. . . One of the shortest ways of describing what we need if we are to pray outstandingly well is to say that the remote preparation for holy prayer is a holy life.  Live well and you will pray well.  But let us be rather more analytical than that and look at the conditions in our lives that conduce to fervent prayer under four main headings.  Each of these four dispositions is concerned with purity, and if we have all four of them in our lives, we shall be fully included in that beatitude in which Our Lord said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

. . . First of all and very important is purity of conscience.  Then, secondly, there is purity of heart.  Thirdly, we need purity of mind, and in the fourth place, purity of action . . .

What do we mean by purity of conscience?  Well, there are two elements in it, and there are two things which can prevent us from having purity of conscience. . . . In the first place, we have an obstacle to a clear conscience if we know that we are willing to consent to something which God dislikes.  If we are willing to give way to any offence against God for the future, if there is something we know we are going to do and are willing to do which displeases God, then our conscience is not pure. . . . So what we need is a real firm intention, here and now, never to offend God again in the least way.  I do not say that we have to be convinced that we shall succeed in never offending God again, but that it is our intention never to do so. . . . We may indeed commit faults from time to time and even have habitual ones.  Purity of conscience does not require us to have already conquered them and to feel that we are free from the danger of doing them again, but it does mean we have a real desire to be free from them, a real intention of fighting them. . . .

From one point of view, then, purity of conscience may be ours when we hate all sins and faults, when we have no attachment to sinful things, or actions to feel guilty about, but the mere intention of turning away from all faults, or at least seriously trying to do so, is not enough on its own to ensure that we have a pure conscience, to ensure that complete peace of conscience that opens the door to the awareness of God and His peace in our mental prayer. . . . We must cultivate peace of conscience about the past as well as about our future intentions. . . . All that is required is sorrow for our past sins and an absolute trust in the mercy of God, Who forgives us far more readily than we even ask . .

The question of peace of conscience regarding our past sins is very important, because it is in this area that many people feel uneasy and lack the peace they ought to have. . . . Let us clear away the past and press ahead to the things that are to come, even if we are elderly, [for] we are approaching our face to face meeting with Our glorious Lord of love, and He wants us.

. . . God is a loving Father and is very glad to forgive us at the first possible opportunity when we are truly sorry, no matter how many times we have fallen or what our sins are.  Showing confidence in God’s mercy is a good way of beginning to make up for what we have done wrong.  Once forgiven, we can voluntarily do some penance in a state of complete peace of mind, out of a peaceful love for God.

The second kind of purity, which is a remote preparation for holy prayer, is purity of heart.  It is probably not so easy to acquire as purity of conscience.  It consists in a certain attitude to all created things.  It entails not being attached to anything created but only to God Who created all things.  The need for this purity of heart, this detachment of the heart from the encroachment of created things is clear.  The prayer we are aiming at is a prayer based on pure love for God, and if our hearts are encumbered with created attachments outside God’s will, whether these attachments are spiritual or material, they cannot really taste God.  So this is a pretty radical purity, an indifference or unconcern for created things, except insofar as they come from God and are loved for their part in His order and for His sake.  We have to so love God in our hearts that we only love other things in relation to Him, as He wants us to love them.  It means that we never use any created thing or action simply for the pleasure or satisfaction it gives us; we use all things for the glory of God. . . .

So purity of heart is not easily won, and once we have acquired some degree of it, it is not easily retained.  We have to watch and pray, or we shall enter into new attachments.  If we put up a good fight to love all things only according to God’s order, at some stage God may step in and, by a grace in our prayer, make detachment from created things almost easy, because a new light on God’s overwhelming beauty may make their attraction fade. . . .

If purity of conscience is comparatively easy to acquire because contrition is not difficult to have, and purity of heart is more difficult to acquire, the third disposition we need for successful prayer is even more difficult to cultivate.  This is purity of mind.  For the mind is very active with most of us and tries to think about whatever it likes from morning to night.  The purity of mind we need is not just a question of avoiding sinful thoughts—obviously we must oppose them in order to have a pure conscience—but the mind has to be trained not only to avoid evil thoughts but to think the right kind of thoughts, Christian thoughts, to be concerned with suitable things to think about.  We need Christ-like thoughts, and not to have minds flitting about like butterflies after every triviality that passes by.  Dissipation of mind is the opposite of purity of mind.  This third purity is very near to what we mean by habitual recollection or at least brings it about.  Our minds like to move among all kinds of interesting or amusing or agreeable thoughts, and they have a great natural curiosity, idle curiosity very often.  These are things we must try to control.  The roving mind has to be controlled, and vain, frivolous and useless thoughts kept out. 

. . . The best way, and perhaps the only way, to keep useless thoughts out is by having useful ones in mind instead.  If you are thinking of your duty of the present moment, you will not have idle thoughts.  If you obey Scripture and ponder over the will of God night and day, you will not have dissipated thoughts. . . . If you think of God when nothing else has the right to your attention, you will have purity of mind.  St. Paul [wrote], “Fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honor, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise.” (Philippians 4:8-9) . . .

We should be particularly careful about purity of mind when thinking of other people.  If such thoughts are thoughts of Christian love for others and the consideration of how to do them good, then they are good thoughts, but the danger is that when we think of others we all too easily judge them or their actions or their motives.  There is great impurity of mind when we think critical thoughts of others, when we disobey God by judging them, when we get worked up about them, when we are jealous and envious.  Such thoughts have not God Our Lord as their author, and His grace is not with us in having them.

The fourth disposition we need as a remote preparation for prayer is purity of action.  This purity of action is not so much a question of what we do as it is a matter of the purpose or reason or motive for which we do it.  We have to act in keeping with God’s order in things and solely for the love of God.  If we act outside the order God wants, then we have not got purity of action. . . .

The main thing is to start each action well with a good intention and, if possible, a moment’s prayer.  If we begin each serious duty with attention to what we are doing and why, we shall be able to do it conscientiously and with the intention of pleasing God, of giving Him glory.  But the main cause of purity of action is the presence of the other three purities:  of conscience, of heart, of mind.  Purity of conscience will make us take care not to displease God in any way.  Purity of heart will deter us from attaching our desire to anything created outside God’s order and from any action that is not done for God.  Purity of mind will free us from thoughts of anything unworthy or useless or outside God’s will.  And so we shall act for God thoroughly.  That is purity of action.

Back to list