In addition to the kind of mental prayer we have already considered, there is another which usually goes by the name of Meditation. We have already spoken of vocal prayers in which set words precede and circumscribe the thought. In the mental prayer called Meditation on the other hand it is the thought which precedes and elicits the words or spontaneous acts. There is sufficient truth in the aphorism ‘Vocal prayer is meaning what we say, but meditation is saying what we mean’ to distinguish between these approaches.

In general, we may say of meditation that the closer the soul draws to God through habitual collaboration with his Will, the more ardently will it desire God in time of prayer and the less will it rely on preliminary meditation. This need for meditation varies also with disposition, Penpenient and many other factors. St Teresa of Avila, for instance, found great difficulty in collecting her thoughts and for many years used a book to start her prayer. ‘I could not meditate without a book’, she says. This does not mean she made formal meditation.