Giaculatories

GIACULATORIE. – From the Latin iaculari (to hurl). They consist in frequent outpourings of the heart toward God, Jesus Christ, the Virgin, and the saints, at times purely interior, at other times expressed in words.

The term perhaps derives from a passage of St. Augustine who, speaking of the solitaries of the Thebaid, says that they used frequent prayers, «brevissimas et raptim quodammodo iaculatas» (Epist., 129, 20: PL 33, 501).

Ascetical writers, the saints, and the Church agree in recommending the use of ejaculatory prayers as one of the easiest practices, since it requires no time and can be interspersed among all our occupations, even the most demanding, while being particularly effective in maintaining and strengthening union with God, imploring the help of Grace in difficulties, and restoring the soul in moments of discouragement and dejection. During periods of aridity, when other forms of prayer become difficult, ejaculatory prayers help the soul maintain contact with God and preserve it from tepidity.

S. Francesco di Sales rightly says that the entire great work of devotion lies in this exercise. Some saints made particularly frequent use of it, even undertaking to say no fewer than a fixed number each day. In such undertakings, however, it is more useful to attend to the spirit that inspires them than to the material number.

As for the formulas, none is prescribed. The best for each person are those that arise spontaneously at every moment and correspond to the particular needs of the soul. They may be extremely brief and, at times, a single word is much more effective than a long phrase. Such, for example, are the Holy names of Jesus and Mary. Of the expression Deo gratias, S. Agostino says: « hoc nec dici brevius, nec audiri laetius, nec intelligi grandius, nec agi fructuosius potest » (Epist., 41, 1: PL 33, 158). Objectively, however, there are formulas that are more recommendable, namely those taken from Sacred Scripture, especially from the Psalms, which are exceedingly rich in them. Cassiano, for example, devotes the whole of the tenth chapter of the tenth conference to the verse: « Deus in adiutorium meum intende; Domine, ad adiuvandum me festina » (Ps. 69, 1), in order to demonstrate how this single invocation is well suited to every circumstance of our life and constitutes a practical form of perpetual prayer (cf. PL 49, 831 ff.).

Also deserving of recommendation are the ejaculatory prayers indulgenced by the Church, for which even mental recitation alone suffices to gain the indulgence (S. Penitenzieria Apostolica, 7 Dec. 1933, in AAS, 26 [1933], p. 35). A list of these indulgenced ejaculatory prayers is found in the Enchiridion indulgentiarum. Praeces et Pia Opera (Roma 1950).

Among the various collections of ejaculatory prayers, mention may be made of those of card. G. Bona: Opuscula ascetica selecta (Friburgo in Br. 1911, pp. 281-378); of D. A. Baker, Devout exercises of immediate acts and affections of the will (in H. Bremond, Hist. Litt. du sentiment religieux en France, X, Parigi 1932, p. 340 ff.); and of O. Marchetti, Meditazioni sulle giaculatorie del S. Cuore di Gesù (1ª serie [2ª ed.], Roma 1927; 2ª serie, ivi 1928; 3ª serie, ivi 1930).