How do we start a prayer with meditation?

1. Concentrate (Initial prayer and petition)
2. Reflect (Gospel of the day)
3. Conversa (Dialogue with Christ)
4. Commit yourself (Purpose)

Step 1. Concentrate

• Turn your attention away from external things and your worries, put yourself in the presence of God. Do a preparatory act of faith, hope and love.
• Remember that God is truly present listening to you, that he has something to tell you. You need to hear it.
• Ask God for the grace you need (petition).
• Choose the best time and place for your meditation.
• Prepare what you are going to meditate from the night before.

Step 2. Reflect

• Select the Word of God, found in the Bible, writings of saints, Church documents or spiritual writings, etc., according to your program of spiritual life.
• Read slowly and reflexively the text you are going to meditate on. Read it again seeking to discover what God wants from you in the here and now of your life. Exercise your whole mind: memory, imagination and intelligence; let your emotions participate.
• It is not about learning new truths, but about understanding them more clearly, with greater depth, tasting them, contemplating them.
• God knows what thanks you need more. Find out what they are in this meditation time.
• Listen carefully to what the Holy Spirit inspires you.
• Reflect on one or two lights that have caught your attention. If you have found many, do not rush, keep calm and reflect a point thoroughly, until your heart is satisfied. Only then goes to the next aspect.

I start looking for the book of meditations that I have been using and I realize that I forgot it at home one more time. Fortunately there is a missal on the opposite bank. I take it and read the Gospel passage from the previous Sunday. Talk about not putting new wine in old wineskins, and not putting a new patch on an old cloth. I read it one more time and nothing catches my attention. I read it one more time slowly, but I only hear the breath of the person sitting behind me. Lord, show me what you want to say to me today! – I look once again at the custody where you are silently present but no idea appears. I bring my favorite Psalm (131) to my mind and recite it silently in my heart .

– “It is not inflated, Yahweh, my heart, nor my eyes up. I have not taken a path of greatness or prodigies that come to me wide. No, I keep my soul in peace and silence as a weaned child in the lap of his mother. As a weaned child my soul is in me

Step 3. Conversa

As always, I find a lot of material to consider in these simple words. Have confidence in God and give him control over my life. I am always worried about having control of everything, especially my future; but it is God who really has control. He has created me, has a plan for me and wants me to trust Him. He came into the world to earn my trust. He is now here present in the Eucharist to reaffirm his love and his omnipotence.I must trust in Him. I need to let the stillness and the silence penetrate my heart .

• Prayer is never passive or exhaustive. You receive the truth and the grace of the revelation of God and you give your own answer, you converse with God from heart to heart, and this is the soul of meditation.
• Your answers may be words of love, gratitude, praise, repentance or petition.Sometimes they will be a torrent of words and in others you will only repeat short sentences or even a word.
• This step consists mainly in opening your heart so that the word of God may penetrate there, regenerate and inflame with its light the deepest and secret recesses of your life.

My beloved Lord, You are the center of the universe and you have control of all things.I know that you have a plan for my life and that whatever it is, it will be the best for me, for my family, for the Church. You have created me for something and you want me to do it. I want to know your plan about me and follow it. Oh, Lord, I’m so weak. I worry so much when I can not have everything under control. Why do not you tell me what your plan is instead of trying to guess, worry and fight to discover what you want from me? (Pause to listen) .

Your ways are mysterious, but You are God, I am not. My part is only to do everything as well as possible and to trust You for everything else. Today, at least, I know what you want me to do. I have my obligations, and even though You know I would rather avoid them and go to rest, I will not. I will try to do them the best I can because that is what You want, Lord, and You always want what is best for me. (Silence to be able to listen) .

Step 4. Commit yourself

• Towards the end of the meditation you must conclude and renew your commitment to the mission that God has given you. This step is the bridge between prayer and action.
• If you can link this commitment with the specific tasks of your day. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will push you to a specific act of charity (visit a sick person) or self-control (apologize).
• Finish your meditation renewing your commitment to Christ and, if it helps, spend some time writing the lights.

• Briefly review how you went in meditation, what helped you or what obstacles you found.
• End with a short vocal prayer such as the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, or any other of your favorite prayers.