YEAR
OF PRAYER 2024
Papa Francesco announced the start of a Year of Prayer beginning on January 21, 2024 in preparation for the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year.
Prayer is directing the heart toward God in love. A constant attitude of the heart is acquired by regular prayer and perseverance in the spiritual life. Grace supplies what is necessary. Over time, an attitude of love becomes more deeply rooted, so that everything we think, say, or do becomes continuous prayer.
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2022/01/what-is-mysticism.html
“Contemplation” is a common term in expositions of Christian spirituality, but it is not always used with the same meaning.
By “contemplation” we mean here the mystical experience of God. It is a transcendental experience that comes from God and that reveals God in some way to the mystic.
Contemplation is necessary for the soul. Contemplation is to be with God, to delight in the presence and love of God. In contemplation the soul is enlightened and strengthened for the journey down the mountain and in the imitation of Christ in the love of one's neighbor. Contemplation is a preparation for life in eternity.
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2023/01/hearing-word-of-god.html
Public domain photo
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NOTES ON PRAYER
ReplyDeleteGod is found in the heart, whether in desolation or consolation. The heart that seeks God has already found God because the heart is directed rightly. It is the heart that has gone astray that is in danger of losing God, because God is sought and chosen freely.
“What Is the Essence of Monasticism?”
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2017/09/what-is-essence-of-monasticism.html
Gonzalinho
NOTES ON PRAYER
ReplyDeleteDistraction in prayer is normal. The remedy during prayer is to simply lead our attention back to the words and their meaning. When we join our heart to the meaning of the words, it is true prayer. And then there is the prayer of the heart without words.
“On Vocal Prayer”
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2017/10/praying-hands-1508-by-albrecht-durer-on.html
Gonzalinho
NOTES ON PRAYER
ReplyDeleteIt is a salutary practice indeed to read the Word of God daily. Daily readings for the Mass are a good start. The Liturgy of the Hours is also a profitable source of readings from Scripture. The best approach to the text...is to read quietly and peacefully, with a heart open to the voice of the Holy Spirit. If nothing strikes us, we should not trouble ourselves. ...What is required of us is prayerful attention, not only during the time of prayer but throughout the day and night.
“Not by Bread Alone”
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2017/12/not-by-bread-alone.html
Gonzalinho
NOTES ON PRAYER
ReplyDeleteSilence is a quality of the soul. It is acquired and deepened through physical silence, but ultimately the source of genuinely satisfying silence is grace, the gift for which we are best disposed to receive through a dedicated life of prayer, in the most complete sense of the word.
Solitude is the most profound intimacy and union with God. It comes with a cost, but we should not fear paying the price because it is Jesus himself who carries our cross. All is joy for those who embrace what God asks of us, for it is with God's grace that everything good is possible.
Perseverance in prayer and works of virtue despite prolonged aridity is a very characteristic feature of desert spirituality. The monk enters this desert and is thereby purified of their faults and proven in love. The monk loves the desert because it is there that he or she finds God.
“The Spirituality of Silence and Solitude”
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-spirituality-of-silence-and-solitude.html
Gonzalinho
NOTES ON PRAYER
ReplyDeleteWe must engage the world but not allow the world to dictate the terms of our engagement. Silence and solitude, time with God are means of union with God, not escapism. Christ did not escape from the world. He entered the world in order to redeem it.
“Contemplation Is Action”
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2018/12/contemplation-is-action.html
Gonzalinho
NOTES ON PRAYER
ReplyDeletePrayer is a conversation with God. The Orthodox tradition teaches that prayer must descend from the mind to the heart. True prayer engages the heart.
Eloquence is not only unnecessary but possibly even counterproductive. Heartfelt words are all that is necessary.
Sometimes consolation arrives immediately. At other times the entire prayer is a desert.
The ultimate purpose of prayer is growth in love, which has many faces. If a person finds it difficult to say in prayer that they love God, they can ask God how they can better love him and ask for the grace to love him better.
“Lectio Divina”
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2021/04/lectio-divina.html
Gonzalinho
ON QUIETISM
ReplyDelete“Quietism (from the Latin word quies, repose, inactivity) is the result of false mysticism. It is a theoretical and practical negation of asceticism. The basic principle of quietism is that Christian perfection is found only in a complete passivity of the soul. This passivity applies not only to mental prayer but to spiritual life in general. Any human effort or activity interferes with God’s action. ‘Let God act’ is the guiding principle of the quietists, meaning: Let God alone do everything. Early in life, a person, they say, should make an act of complete passivity. When this has been done, no other act of virtue is required, no resistance to temptation is necessary. Their perfection consists essentially of self-annihilation, mystical death, and absorption into the divine substance. Their part in the work of salvation and sanctification is limited to the passive exposure of their soul to the action of the Holy Spirit who does everything in consequence of our union with Christ.”
