St. Jane de Chantal's Advice on Prayer

"Just as birds would never be able to mount the air on a single wing, so we must not allow ourselves to think that by means of mortification alone, without the aid of prayer, a soul will ever take flight in order to raise itself to God. 

Penances without prayer are useless pains; prayer without penance is food without salt which easily goes bad. Hence it is absolutely necessary to fit our souls with those two wings, mortification and prayer, in order that we may make our flight to the heavenly court in which we may find contentment of soul in conversation with our God.

The great method for mental prayer is simply this: that there is none when the Holy Spirit has taken charge of the person who is meditating, for then He does with the soul as it pleases Him, and all rules and methods vanish away. 
In the hands of God the soul must become like clay in the hands of a potter, who from it can form any sort of dish; or, if you like, the soul must become like soft wax receptive to the impression of a seal, or like a blank sheet upon which the Holy Spirit writes His divine will. 
If, when entering upon prayer, we could make ourselves a mere capacity for receiving the spirit of God, this would suffice for all method. Prayer must be carried on by grace, and not be deliberate art. 
Enter into your prayer by faith, remain in it in hope, and do not abandon it except by virtue of that charity which asks only to work and to endure.

The fundamental state of mind for mental prayer is that purity of intention by which we are resolved that everything we do shall be for the glory of God alone. The second condition is a complete self-resignation which may make us indifferent to anything that can happen to us. The third is a complete giving up of our own opinions so that we labor only at that which God has given us for our labor.

When we begin mental prayer we must call home all the faculties of our soul and must tell ourselves: "So now you are going to appear before God and to deal with Him; everything else has got to be dropped."

Bring to your prayer the deepest peace of heart you can. In order to put yourself in the presence of God you will picture Him as filling the entire universe, and you will see Him in every place, like the air which we know penetrates everywhere. Or we may withdraw into ourselves, into that inner chamber of our hearts, and there, with a calm and steady eye, consider how the divine essence lives throughout our soul and fills our inner self. Finally. we must humble ourselves and acknowledge that we are unworthy to speak to God, saying like Abraham: "I will speak to my Lord, I who am but dust and ashes."

The most suitable state of mind for mental prayer is that which will lead us into it with a heart completely detached. so that the soul, in all its interior powers and resources, may appear naked before God and may bow down before His will, sometimes doing this by means of a deliberate act and fresh intention.

If prayer is to be good it must be carried out with attention and reverence. What we do in prayer must be determined according to our attraction, whether it be by meditation or by a simple gazing upon God, according as He may lead us.
Every meditation must be ended by three acts which we should never fail to make. The first is thanksgiving; the second, the offering of our prayer; the third, an act of petition, by which we implore God's aid in order to carry out the good resolutions which we have made.

The very essence of mental prayer, St. Francis de Sales used to say, consists in talking to ourselves and with God, praising and blessing Him because of what He is, speaking to Him as would a child to his Father, a disciple to his master, a subject to his king, a poor beggar to a rich man, a wife to her husband; in short, as we might to a faithful friend.

The only thing which is absolutely indispensable to prayer is our heart and, though if this part of us be not committed all the rest is only a hollow mockery, nevertheless with heart alone given to prayer, we never lack for anything."