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Posts Tagged ‘Prayer’

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Jesus Prayed

In 06 Scripture & Theology on 2012/09/27 at 9:11 AM

The individual human soul a temple of God – this opens to us an entirely new, broad vista. The prayer life of Jesus was to be the key to understanding the prayer of the church. We saw that Christ took part in the public and prescribed worship services of his people… And this is precisely how he transformed the liturgy of the Old Covenant into that of the New.

But Jesus did not merely participate in public and prescribed wor­ship services. Perhaps even more often the Gospels tell of solitary prayer in the still of the night, on open mountain tops, in the wilderness far from people. Jesus’ public ministry was preceded by forty days and forty nights of prayer (Mt 4,1-2). Before he chose and commissioned his twelve apostles, he withdrew into the isolation of the mountains. By his hour on the Mount of Olives, he prepared himself for his road to Golgotha. A few short words tell us what he implored of his Father during this most dif­ficult hour of his life, words that are given to us as guiding stars for our own hours on the Mount of Olives. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, let your will be done, not mine” (Lk 22,42). Like lightning, these words for an instant illumine for us the innermost spiri­tual life of Jesus, the unfathomable mystery of his God-man existence and his dialogue with the Father. Surely, this dialogue was life-long and uninterrupted.

Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross)

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“He calls each and every one to holiness”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2012/08/01 at 9:11 AM
Prayer is not the prerogative of monks; it is a Christian undertaking of men and women of the world who know themselves to be children of God. (Furrow, 451)

We are deeply moved, and our hearts profoundly shaken, when we listen attentively to that cry of St Paul: ‘This is God’s will for you, your sanctification’ [1]. Today, once again, I set myself this goal and I also remind you and all mankind: this is God’s Will for us, that we be saints.

In order to bring peace, genuine peace, to souls; in order to transform the earth and to seek God Our Lord in the world and through the things of the world, personal sanctity is indispensable. In my conversations with people from so many countries and from all kinds of social backgrounds, I am often asked: ‘What do you say to us married folk? To those of us who work on the land? To widows? To young people?’

I reply systematically that I have only ‘one stewing pot’. I usually go on to point out that Our Lord Jesus Christ preached the good news to all, without distinction. One stewing pot and only one kind of food: ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work’ [2]. He calls each and every one to holiness; he asks each and every one to love him: young and old, single and married, healthy and sick, learned and unlearned, no matter where they work, or where they are. There is only one way to become more familiar with God, to increase our trust in him. We must come to know him through prayer; we must speak to him and show him, through a heart to heart conversation, that we love him.

‘Call upon me and I shall hear you.’ The way to call upon him is to talk to him, turn to him. Hence we have to put into practice the Apostle’s exhortation: sine intermissione orate; pray always, no matter what happens. ‘Not only with your heart, but with all your heart.’ (Friends of God, 294-295)

[1] 1 Thess 4:3
[2] John 4:34

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About prayer

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2012/06/13 at 9:11 AM

You write: ‘To pray is to talk with God. But about what?’ About what? About Him, about yourself: joys, sorrows, successes and failures, noble ambitions, daily worries, weaknesses! And acts of thanksgiving and petitions: and Love and reparation. In a word: to get to know him and to get to know yourself: ‘to get acquainted!’ (The Way, 91)

How should we pray? I would go as far as to say, without fear of being mistaken, that there are many, countless, ways of praying. But I would like all of us to pray genuinely, as God’s children, not gabbling away like hypocrites who will hear from Jesus’ lips ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord!” shall enter into the kingdom of heaven’ [1]. People who live by hypocrisy can perhaps achieve ‘the sound of prayer’, says St Augustine, ‘but they cannot possess its voice, because there is no life in them’ [2]. They lack the desire to fulfill the Father’s Will. When we cry ‘Lord!’ we must do so with an effective desire to put into practice the inspirations the Holy Spirit awakens in our soul…

