The priest on television this morning said that they were
receiving lots of requests from people watching, and many of them were asking: “How
do I pray?” It seemed a rather basic
thing to me, until I heard his answer.
He quoted St. Theresa of Avila, and the words seemed to re-enforce my
thoughts, and make me take prayer more seriously.
St. Theresa said to make the words of your prayer your words,
from your heart. This is real prayer,
that God hears. Whether they are form prayers, like the Our Father, or contemplative,
deeply personal prayers, you have to believe in His presence as you pray, that He
is there in the room with you, and then speak to His heart from yours, and you
will know His Presence. See in your mind’s
eye God, His angels adoring Him in heaven, Christ speaking to His people, and
loving them. Know God in your prayer,
and He will know you, and your prayer will be a dialogue with Him, and you will
hear Him speaking back to you, and feel His Love for you. No matter what your situation, He is God; He
understands.
We all long for union with God, He created us in His likeness,
with His longing for union with us, His children. Christian prayer always has the face of Jesus
Christ in the mind’s eye. He came to
show us the way to the Father. He is the
Way. Place images of Him in your
home. Begin a relationship with Him by
striving to know Him, and praying to Him.
When reading the Gospels, put yourself at His feet, and listen. And feel His love for you.
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It seems like it is back to my
youth days, as again this morning the choir sang an old hymn I remember singing
as a child: “Sweet Sacrament, we Thee adore, Oh make us love Thee more and
more; Oh make us love Thee more and more.”
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I am in the 4th week of
a series of talks by Dan Burke. Each
Sunday night he does a Zoom video conference, teaching about how to grow in
Carmelite Spirituality. He notes that
the key points of spiritual growth are partaking in the sacraments, prayer, and
what he called “Ascesis” --- a giving of self to God and others, a
self-denial. Personally, I found that to
be the key to my spiritual growth, humility, recognizing that although I know
many things, I don’t know the mind of God, and if I am to really be in a
relationship with Him, talking with Him, I need to stop thinking that He is
listening to me, like He’s listening for my advice. I am the one who needs to listen, assuming I
know nothing. In a way, that’s what St.
Theresa is saying above. We need to get
into a relationship with God; as long as we think we know as much or more than
Him, that won’t be possible.
This Sunday, in response to a
question, Dan said that parents need to fast for their kids, and then he
clarified: they need to do radical
fasting. Not giving up a television show
or some favorite candy, but give up all food on Fridays, or saying the rosary
every day for them. They want to do some
things which show God the seriousness of their prayers, that they are not just
words. Jesus gave up his life for us; that’s
the ultimate fasting for His kids. If we
really want God to hear our prayers for our lost children, we need to show Him
we are serious in our prayers, and offer radical fasting for them.
That was a first for me, and with
thoughts I have had of what the people did to save Nineveh, I liked his advice.
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