
Rt. Rev. Dom Vitalis Lehodey
Dom Vitalis Lehodey (1857-1948) was a French abbot who is remembered as an authority on the subject of mystical theology. Pope St. Pius X endorsed his work The Ways of Mental Prayer, calling it "a work very useful, not only to religious, but to all who, in any walk of life, are striving after Christian perfection."

End of Mental Prayer
All mental prayer, active or passive, whatever be its object, form or method, has for its end to glorify God, and in order to this, as we have already seen, it may perform the four functions of prayer, or some of the four, or only one, according to the attraction or need of the soul.…

Mental Prayer
Of Mental Prayer in General MENTAL prayer in general is an interior and silent prayer, by which the soul raises itself to God without the aid of word or formulas, in order to discharge its duty towards Him and to become better. There is ordinary mental prayer and mystical mental prayer: in other terms, active…

Consolations and Dryness in Prayer
One of the most common and deplorable illusions consists in judging of our prayer by the consolation or dryness we meet with therein. In thinking it good because accompanied by consolation, bad, if chilled by desolation. No, no, such is not the case. The best prayer, were it ever so dry, is that which leaves…