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=9060
—Pascal P. Parente, “Quietism,” Catholic Culture
Saint Ignatius of Loyola fell afoul of the Spanish Inquisition under suspicion of sympathy with the Alumbrados, the Quietists of the time in Spain.
...One of the notable exponents of Quietism is Meister Eckhart, who made statements that could be interpreted as pantheistic, identifying the being of the beatified soul in Heaven with the being of God. For this reason, among others, he was censured and condemned by the pope.
...As long as mysticism exists in the Roman Catholic Church—and it always will, because the religion is all about a transcendent spiritual dimension beyond our ordinary and everyday empirical experience—Quietism and its progeny will remain of major interest and concern among the faithful.
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2020/09/placeholder-4-of-4.html
Gonzalinho
CARTHUSIAN PRAYER
ReplyDeleteCarthusian spirituality is a combination, not entirely unique, of solitary and common prayer.
Carthusian solitaries live in community, inspired by the semi-eremitic lauras originating Egypt and Syria in the early fourth century, although the Carthusian monasteries today hardly resemble the original lauras, the last of which are said to have existed on Mount Athos in the tenth century.
The Carthusian Order numbers among the monastic orders of the Roman Catholic Church. Carthusian spirituality particularly underscores solitude, enclosure, and asceticism, besides liturgical prayer in common, as a way to union with God. Carthusians not engage in apostolate outside the monastery.
The USA Carthusian website distinguishes Carthusian spirituality by citing its notably exacting emphasis on silence and solitude. In the Roman Catholic Church, Carthusian spirituality has been renowned—even feared—for its severity.
“The members of other monastic Orders also seek God in silence or solitude, but for Carthusians silence and solitude are the principal means to find Him. Inner silence – poverty in spirit – creates the empty space necessary to experience God’s presence in our heart, which transcends all words. ‘Let him make a practice of resorting, from time to time, to a tranquil listening of the heart, that allows God to enter through all its doors and passages.’ (St 4,2)
“Solitude and silence help the Carthusian monk ‘in a special way’ to become aware of a great mystery that is present in every Christian (St. 2:2). The whole of Carthusian life helps the monks to live in God’s presence: liturgy, work, study, community; everything is done in a climate of solitude and silence.”
https://carthusiansusa.org/spirituality/
—“Carthusian Spirituality,” Charterhouse of the Transfiguration
To be continued
Gonzalinho
CARTHUSIAN PRAYER
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The life of common prayer in the monastery is described in the principal Carthusian website.
1. The Great Night Service
23:30 pm: Rise. Matins of the Virgin Mary. Personal prayer in cell. The brothers rise at midnight.
00:15 am: In church, Office of Matins followed by Lauds. Angelus.
Between 2:15 and 3:15 am: Return to cell and sleep after Lauds of the Blessed Virgin.
2. Morning: Holy Mass, Lectio Divina, Study
06:30 or 06:45 am: Rise.
07:00 am: Office of Prime, followed by the Angelus. Prayer or readings in preparation for Mass.
08:00 am: Conventual Mass in the church. Then, for the fathers, celebration of Mass in solitude in a chapel. For the brothers, prayer and then work.
10:00 am: Office of Terce in cell. Then lectio divina and study.
3. Noon and Afternoon: Meal, Recreation, Manual Work
Noon: Angelus. Office of Sext. Meal.
After the meal there is a time called “recreation”, which can be used freely.
2:00 pm: Office of None. For the fathers, a time of manual work in the cell usually follows. The converse brothers [conversi] return to their work...
4. The End of the Day
4:00 pm marks the end of the activities. Vespers of the Virgin Mary in cell.
4:15 pm: Vespers in church, and then return to cell.
5 pm: Spiritual reading. Between 6:00 and 6:30 p.m.: Supper
6.45 pm: Angelus and office of Compline. Between 7:30 and 8:00 pm: Bedtime.
https://chartreux.org/moines/en/a-carthusian-day/
—Monastery of the Grande Chartreuse, “The Day,” The Carthusian Monks
Carthusian prayer isn’t supposed to be lived in secular society. Separated from the world and enclosed, Carthusian spirituality is a special type of religious vocation that is realized only under exceptional conditions.
Still, the example of Carthusian life puts into practice important principles of the spiritual life that apply to all Christians—the indispensability of developing an interior relationship with God in solitary and silent prayer, and the helpfulness, indeed, necessity even of implementing organization and structure in conducting one’s spiritual life in order to develop, maintain, grow, and flourish in our loving relationship with the mysterious and Almighty God.
