← [[session-06-f1a|Vocal and Mental Prayer]] | [[formation-I-a-handbook|Table of Contents]] | [[session-08-f1a|The Prayer of Quiet]] → # Prayer of Recollection "Active recollection, by which we put ourselves and keep ourselves in the presence of God, has always been regarded as the essential preparation for communion with God in the mystic life. Just as the Prophet did not hear the voice of God in the storm, but in the gentle breeze, so the heart of the spiritual man must not be shaken by the storm but must listen for God's voice in the silence of its own interior.” — Blessed Titus Brandsma (Lecture on the Hermits of Carmel) Required Reading: The Way of Perfection, chapters 26, 27, 28, 29, 30. Additional Reading: Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, The Practice of the Presence of God Spiritual Maxims, ch. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7. ICS Publications. (Appendix H) WP Study Edition Glossary: Recollection (Prayer of), pg. 512 Explanatory note: At this point, St Teresa begins a lengthy explanation of the development of the life of prayer (Prayer of Recollection, Prayer of Quiet, and Contemplation) using the Our Father as a guide. Essential Points to Discuss: “Our Father, Who art in heaven” – Prayer of Recollection • “I am not asking you now that you think about Him or that you draw out a lot of concepts or make long, subtle reflections with your intellect. I am not asking you to do anything more than look at Him (inwardly in faith)” (26:3). • Acquire the habit of keeping Christ present (Humanity of Christ). This presence to Christ is, indeed, what Christians must always bring to prayer, no matter what state they may be in (It’s coming to know ourselves through Christ) (Summary of 29:5 and 26). • One must at least make the little effort necessary to recollect the sense of sight to look in faith at the Lord within. “In the measure you desire Him, you will find Him” (26:3). • “It is also a great help to take a good book written in the vernacular in order to recollect one’s thoughts and pray well…” (26:10). This does not mean to spend the whole time reading; when one’s mind wanders read a few lines to refocus one’s thoughts. • “This prayer is called ‘recollection,’ because the soul collects its faculties together and enters within itself to be with its God” (28:4). • Teresa’s method has to do with relationship more than technique. “We must speak with Him as with a father, or a brother, or a lord” (28:3). And this easy familiarity is seen by Teresa as the best means to “recollection.” To recognize one’s intimacy with God in Christ is to know that heaven is not a distant place; heaven has been brought to us because God has come to us (the mystery of the Incarnation). 17 Assigned weekly meditation: Use the Our Father to recollect the mind and senses in God’s presence. Focus on parts of the Our Father or read slowly through the whole prayer, as the Holy Spirit leads. “Consider that you are losing a great treasure and that you do much more by saying one word of the Our Father from time to time than by rushing through the entire prayer many times.” (WP 31:13) --- **Source:** Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, *Formation I Year A: The Way of Perfection* (US National Formation Program, 2024).