Prayer and Ascent

Beatus vir, cuius est auxilium abs te, ascensiones in corde suo disposuit in valle lacrymarum, in loco, quem posuit.  Cum beatitudo nihil aliud sit, quam summi boni fruitio; et summum bonum sit supra nos: nullus potest effici beatus, nisi supra semetipsum ascendat, non ascensu corporali, sed cordiali. Sed supra nos levari non possumus nisi per virtutem superiorem nos elevantem. Quantumcumque enim gradus interiores disponantur, nihil fit, nisi divinum auxilium comitetur. Divinum autem auxilium comitatur eos qui petunt ex corde humiliter et devote; et hoc est ad ipsum suspirare in hac lacrymarum valle, quod fit per ferventem orationem. Oratio igitur est mater et origo sursum actionis. Ideo Dionysius in libro De mystica theologia volens nos instruere ad excessus mentales, primo praemittit orationem. Oremus igitur et dicamus ad Dominum Deum nostrum: Deduc me, Domine, in via tua, et ingrediar in veritate tua; laetetur cor meum, ut timeat nomen tuum. In hac oratione orando illuminatur ad cognoscendum divinae ascensionis gradus. Cum rerum universitas sit scala ad ascendendum in Deum; et in rebus quaedam sint vestigium, quaedam imago, quaedam corporalia, quaedam spiritualia, quaedam temporalia, quaedam aeviterna, ac per hoc quaedam extra nos, quaedam intra nos: ad hoc, quod perveniamus ad primum principium considerandum, quod est spiritualissimum et aeternum et supra nos, oportet, nos transire per vestigium, quod est corporale et temporale et extra nos, et hoc est deduci in via Dei; oportet, nos intrare ad mentem nostram, quae est imago Dei aeviterna, spiritualis et intra nos, et hoc est ingredi in veritate Dei; oportet, nos transcendere ad aeternum, spiritualissimum, et supra nos aspiciendo ad primum principium, et hoc est laetari in Dei notitia et reverentia Maiestatis. Haec est igitur via trium dierum in solitudine; haec est triplex illuminatio unius diei, et prima est sicut vespera, secunda sicut mane, tertia sicut meridies; haec respicit triplicem rerum existentiam, scilicet in materia, in intelligentia et in arte aeterna, secundum quam dictum est; fiat, fecit, et factum est; haec etiam respicit triplicem substantiam in Christo, qui est scala nostra, scilicet corporalem, spiritualem et divinam. Secundum hunc triplicem progressum mens nostra tres habet aspectus principales. Unus est ad corporalia exteriora, secundum quem vocatur animalitas seu sensualitas: alius intra se et in se, secundum quem dicitur spiritus; tertius supra se, secundum quem dicitur mens. - Ex quibus omnibus disponere se debet ad conscendendum in Deum, ut ipsum diligat ex tota mente, ex toto corde et ex tota anima, in quo consistit perfecta Legis observatio et simul cum hoc sapientia christiana.  Itinterarium Mentis in Deum, Sanctus Boneventura

'Blessed the man whose help is from You, ascensions in his own heart he has disposed in the vale of tears, in the place which He put them.' 1  Since beatitude is nothing else but the enjoyment of the Most High Good, and the Most High Good is above us, no one can be made blessed unless he ascends above himself, not by a bodily ascent but by the heart. But we are not able to be raised above ourselves unless a superior virtue elevates us. For however much the interior steps are arranged, nothing is done, unless accompanied by Divine Assistance. The Divine Assistance accompanies those who seek it from a heart humble and devout, and this is to sigh for it in this vale of tears, which is done by fervent prayer. Therefore prayer is the mother and font of upward action. And so Dionysius the Areopagite in his book On Mystical Theology, wishing to instruct us regarding mental seeking, first places a prayer.  Let us pray, then, and let us say to the Lord Our God: 'Lead me, Lord, on your way, and I shall enter into your truth; let my heart rejoice that it fears your Name.' In the praying of this prayer one is enlightened by the knowledge of the steps of the Divine ascension. That everything is a stairway to ascend into God; that there is in things a certain vestige, a certain image, certain corporal things, certain spiritual things, certain temporal things, certain eternal things, and by this, certain things outside of us, certain things inside us, and for this purpose, that we come to consideration of the First Principle, which is most spiritual and eternal and above us. It befits that we pass through the vestige, which is corporal, temporal and outside of us, and this is to be led in the way of God; it befits that we enter into our mind, which is an eternal image of God, spiritual and within us, and this is to enter into the truth of God; it befits that we pass over to the eternal, most spiritual, and what is above us, by looking towards the First Principle, and this is to rejoice in the knowledge of God and the reverence of His Majesty. This, therefore, is the way of three days in the solitude; 2 this is the threefold illumination of one day, and the first is like the evening, the second like morning, the third like midday; and this looks back to the threefold existence of things, that is in matter, in understanding and in the art eternal, according to which is said: 'Let it be, He has made, and it has been made'; 3 and this also looks back to the threefold substance in Christ, who is our ladder, that is, the corporal, the spiritual, and the Divine. According to this threefold progress our mind has three principle visions. One is towards exterior corporals, according which it is named the animal or the sensory, the second within the self and in the self, according to that which is called the spirit; the third above the self, according to that which is called the mind. From all of which should be arranged  to ascend into God, to love Him with the whole mind, and with the whole heart, and with the whole soul, 4 in which consists the perfect observance of the Law and at the same time with this, Christian wisdom. The Journey of the Mind into God, Saint Bonaventura 1 Ps 83.6 2 Ex. 3.18 4 Gen. 1.3 3 Deut 6.5, Mt 22.37, Mk. 12.30, Lk 10.27