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Mental Prayer According to the Principles of St. Thomas
Informative book divided into the following Union of Sanctity and Science in St. Thomas, The Sources of the Union of Sanctity and Science in St. Thomas, Teaching of St. Thomas on Mental Prayer, Mystical Prayer or Prayer of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, The Saints are the Truly Great Ones of This World
72 pages, Paperback
Published May 24, 2018
13 people want to read
About the author
Denis Fahey
35 books21 followersFather Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp., was an Irish Catholic priest. Fahey promoted the Catholic social teaching of Christ the King, and was involved in Irish politics through his organisation Maria Duce. Fahey firmly believed that "the world must conform to Our Divine Lord, not He to it", defending the Mystical Body of Christ without compromise. This often saw Fahey in conflict with systems which he viewed as promoting "naturalism" against Catholic order – particularly communism, freemasonry and rabbinic Judaism.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 16, 2022
While I do appreciate that some of the reviewers have said that it is a "dense" or "tough" read, that doesn't mean it deserves a lower star rating. Indeed, this is the sort of book you want to work your way up to being able to comprehend well.
Fr. Fahey, most known for his work against the organized forces of Naturalism, illustrates here his fluency with St. Thomas and the Summa, and how his principles in that work can help one better understand the various types of prayer and how progress is to be made in the spiritual life.
The book, above all, argues for charity: that it is better to love God than to know Him (if there's such a choice) which points to the one remaining theological virtue in the afterlife: Charity (as Faith and Hope will have been fulfilled).
"A keen mind can argue during a whole life-time on behalf of Catholic Truth and write learned works without advancing to any great degree in Charity." (p. 4)
"The virtue of chastity especially disposes a man for contemplation, while carnal pleasures bring the mind down to the level of the things of sense."
(Summa IIa, IIIae, 180.2.3)
(quoting St. John Vianney) "Sanctity alone makes us what the divine vocation demands: men crucified to the world, and to whom the world itself is crucified." (p. 9, footnote)
"The Theological Virtues...are preferable to the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, absolutely considered (simpliciter)." (p. 23)
"Theological Prayer...is chiefly concerned with God, His Perfections, His Inner Life, His Supernatural Government, general and particular, His Gifts of Grace; then with Our Lord Jesus Christ, His Life, Death and permanent role as Head of the Church." (p. 32)
"The lowest degree of divine love is met with when nothing is loved more than God or in opposition to God or as much as God. He who does not possess this degree of Christian perfection does not fulfill the precept at all."
(IIa, IIIae, 184.3.2)
"[T]he life of grace here below and that of glory in heaven are one and the same; grace commencing what glory perfects." (p. 61, footnote)
"Judging rightly because one's being vibrates in union with God is to be attributed to the gift of Wisdom." (p. 62, footnote)
(interior dispositions necessary for contemplative prayer) "(1) purity of heart; (2) simplicity of mind; (3) profound humility; (4) love of recollection and prayer; (5) fervent charity." (p. 66)
"By Faith and Charity, we can think and will as He thinks and wills." (p. 67)
(quoting St. John of the Cross) "Let those men of zeal...consider that...if they would spend at least one half their time in prayer, even though they may not have attained to the state of unitive love...to act otherwise is to beat the air..." (p. 69)
"Without the practice of the moral virtues, without a radical detachment from all created things, without an extreme delicacy of conscience in maintaining purity of mind and will and in following the movements of the Holy Ghost, it is impossible to make progress in prayer and contemplation." (p. 71)
"...Maritain remarks that the word 'superman' was employed by the first time by St. Gregory the Great, where he says that 'those who have the wisdom of divine things are, so to say, supermen.'" (p. 73, footnote)
(quoting Jacques Maritain) "Charity is better than the best of human things. It is of more value here below than the intelligence: but it alone is worth more than the intelligence." (p. 74)
"[I]t is better to love God than to know Him." (p. 75)
Fr. Fahey, most known for his work against the organized forces of Naturalism, illustrates here his fluency with St. Thomas and the Summa, and how his principles in that work can help one better understand the various types of prayer and how progress is to be made in the spiritual life.
The book, above all, argues for charity: that it is better to love God than to know Him (if there's such a choice) which points to the one remaining theological virtue in the afterlife: Charity (as Faith and Hope will have been fulfilled).
"A keen mind can argue during a whole life-time on behalf of Catholic Truth and write learned works without advancing to any great degree in Charity." (p. 4)
"The virtue of chastity especially disposes a man for contemplation, while carnal pleasures bring the mind down to the level of the things of sense."
(Summa IIa, IIIae, 180.2.3)
(quoting St. John Vianney) "Sanctity alone makes us what the divine vocation demands: men crucified to the world, and to whom the world itself is crucified." (p. 9, footnote)
"The Theological Virtues...are preferable to the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, absolutely considered (simpliciter)." (p. 23)
"Theological Prayer...is chiefly concerned with God, His Perfections, His Inner Life, His Supernatural Government, general and particular, His Gifts of Grace; then with Our Lord Jesus Christ, His Life, Death and permanent role as Head of the Church." (p. 32)
"The lowest degree of divine love is met with when nothing is loved more than God or in opposition to God or as much as God. He who does not possess this degree of Christian perfection does not fulfill the precept at all."
(IIa, IIIae, 184.3.2)
"[T]he life of grace here below and that of glory in heaven are one and the same; grace commencing what glory perfects." (p. 61, footnote)
"Judging rightly because one's being vibrates in union with God is to be attributed to the gift of Wisdom." (p. 62, footnote)
(interior dispositions necessary for contemplative prayer) "(1) purity of heart; (2) simplicity of mind; (3) profound humility; (4) love of recollection and prayer; (5) fervent charity." (p. 66)
"By Faith and Charity, we can think and will as He thinks and wills." (p. 67)
(quoting St. John of the Cross) "Let those men of zeal...consider that...if they would spend at least one half their time in prayer, even though they may not have attained to the state of unitive love...to act otherwise is to beat the air..." (p. 69)
"Without the practice of the moral virtues, without a radical detachment from all created things, without an extreme delicacy of conscience in maintaining purity of mind and will and in following the movements of the Holy Ghost, it is impossible to make progress in prayer and contemplation." (p. 71)
"...Maritain remarks that the word 'superman' was employed by the first time by St. Gregory the Great, where he says that 'those who have the wisdom of divine things are, so to say, supermen.'" (p. 73, footnote)
(quoting Jacques Maritain) "Charity is better than the best of human things. It is of more value here below than the intelligence: but it alone is worth more than the intelligence." (p. 74)
"[I]t is better to love God than to know Him." (p. 75)
May 5, 2019
My limitations not the book's.
February 2, 2024
You need basic knowledge of Thomistic theology and extensive knowledge of grammar. This is a dense book. It's a short, rough read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews