loyola]], in his 30-day retreat or [[Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola|Spiritual Exercises]] beginning in the "second week" with its focus on the life of Jesus, describes less reflection and more simple contemplation on the events of Jesus' life. These contemplations consist mainly in a simple gaze and include an "application of the senses" to the events,<ref name="spirex">{{Cite web|url=http://spex.ignatianspirituality.com/SpiritualExercises/Puhl|title=Louis J. Puhl, S.J. Translation – The Spiritual Exercises|website=Ignatian Spirituality|access-date=7 March 2017|archive-date=18 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318033614/http://spex.ignatianspirituality.com/SpiritualExercises/Puhl|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{rp|121}} to further one's empathy for Jesus' values, "to love him more and to follow him more closely".<ref name=spirex/>{{rp|104}} Definitions similar to that of Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori are given by Adolphe Tanquerey ("a simple gaze on God and divine things proceeding from love and tending thereto") and Saint [[Francis de Sales]] ("a loving, simple and permanent attentiveness of the mind to divine things").<ref name="Inner">[https://books.google.com/books?id=8Y2gX6JQr-4C&pg=PA24 William Johnston, ''The Inner Eye of Love: Mysticism and Religion''] (Harper Collins 2004 {{ISBN|0-8232-1777-9}}), p. 24</ref> Natural or acquired contemplation has been compared to the attitude of a mother watching over the cradle of her child: she thinks lovingly of the child without reflection and amid interruptions. The ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' states: {{blockquote|What is contemplative prayer? St. Teresa answers: 'Contemplative [sic]{{efn|Mental prayer, "oración mental", is not contemplative prayer.{{sfnp|Wallenfang|Wallenfang|2021|p="B. Mental Prayer or the Prayer of meditation"}}{{sfnp|Hollenback|1996|p=535}}{{sfnp|Wyhe|2008|p=174}}}} prayer [oración mental] in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.' Contemplative prayer seeks him 'whom my soul loves'. It is Jesus, and in him, the Father. We seek him, because to desire him is always the beginning of love, and we seek him in that pure faith which causes us to be born of him and to live in him. In this inner prayer we can still meditate, but our attention is fixed on the Lord himself.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p4s1c3a1.htm Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2709] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801003944/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p4s1c3a1.htm|date=August 1, 2016}}</ref>}}
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