I have never tired of talking about prayer and with God’s grace I never will. I remember back in the thirties, as a young priest, people of all kinds used to come to me looking for ways of getting closer to Our Lord. To all of them, university students and workers, healthy and sick, rich and poor, priests and laymen, I gave the same advice: ‘Pray’. If any one replied, ‘I don’t even know how to begin’, I would advise him to put himself in God’s presence and tell Him of his desires and his anxiety, with that very same complaint: ‘Lord, I don’t know how to pray!’ Often, humble admissions like that were the beginning of an intimate relationship with Christ, a lasting friendship with him. (Friends of God, 243-244)

[1] Matt 7:21
[2] St Augustine, Commentaries on Psalms, 139,10 (PL 37,1809)

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“This is a personal meeting with God”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2012/06/06 at 9:11 AM
When you receive him, tell him: Lord, I hope in you: I adore you, I love you, increase my faith. Be the support of my weakness: You, who have remained defenceless in the Eucharist so as to be the remedy for the weakness of your creatures. (The Forge, 832)

I will not surprise anyone if I say that some Christians have a very poor concept of the holy Mass. For them it is a purely external rite, if not a mere social convention. This is because our poor hearts are capable of treating the greatest gift of God to man as routine. In the Mass, in this Mass that we are now celebrating, the most Holy Trinity intervenes, I repeat, in a very special way. To correspond to such great love, we must give ourselves completely, in body and in soul. We hear God, we talk to him, we see him, we taste him. And when words are not enough, we sing, urging our tongue — Pange, lingua! — to proclaim to all mankind the greatness of the Lord.

To “live” the holy Mass means to pray continually, and to be convinced that, for each one of us, this is a personal meeting with God. We adore him, we praise him, we give thanks to him, we atone for our sins, we are purified, we experience a unity with Christ and with all Christians. (Christ is passing by, nn. 87-88)

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Meditative Prayer

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2012/05/29 at 12:00 AM

Practice meditation for a fixed period and at a fixed time. Otherwise we would be putting our own convenience first; that would be a lack of mortification. And prayer without mortification is not at all effective. (Furrow, 446)

Overcome any sluggishness you may feel, and the false excuse that prayer can wait for later. Let us never put off this vital source of grace until tomorrow. Now is the right time. God, who is a loving spectator of everything we do, watches over our most intimate needs. You and I, I tell you once again, we need to confide in him as we might confide in a brother, a friend, a father. Tell him, as I am telling him now, that he is all greatness, all goodness, all mercy. Tell him also, ‘This is why I want to fall in love with you, despite my rough manner and poor hands, soiled and ill‑treated by the dust and grime of this earth’…

Each day without fail we should devote some time specially to God, raising our minds to him, without any need for the words to come to our lips, for they are being sung in our heart. Let us give enough time to this devout practice; at a fixed hour, if possible. Before the Tabernacle, close to him who has remained there out of Love. If this is not possible, we can pray anywhere because our God is ineffably present in the heart of every soul in grace. (Friends of God, 246.249)

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The Dying Prayer of Our Lord

In 06 Scripture & Theology on 2012/03/30 at 9:11 AM

 

Vatican City, (VIS) – The prayer of Jesus at the moment of His death, as narrated by St. Mark and St. Matthew was the theme of Benedict XVI’s catechesis during his general audience….

“In the structure of the narrative”, the Pope said, “Jesus’ cry rises at the end of three hours of darkness, which had descended upon the earth from midday to three o’clock in the afternoon. Those three hours of darkness were, in their turn, the continuation of an earlier period which also lasted three hours and began with the crucifixion. … In biblical tradition darkness has an ambivalent meaning: it is a sign of the presence and action of evil, but also of the mysterious presence and action of God Who is capable of vanquishing all darkness. … In the scene of Jesus’ crucifixion darkness envelops the earth, the darkness of death in which the Son of God immerses Himself, in order bring life with His act of love”.

