"Give me 15 minutes of prayer every day, and I
promise you heaven!"
- St. Henry de Ossó
The following is an excerpt from the book, 15 Minutes of Prayer, by Henry de Ossó, soon to be published in English by the Society of St. Teresa of Jesus.
Fr. Henry invites us to become saints through prayer, just 15 minutes a day spent with God. The series of meditations he offers in this book illustrate his method: prayer for the grace to pray well, a simple reading to reflect upon, and a closing evaluation and prayer. The preparation and closing help ensure that we are not just idly drifting in our own thoughts, but truly allowing the Lord to speak to us and work in us.
Opening prayer:
Omnipotent God and Lord, my loving father, I believe that by reason of your
immensity, you are present everywhere, that you are here, within me, seeing the
most hidden thoughts and affections of my soul, that I cannot hide from your
divine eyes. I adore you with the most profound humility and reverence
from the abyss of my misery and nothingness. I ask your pardon for all my sins
which I detest with all my heart, and I ask for the grace to make with profit
these fifteen minutes of prayer that I offer for your greater honor and glory.
Father, teach me to pray. Through Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and Teresa of Jesus,
teach me to pray in order to know myself and to know you, to love you always,
and to make you always loved. Amen.
Meditation:
Imagine you see all creatures coming from the hands of God, and you one of them.
Lord, give me the grace to know the purpose for which I have been created.
Thirty, forty, one hundred year ago, where were you?. . . There was no memory of you. . . and you would have been eternally in nothingness if God, from among millions of possible creatures, had not looked at you with loving eyes, and having pity on you, called you by your name. . .
What loving kindness God has with you! Have you been grateful to him as you should?
But, for what purpose has He brought you into this world? Do you think it was only to eat, sleep, work, enjoy yourself, have a good time?. . . If so, you would only be like the animals. . . and you are worth infinitely more than everything created.
Think about the excellence of your understanding, capable of knowing the truth. . . and the nobility of your will, created to love what is good. . . and the wonder of your memory capable to remember benefits. . . and you will understand that you have been created for a higher end; your reason tells you this, and you faith teaches it to you; you have been created to know God, to love, to adore, and serve him. . . and through this save yourself.
God, the absolute truth: here is the object of your understanding. . .God, infinite goodness: here is the only object that can satisfy your will, fill your heart.
Admire the sublimity of your end: to know God. . . to love God. . . to praise God. . . to enjoy God.
You are capable of enjoying God himself, and poor you if you are content with less than God!. . . You will be unhappy in time and for eternity.
Think even more about the excellence of this end. God himself wants to be your eternal reward. . . He wants to admit you into his Kingdom, sit you at his table, make you a participant of his own eternal happiness.
Yes, in heaven you will be wealthy with the riches of God, a participant of his nature. . . you will talk to him face to face, as a friend to another friend. . . Could there be a more sublime end? God cannot give you a greater one.
How is it then that you do not appreciate your dignity so much?. . . Exclaim with the Prophet: What have I in heaven, and for me, what can there be on earth worthy of my attention and love but You, God of my heart, my portion and inheritance?
What have you done to gain your last end? Perhaps, too many things have occupied your spirit and your attention except God and the things that lead to him.
Examine your life. . . You cannot live in happiness as you are now because there has been no one to resist God and enjoy peace. Our hearts have been created expressly to love God. . . and only in him will it find rest. If not for gratitude. . . at least for your own interest you should resolve to serve God and seek in him alone your last end. Otherwise you will not have peace in this life, nor joy and eternal happiness in the next. . .
God of my heart, my joy, my rest, and my last end! How blind have I been! In the satisfaction of my whims I have placed my last end. . . What madness! What ingratitude!
I fled from you, seeking happiness, and when I thought I could find it far from you, the more torments I found in my heart. . . Pardon me, my God! I resolve with your grace never to forget that you are my last end.
I belong to God! Him only must I adore and serve. May everything perish before I forget my last end.
When an occasion of offending God offers itself leading me away from my last end, I will repeat with my Mother Saint Teresa of Jesus: may everything perish before I offend God, because I owe him more than any one else.
Examination after meditation:
Before beginning the meditation, did I reflect on what I was going to do
and to what purpose?
Did I begin it with the determination to do it well and to profit by it?
Did I prepare beforehand the resolutions I should make and the graces I should
ask for?
Did I kindle my faith in the presence of God, believing I was going to speak
with God himself, who is my beloved Father?
Did I offer him the meditation and ask for grace to make it profitably?
Did I read it carefully, thinking that God was speaking to me?
Did I draw out practical resolutions?
Did I let myself be overcome by sleep or laziness?
Did I entertain idle thoughts?
Was I disturbed by dryness?
Did I detain myself too long in reflection or in any another act of the
intellect?
Did I spend long enough on the affections?
What resolutions have I made? Do I resolve to put them into practice today? On
what occasions?
Did I ask for the grace I need for it?
Have I prayed for those I am required to pray for and for the whole Church?
Closing Prayer:
I give you thanks, oh my God, for the good thoughts, affections and
resolutions you have inspired within me during this time of prayer. I offer all
for your greater honor and glory. Father, teach me to pray. Through Jesus, Mary,
Joseph, and Teresa of Jesus, teach me to pray in order to know myself and to
know you, to love you always, and to make you always loved. Amen.