GIACULATORIES. - From the Latin iaculari (to hurl). They consist in frequent outpourings of the heart toward God, Jesus Christ, the Virgin, the saints, sometimes purely internal, 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 authors, the saints, and the Church agree in recommending the use of ejaculations as one of the easiest practices, since it requires no time and can be interspersed among all our occupations, even the most intense, while it is particularly effective in maintaining and strengthening union with God, in imploring the help of Grace in difficulties, and in reinvigorating the soul in moments of discouragement and despondency. In periods of aridity, when other forms of prayer become difficult, ejaculations help the soul to maintain contact with God and preserve it from lukewarmness.
St. Francis de Sales rightly says that in this exercise lies the whole great work of devotion. Some saints made a particularly frequent use of it, committing themselves even to saying no fewer than a fixed number each day. In these agreements, however, it is well to pay heed more to the spirit that informs them than to the materiality of the number.
As for the formulas, none is prescribed. The best for the subject are those that come spontaneously at every moment and in response to the particular needs of the soul. They can be very brief and, sometimes, a single word is far more effective than a long phrase. Such are, for example, the holy names of Jesus and Mary. Of the expression Deo gratias St. Augustine 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, and these are those taken from Sacred Scripture, especially from the Psalms, which are exceedingly rich in them. Cassian, for example, devotes the entire tenth chapter of the tenth conference to the versicle: "Deus in adiutorium meum intende; Domine, ad adiuvandum me festina" (Ps. 69, 1) in order to demonstrate how this single invocation adapts well to all the circumstances of our life, and is a practical form of perpetual prayer (cf. PL 49, 831 ff.).
Also to be recommended are the ejaculations indulgenced by the Church, and for which, to gain the indulgence, even mental recitation alone suffices (Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary, 7 Dec. 1933, in AAS, 26 [1933], p. 35). A list of these indulgenced ejaculations is found in the Enchiridion indulgentiarum. Praeces et Pia Opera (Rome 1950).
Among the various collections of ejaculations, mention is made of those of Cardinal G. Bona: Opuscula ascetica selecta (Fribourg 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, Paris 1932, p. 340 ff.); of O. Marchetti, Meditazioni sulle giaculatorie del S. Cuore di Gesù (1st series [2nd ed.], Rome 1927; 2nd series, ibid. 1928; 3rd series, ibid. 1930).