“Insulted by various categories of people, surrounded by a darkness covering everything, at the very moment in which He is facing death Jesus’ cry shows that, along with His burden of suffering and death apparently accompanied by abandonment and the absence of God, He is entirely certain of the closeness of the Father, Who approves this supreme act of love and of total giving of Self, although we do not hear His voice from on high as we did in earlier moments”.

Yet, the Holy Father asked, “what is the meaning of Jesus’ prayer? The cry addressed to the Father: ‘my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'” He explained that “the words Jesus addresses to the Father are the beginning of Psalm 22, in which the Psalmist expresses the tension between, on the one hand, being left alone and, on the other, the certain knowledge of God’s presence amongst His people. … The Psalmist speaks of a ‘cry’ to express all the suffering of his prayer before the apparently absent God. At moments of anguish prayer becomes a cry.

“This also happens in our own relationship with the Lord”, the Pope added. “In the face of difficult and painful situations, when it seems that God does not hear, we must not be afraid to entrust Him with the burden we are carrying in our hearts, we must not be afraid to cry out to Him in our suffering”.

“Jesus prays at the moment of ultimate rejection by man, at the moment of abandonment. However, He is aware that God the Father is present even at the instant in which He is experiencing the human drama of death. Yet nonetheless, a question arises in our hearts: how is it possible that such a powerful God does not intervene to save His Son from this terrible trial?”

The Holy Father explained that “it is important to understand that the prayer of Jesus is not the cry of a person who meets death with desperation, nor that of a person who knows he has been abandoned. At that moment Jesus appropriates Psalm 22, the Psalm of the suffering people of Israel, at that moment He takes upon Himself not only the suffering of His people, but also that of all men and women oppressed by evil. … And He takes all this to the heart of God in the certainty that His cry will be heard in the resurrection. … His is a suffering in communion with us and for us, it derives from love and carries within itself redemption and the victory of love.

“The people at the foot of Jesus’ cross were unable to understand, they thought His cry was a supplication to Elijah. … We likewise find ourselves, ever and anew, facing the ‘today’ of suffering, the silence of God – many times we say as much in our prayers – but we also find ourselves facing the ‘today’ of the Resurrection, of the response of God Who took our sufferings upon Himself, to carry them with us and give us the certain hope that they will be overcome”.

“In our prayers”, the Holy Father concluded, “let us bring God our daily crosses, in the certainty that He is present and listens to us. The cry of Jesus reminds us that in prayer we must cross the barrier of ‘self’ and our own problems, and open ourselves to the needs and sufferings of others. May the prayer of the dying Jesus on the cross teach us to pray with love for so many brothers and sisters who feel the burden of daily life, who are experiencing moments of difficulty, who suffer and hear no words of comfort, that they may feel the love of God Who never abandons us.

Vatican Information Services

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Temptations by Fr. Reid

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2012/02/25 at 9:11 AM

• Temptation is the focus of our Gospel today. Today we hear the familiar story of how Jesus retreated into the desert for 40 days after His baptism in the Jordan River.

• While He’s in the desert fasting, our Lord encounters the devil, who tries to seduce Him with various temptations.

• In our Catholic moral tradition, we understand that amongst all of the sins that are possible to commit, there are 7 capital sins that are the most objectionable of vices. And all of us, generally speaking, suffer with one or two of these vices.

• These capital or deadly sins are: lust, greed, pride, anger, envy, gluttony, and sloth. While it isn’t easy, facing the temptations these vices pose with courage and determination is part of the road we must all walk on the way to salvation.

• As with all parts of the Christian moral life, we must first turn to Christ and His example if we wish to overcome the temptations that afflict us.

• In our Gospel story today the devil misinterprets or misuses a portion of Scripture to arouse a temptation in Jesus. And Jesus very resolutely counters with another Scriptural passage that He interprets correctly.

• The point here is that Jesus’ response in the face of temptation is strong and forceful, and His response is completely rooted in a sound interpretation of Scriptural morality.