Gonzalinho
Carthusians do not engage in apostolate outside the monastery.
DeleteGonzalinho
DOCTOR OF PRAYER
ReplyDelete[In contrast to Saint John of the Cross’ ascent of Mount Carmel, Saint Teresa of Avila, Doctor Orandi or Doctor of Prayer,] invokes the image of an interior castle. It maps out a journey not upward, but inward.
The image of an interior dwelling-place has antecedents, for example, the inner cell of the heart of Saint Catherine of Siena. However, Saint Teresa uniquely employs the metaphor of an interior castle in a highly developed manner. Her account is based on the extraordinary fullness of her mystical experience, so that her book has no precedent in the spiritual literature.
In the first chapter of The Interior Castle, Saint Teresa exclaims:
Today while beseeching our Lord to speak for me because I wasn’t able to think of anything to say nor did I know how to begin to carry out this obedience, there came to my mind what I shall now speak about, that which will provide us with a basis to begin with. It is that we consider soul to be like a castle made entirely out of a diamond or of very clear crystal, in which there are many rooms, just as in heaven there are many dwelling places. [6]
She continues: “Well, let us consider that this castle has, as I said, many dwelling places: some up above, others down below, others to the sides; and in the center and middle is the main dwelling place where the very secret exchanges between God and the soul take place.” [7]
The way inside the castle, she explains, is through prayer: “Insofar as I can understand the door of entry to this castle is prayer and reflection.” [8]
Notes
[6] Saint Teresa of Avila, “The Interior Castle,” I, 1 in The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Volume II, translated by Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D. and Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. (Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 1980), p. 283.
[7] Ibid., p. 284.
[8] Ibid., p. 286.
https://essaysofgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2017/07/symbols-of-spiritual-journey.html
Gonzalinho
THE PRAYER OF QUIET
DeleteOn the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and exclaimed, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.’” He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive. There was, of course, no Spirit yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 7:37-39)
Jesus Christ is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, in his body, blood, soul, and divinity.
When we pray before the Blessed Sacrament, the Real Presence is like an ever-flowing spring from which streams of spiritual consolation water our souls to the point of overspilling.
“The water comes direct from its source, which is God, and, when it is His Majesty’s will and He is pleased to grant us some supernatural favor, its coming is accompanied by the greatest peace and quietness and sweetness within ourselves—I cannot say where it arises or how. And that content and delight are not felt, as earthly delights are felt, in the heart—I mean not at the outset, for later the basin becomes completely filled, and then this water begins to overflow all the Mansions and faculties, until it reaches the body. It is for that reason that I said it has its source in God and ends in ourselves—for it is certain, and anyone will know this who has experienced it, that the whole of the outer man enjoys this consolation and sweetness.”—Saint Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, II, 4
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2023/04/two-reflections-on-holy-eucharist.html
Gonzalinho
CONTEMPLATIVES IN ACTION
ReplyDeleteIn the Constitutions Ignatius prescribed very little formal prayer for the formed Jesuit, that is, the Jesuit who has pronounced his final vows after “tertianship.” He writes:
Given the length of time and approbation of their life which are required before admission into the Society among the professed…, it is presupposed that those so admitted will be men who are spiritual and sufficiently advanced that they will run in the path of Christ our Lord to the extent that their bodily strength and the exterior occupations undertaken through charity and obedience allow. Therefore, in what pertains to prayer, meditation, and study, and also in regard to the bodily practices of fasts, vigils, and other austerities or penances, it does not seem proper to give them any other rule than that which discreet charity dictates to them, provided that the confessor always be informed and also, when a doubt about advisability arises, the superior. Only this will be said in general. On the one hand, they should take care that the excessive use of these practices not weaken their bodily strength and or take up so much time that they are rendered incapable of helping the neighbor spiritually according to our Institute; on the other hand, they should be vigilant that these practices not be relaxed to such an extent that the spirit grows cold and the human and lower passions grow warm. [582]
Ignatius presupposes that the formed Jesuit will have strong desires for union with God in prayer and for penances. In this prescription he aims to temper those desires so that the formed Jesuit is not prevented from working in the vineyard of the Lord. He also mentions the opposite tendency, but it seems almost an afterthought. His main point is to make clear that the formed Jesuit needs to be discerning about the practices of prayer and asceticism in order to be an effective apostle. Indeed, the formed Jesuit is supposed to find God in all things, especially in his apostolic activity. In order to understand Jesuit spirituality we need to make sense of this lack of precision regarding the amount of prayer to be practiced by the individual and the community.
