The Internal Influences
During Mental Prayer

A person can try to recollect himself in silence, and as he closes his eyes, he discovers impressions, images, feelings and thoughts arising in him which can have various sources. The diagram above represents the possible sources of those things. They come to us through our three bodies or directly from the Spirit of God. See in this regard the page on the human being. The closer we are to the outside of the diagram, the more the influences are external, that is, further away from the center of our being.

• The brown ring represents the influences coming from our physical body which belongs to the earth; hence, the brown color, the color of the earth.
  • Our desires for food, for well-being…
  • Everything that comes to us through our five senses (sounds, smells…)
• The blue ring represents the influences coming from our psychic body. They often seem to us to be changing, like water; hence, the blue color.
  • The importance we give to what others think of us.
  • The way we judge ourselves.
  • The judgments we make about others.
  • The limited ideas we have of God.
  • All our different kinds of desires.
  • All our different fears.
  • Our emotions of joy, sadness.
  • All our different tendencies and faults…

• The turquoise ring represents the influence of our spiritual body. This is a very subtle influence because it is completely free of the senses; hence, the light color which represents air (turquoise). The spiritual body in a state of grace is illuminated by God and it exerts a positive and ascending influence on our other two bodies, helping us overcome the difficulties.

• At the center, the star represents the Spirit of God in the middle of our being, in the heart of our heart. Being open to its beneficial influence enkindles the human being and detaches him from everything else. Its influence is exerted through:
  • The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Counsel, Fortitude, Piety and the Fear of offending God).
  • All kinds of graces.

• A dark zone surrounds the Spirit because God is infinite and He is completely beyond the scope of our intelligence even in its most elevated form. He is so resplendent that He blinds us in a way. Thus, it is only through the obscurity of the faith that we can draw closer to Him.

  It is good to keep ourselves under the influence of this mysterious zone of the faith because it is protected from the snares of the devil since he does not have access inside the turquoise ring. We enter into that zone by letting ourselves be guided by faith, especially when we must surpass ourselves in order to:

  • Believe in God at a time when society rejects Him.
  • Believe in the good intentions of others even when their actions are disappointing.
  • Believe in Providence which has allowed for a certain tribulation to hurt us, while knowing that this is for our own good.
  • Believe that God is speaking to us through someone in authority who is asking something of us which will exact much from us…