• Thus, if we hope to stave off sinful temptations, it is imperative for each of us to be well-grounded in authentic Catholic moral teaching, and to have a resolute will not to sin.

• It is also good for us to turn to the examples of the saints, like St. Francis, for help. But it’s especially important for us to have a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. One of the titles by which the Church has long venerated Mary is “Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners.”

• Being the Mother of our Redeemer, Mary receives us sinners with great compassion and prays for us so that we may escape damnation. For those who are devoted to her, Mary provides invaluable protection from sin and evil through her maternal prayers.

• From her throne in Heaven, she prays and intercedes for us, she does all she can for us, so that we might be triumphant in the face of temptations. Countless saints have recommended that, when faced with temptation, we should simply pray a Hail Mary for help.

• Moreover, when we pray to Mary for help, she turns us toward her merciful Son, increasing our trust and our hope in Him.

• As Catholics, we must also turn to the Sacraments for aid in fighting temptation, especially the Eucharist and Confession. Because they are two sacraments that we can receive as often as we wish, they are God’s primary vehicles for communicating the grace we need to grow in holiness.

• When we receive Holy Communion in a state of grace, it increases our union with the Lord, forgives our venial sins, and preserves us from grave sins. And confession, too, not only forgives our sins, but it also strengthens us in the face of future temptations.

• Therefore, if we’re serious about fighting sin and overcoming temptations, then it’s veryimportant that we make it a point to go to confession regularly and to receive Holy Communion regularly because they give us strength to fight our temptations.

• Keep in mind that going to confession only once a year is not going to confession “regularly.” That’s going to confession “annually,” and there’s a difference!

• The Lenten practices of fasting and almsgiving are also very useful in helping us overcome temptations. These are spiritual practices that are meant to help purify us, but they also strengthen our wills so that we will be stronger in the face of temptations.

• By saying no to things we enjoy, by forcing ourselves to give more to others, we gain greater mastery over our wills so that we have greater self-control in the face of temptations.

• But lastly we must also be people of prayer. Having a steadfast prayer life is absolutely essential to overcoming temptation and growing in holiness. And whatever prayer life we have must have some element of recollection and meditation.

• As important as they are, we cannot exist solely on simple verbal prayers. We must also have prayer that is rooted in complete silence. We must learn to shut out the noise and distractions of this world so that we might be fully recollected.

• To this end, my friends, we need to turn off our televisions and computers! TV and internet cause so many needless distractions. And quite honestly, if you spend more time watching television or surfing the internet than you do praying, you’ll never grow in holiness.

• Holiness requires silence for it is only in silence that we can truly hear God. While it is important for us to speak to God in our prayer, it is even more important that we learn to listen to Him. This is part of the genius of the Traditional Latin Mass.

• One of the criticisms that is leveled against the old Latin Mass is that people can’t understand what’s going on because most of it is in Latin. And yet that’s part of the point of it all!

• The Latin Mass fosters this sense of recollection and meditation by allowing people to get lost in the mystery of the Mass. The periods of silence, the Latin, and the intricate movements of the priest are all meant to foster a sense of awe and wonder that better enables us to meditate on the beautiful mysteries of our faith and thereby draw closer to God.

• And if you want to know what’s going on at the Latin Mass, you can always follow a missal that has Latin on one side and English on the other.

• But other means of praying, such as the Holy Rosary, Lectio Divina, and going to Adoration,are also wonderful forms of prayer that help us to meditate on the mysteries of our faith.

• The point is that meditation and recollection are necessary components of prayer if we wish to grow stronger in the face of temptations, for this type of prayer strengthens our  int4rior union with God and renders us more capable of cooperating with God’s graces.

• My friends, we all have temptations to face, and we will do so throughout our lives. But wedon’t always have to be a victim of our sinful inclinations. We can overcome sin and be victorious in the face of temptation.

• We can be victorious over our temptations by turning to Our Lady and the saints for their example and intercession, by faithfully and regularly partaking of Holy Communion  and Confession, by fasting and giving alms, and through our recollected prayer.

