The rule recognised by spiritual authors is this: meditation for beginners, affective prayer for proficients, active or passive contemplation for advanced souls.
Prayer, in its widest sense, does four things: it adores, asks pardon, gives thanks, and begs for graces.
We must not confine ourselves to reciting the words [in prayer] with our lips; it is necessary that we should raise to God our mind by attention, our heart by devotion, and our will by submission.
