Part II, Chapter IV

Of the Third Point of Preparation, Which Consists in Proposing the Subject of the Mystery on Which We Intend to Meditate

After these two general points of the preparation, there remains a third, which is not common to every kind of meditation, and which consists in representing to your imagination the whole of the mystery on which you desire to meditate, as if it really passed in your presence. For example, if you meditate on the crucifixion of our Lord, imagine that you are on Mount Calvary, and that you there behold and hear all that was done or said at the time of our Lord’s passion; or, if you prefer it, imagine that they are crucifying our Saviour in the very place in which you are, in the manner described by the holy evangelists.

The same rule is to be observed when you meditate on death, or hell, or any mystery in which visible and sensible objects form a part of the subject; but as to other mysteries, such, for example, as relate to the greatness of God, the excellency of virtue, the end for which we were created, etc., which are invisible things, we cannot make use of the imagination. We may, it is true, use some similitude or comparison to assist us in the consideration of these subjects, but this is attended with some difficulty; and my intention is to instruct you in so plain and easy a manner, that your mind may be at perfect ease. By means of the imagination we confine our mind within the mystery on which we meditate, that it may not ramble to and fro, just as we shut up a bird in a cage, or tie a hawk by her leash, that she may rest on the hand. Some may perhaps tell you that it is better to use the simple thought of faith, and to conceive the subject in a manner altogether mental and spiritual in the representation of these mysteries, or else to imagine that the things take place in your own soul. But this method is too subtile for beginners; therefore, until it shall please God to raise you higher, I advise you, Philothea, to remain in the low valley which I have shown you.

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