Deepening Our Prayer Experience

Monday was the memorial of St. Catherine of Siena, regarded as a Doctor of the Church since 1970, but lived in the 14th century as a Dominican Tertiary.  She was noted for her deep, mystical prayer life, her theological reflections and her bold and daring challenges to the Church of her times, even to the Pope.  Sometimes, hearing of these courageous and prayerful saints, we wonder how it all came together for them and wish that we could have even half their experiences in prayer.  What was their secret?
Besides a deep love of God and desire to make God the center of their lives, they took the steps necessary to prepare for a fruitful session of prayer.  As a preliminary step, they put themselves in God's presence, by clearing their minds of clutter, planning, looking ahead, and breathed slowly to calm their bodies, and hence, their minds...They asked for God's help to be open to God during prayer, and to come to love him as a result of this "visit" with him.  They gave thanks for the blessings of the day before, the night; they asked pardon for their transgressions and thus cleared the decks to fully reflect on God's word and let it touch them as God would have it  They took TIME to ready themselves for prayer without jumping right into it, a secret most of us neglect. Then, if using scripture, they read it slowly several times to allow it to penetrate, perhaps imagined themselves in the scene of the Scriptures they were using for prayer and spoke with God in a conversational style.  No rush, no clock watching, just full attention on the moment.  When done and it seemed like the "visit" was over, a prayer of thanks, even a Glory Be would end the session. 
Our fast-paced world can crush our prayer and mold it into another thing that needs to get done.  Is that how we relate to our friends or spouses?  How long would our relationship last if that's the way we treated it?
St. Catherine, let me learn from you and the other saints how to pray.
Bro. Rene