If we wish to know how to make a profitable holy hour, we may well consider the teaching of St. Dominic (which he gave more in actions than in words). Specifically, we look to the first four ways of prayer which follow successively one upon the other to form a unified whole, such that they make up a single period of meditation which tends at the end toward infused contemplation.
In a holy hour we must first (as in, St. Dominic’s first way of prayer) humble ourselves as though Christ were truly present before us, even as the holy man St. Dominic humbled himself before the altar. This is the period of immediate preparation: To recognize the presence of God, not only in the world but especially in our soul through habitual grace. What a gift that the Holy One should dwell within us – the mystery should elicit an act of humility on the part of the creature, who has done nothing to deserve this intimate union with his Creator.
Then, in the second place (i.e. the second way of prayer), we ought to consider the infinite goodness of our God who has even come to dwell among us as a child – thus our father St. Dominic would recall the mystery of the Epiphany, “When those devout Magi entered the dwelling they found the child with Mary, his mother, and falling down they worshipped him.” Humility and adoration must be the immediate preparatory acts for a holy hour or period of mediation.
Thirdly (we refer to the third way of St. Dominic), the soul offers acts of love to the Almighty in restitution for all the offenses the Majesty receives from ungrateful men. St. Dominic would employ the discipline (beating his back with an iron chain), we may well recall that an act of love does more to console the Heart of Jesus than any amount of blood. Still, little acts of mortification will serve to declare the infinite glory of our Savior, to discipline our sensible passions, and to direct the heart and mind to the things which are to come. But, above all put on love! It is love for which the Sacred Heart of Jesus so longs, and love alone will appease Him!
As faith must give place to sight, so too mediation must lead to contemplation – and hence we proceed to thefourth movement of prayer (i.e. St. Dominic’s fourth way): The simple and loving gaze of the beloved soul upon her Lover. As our father Dominic would “gaze upon the Crucified One”, he was often rapt in ecstasy. The simple gaze of love, beyond discursive reasoning, is the highest form of prayer – but it is only gained after the long period of purgation in the first three ways.
It is in this fourth way that St. Dominic would offer prayers also for his brethren – teaching us that the union of love is meant to fill the soul with such confidence and trust in her Lover that she may ask for all that is good. Genuflecting before the greatness of our God, St. Dominic would then rise to implore the divine blessings and genuflect again trusting in our Savior’s mercy: “Thus there was formed in our holy father, Saint Dominic, a great confidence in God’s mercy towards himself, all sinners, and for the perseverance of the younger brethren whom he sent forth to preach to souls.”
Thus, we see the four movements of every holy hour: adoration and humility, consideration of the mysteries of salvation, acts of love, contemplation and petition.
[original source: New Theological Movement]
