A Prayer before Study

Prayer is so essential to my writing process. Again, I just love this:

A Prayer before Study

by St. Thomas Aquinas

Ineffable Creator,

Who, from the treasures of Your wisdom,

has established three hierarchies of angels,

has arrayed them in marvelous order

above the fiery heavens,

and has marshaled the regions

of the universe with such artful skill,

You are proclaimed

the true font of light and wisdom,

and the primal origin

raised high beyond all things.

Pour forth a ray of Your brightness

into the darkened places of my mind;

disperse from my soul

the twofold darkness

into which I was born:

sin and ignorance.

You make eloquent the tongues of infants.

Refine my speech

and pour forth upon my lips

the goodness of Your blessing.

Grant to me

keenness of mind,

capacity to remember,

skill in learning,

subtlety to interpret,

and eloquence in speech.

May You

guide the beginning of my work,

direct its progress,

and bring it to completion.

You Who are true God and true Man,

Who live and reign, world without end.

Amen

[Raccolta #764, Pius XI Studiorum Ducem, 1923]

List of Things To Do if I ever get thrown into a 6' cell in a dungeon in Toledo for 9 months like St. John of the Cross

Assuming that the Friar guarding my cell, like the one who was so extravagantly kind to St. John, smuggles me pieces of paper and something to write with. And, excepting any mystical ecstasy that makes me only want to rewrite Song of Songs in impassioned vernacular Spanish, this is what I hope I would do:

1. Get really good at drawing my own hand while holding the writing utensil. Then get equally practiced drawing with the left hand.
2. Memorize the multiplication tables, perhaps through 100, depending on my inclination and attention span. Jail is hard on you, so I don't want to set the bar too high.
3. Sing a lot, but in a kind of exploratory ramble, the way 4-yr-olds do. Topics to cover: happy memories of when I wasn't imprisoned, leading to expressions of how I feel during the purgative experience while my soul is perfected in anticipation of mystical union with Jesus.
4. Finish my honors thesis.

http://carmelitesofeldridge.org/juan3.html