On Prayer and Meditation
St Peter of Alcantara
Scepter Publishers
2023
139 pages
ISBN: 9781594174735
Though written in 1556 to help people prepare their lives for eternity, it is just as relevant today when so many people live their lives either ignorant of the essential truths regarding the immortality of the soul or what is necessary for their eternal salvation. It offers an excellent programme to develop our prayer life.
The book was translated into English in 1926 by Dominic Chivas OFM – the present work contains slight revisions for the sake of clarity for modern readers. St. Peter had a reputation for sanctity throughout Spain and Portugal in his lifetime – among others, St Teresa of Avila was influenced by him.
The book’s three parts are divided (unevenly) into nineteen chapters, twelve of which appear in Part I. They deal primarily with meditation and give excellent suggestions on the subject matter for it. One series of meditations take the reader through the traditional “Last Things” – death, judgement, heaven and hell giving us a reminder of the shortness of this life in comparison with eternity.
Of all the chapters none stand out more than the one dealing with the Seven Meditations on the Sacred Passion which the author offers for the different days of the week. We can get so used to the events of the passion from the washing of the feet and the institution of the Blessed Eucharist through the agony and arrest, the trials before Annas and Caiaphas the crowning with thorns, the carrying of the cross, the Crucifixion and beyond. Reading and meditating this chapter reminds one of the infinite love that led Our Lord to suffer and die for us, and how terrible sin is that such appalling suffering was necessary for our redemption. St Peter takes us through these events in a manner that can be a great help in realising the importance of developing an active prayer life and at the same time provides us with wonderful material to achieve that goal.
In other chapters, St Peter offers advice on the preparation for prayer, reading, meditation, thanksgiving and certain counsels to be followed with the exercise. Other chapters deal with the nature of and aids to true devotion and the temptations which usually beset those who give themselves to prayer.
Four hundred years after St Peter of Alcantara wrote this book, fellow Spaniard St Josemaría Escrivá wrote that “These world crises are crises of saints.” Whether we think of crises such as the wars in Eastern Europe or the Middle East, or even the slaughter of the unborn in so many countries, now including Ireland this book has the capacity to lead many souls on the true path to eternity.
About the Author: Pat Hanratty
Pat Hanratty taught Science/Chemistry in Tallaght Community School from its inception in 1972 until he retired in 2010. He was the school’s first Transition Year Co-ordinator and for four years he had the role of home School Community Liaison Officer.