• Without real struggle against our temptations, none of us will win the crown of heaven. So as we move forward in our Lenten journey, let us turn to the Lord, trusting that “everyonewho calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Copyright 2010 by Reverend Timothy S. Reid

Reverend Reid is pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic  Church in Charlotte, NC

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“The way to cut short all the evils is to pray”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2012/02/21 at 9:11 AM
The way to cut short all the evils we suffer is to pray. (The Forge, 76)

Remember that prayer does not consist in making pretty speeches, or high‑sounding or consoling phrases. Prayer, at times, will be a glance at a picture of Our Lord or of his Mother; sometimes a petition, expressed in words; or offering good works, and the fruits of faithfulness. We have to be like a guard on sentry duty at the gate of God Our Lord: that’s what prayer is. Or like a small dog that lies down at his master’s feet. Do not mind telling him: Lord, here I am, like a faithful dog; or better still like a little donkey, which will not kick the one who loves him. (The Forge, 73)

Your prayer cannot stop at mere words. It has to lead to deeds and practical consequences. (The Forge, 75)

Heroism, sanctity, daring, require a constant spiritual preparation. You can only ever give to others what you already have. And in order to give God to them you yourself need to get to know him, to live his Life, to serve him. (The Forge, 78

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“He listens to us and answers us”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2012/02/14 at 9:11 AM

And in my meditation a fire shall flame out.’ That is why you go to pray: to become a bonfire, a living flame giving heat and light. So, when you are not able to go on, when you feel that your fire is dying out, if you cannot throw on it sweet- smelling logs, throw on the branches and twigs of short vocal prayers and ejaculations, to keep the bonfire burning. And you will not have wasted your time. (The Way, 91)

If we truly want to unburden our hearts, and are honest and sincere about it, we seek the advice of those who love and understand us: our father or mother, wife or husband, our brother or friend. Even though often what we want isn’t so much to listen as to express our feelings and say what has happened to us, a dialogue has already begun. Let us begin to do the same with God; we can be quite sure he listens to us and answers us. Let us pay attention to him and open up our soul in humble conversation, telling him in confidence everything that is on our mind and in our heart: our joys, sorrows, hopes, annoyances, successes, failures, even the most trivial happenings in our day. We will discover that our Heavenly Father is interested in everything about us…

In this way, almost without realizing it, we will go forward at God’s pace, taking strong and vigorous strides. We will come to sense deep in our hearts that when we are close to Our Lord we are able to find joy in suffering, self‑denial and sorrow. What a great source of strength it is for a son of God to know that he is so close to his Father! This is why, my Lord and Father, no matter what happens, I stand firm and secure with you, because you are my rock and my strength [1]. (Friends of God, 245-246)

[1] cf 2 Kings 22:2

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“We have to pray at all times, from morning to night”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2012/02/01 at 12:00 AM

True prayer which absorbs the whole individual benefits not so much from the solitude of the desert as from interior recollection. (Furrow, 460)

As for me, as long as I have strength to breathe, I will continue to preach that it is vitally necessary that we be souls of prayer at all times, at every opportunity and in the most varied of circumstances, because God never abandons us. It is not a proper Christian attitude to look upon friendship with God only as a last resort. Do we think it normal to ignore or neglect the people we love? Obviously not! Those we love figure constantly in our conversations, desires and thoughts. We hold them ever present. So it should be with God.

When we seek Our Lord in this way, our whole day becomes one intimate and trusting conversation with him. I have said and written this so many times, but I don’t mind saying it again, because Our Lord has shown us by his example that this is exactly what we have to do: we have to pray at all times, from morning to night and from night to morning. When everything goes well: ‘Thank you, my God!’ If we are having a hard time, ‘Lord, do not abandon me!’ Then this God of ours, who is ‘meek and humble of heart’ [1] will not ignore our petitions or remain indifferent. For he himself has told us, ‘Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened for you’ [2]. (Friends of God, 247)

[1] Matt 11:29