Ignatius’ prescription, or lack of prescription, regarding prayer was controversial in his lifetime and afterward. …St. Francis Borja, the Spanish nobleman who entered the Jesuits after the death of his wife, had difficulties with the lack of precision regarding the amount of daily prayer and penance prescribed for a formed Jesuit. …When Borja became the third general superior in 1565, he asked that the General Congregation prescribed an hour of daily prayer in addition to daily Mass and two periods of examination of conscience. This became the norm for all Jesuits until the Thirty-first General Congregation in 1965-66 reverted to language more in keeping with that of the Constitutions. “Our rule of an hour’s prayer is therefore to be adapted so that each Jesuit, guided by his superior, takes into account his particular circumstances and needs, in the light of that discerning love which St. Ignatius clearly presupposed in the Constitutions” (229).
To be continued
Gonzalinho
CONTEMPLATIVES IN ACTION
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…it seems strange to find in Ignatius a seemingly laissez-faire attitude when he comes to describe the devotional practices of the formed Jesuit. To understand this paradox we need to underline the presuppositions Ignatius makes about formed Jesuits. He presumes that they will be like trained race horses, as it were, chomping at the bit to go all out in the race for union with God. …He presumes that those who come after…will have the same strong desires, the same ambition to overcome self-will in order to become one with God. These are the kind of men Ignatius had in mind when he formulated number 582 of the Constitutions.
…The Society of Jesus is an apostolic order, an order whose purpose is explained in the Formula of the Institute approved by Popes Paul III and Julius III:
He [a Jesuit] is a member of a Society founded chiefly for this purpose: to strive especially for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine, by means of public preaching, lectures, and any other ministration whatsoever of the word of God, and further by means of the Spiritual Exercises, the education of children and unlettered persons in Christianity, and the spiritual consolation of Christ’s faithful through hearing confessions and administering the other sacraments. [Constitutions, pp. 3-4]
…Jesuits…in Ignatius’ view, must have their desire for long prayer harnessed by the needs of others. This is the tension at the heart of Jesuit spirituality, the tension between their own desire for God and their desire to help their neighbors. St. Paul wrote to the Philippians:
For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again. (1:21-26)
Ignatius hoped that Jesuits would experience a similar tension of desires with regard to union with God and service of their neighbor.
…Ignatius himself found great relish in prayer and expected that others would find the same relish. Indeed, he believed that the deepest desire of the human heart was to be one with God and that this desire fueled a spiritual life that found time for prayer.
…Jesuits save their own souls by giving themselves to the salvation of others.
To be continued 2
Gonzalinho
CONTEMPLATIVES IN ACTION
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…The one prayer that Ignatius would not allow a Jesuit, no matter how humble, to drop was the examination of conscience at least twice a day. Why? Jesuits are asked to find God in their apostolic activity. The examination of conscience gives the Jesuit the opportunity to look back over a part of the day to discover where he has been meeting God and where he may have avoided such a meeting. Ignatius himself, even to the end of his life, engaged in such examinations very often in the day.
—William A. Barry, S.J. and Robert G. Doherty, S.J., Contemplatives in Action: The Jesuit Way (2002), Chapter 4: “Fruitful Labor”: The Tension between Prayer and Action, pages 25-29, 31-32
All prayer is action, in the sense that prayer necessarily involves activity, whether interior or exterior. However, not all action is prayer, because prayer’s essential attribute is that the will directs itself toward God in love. Prayer always involves the will, even though sometimes it does not involve the intellect, according to the doctrine of docta ignorantia. See “Docta Ignorantia”:
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2018/10/docta-ignorantia.html
All prayer is action, but not all action is prayer.
Therefore, in order to turn action into prayer, it is necessary to direct our will as often as possible towards loving God, so that love becomes habitual. Habitual love is possible to cultivate through prayer, receiving the sacraments frequently, ascesis in its various and many forms, and God’s grace, without which nothing good can be accomplished. Only love that is habitual—or at least intentional—together with grace, transform action into prayer.
Gonzalinho
LESSONS OF PRAYER FROM THE SPIRITUAL MASTERS
ReplyDeleteSaint Joseph
God is with us in our humble, ordinary lives.
Saint Joan of Arc
God reveals his will to the pure in heart.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Action joined to prayer is contemplation.
Saint John of the Cross
God is found in darkness.
Saint Catherine Labouré
Silence is the guardian of the interior life.
Saint Charbel Makhlouf
God, who sees everything, rewards the hidden life.
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
God does not ask for great deeds, only great love.
Gonzalinho
The “darkness” of Saint John of the Cross stands for obscurity. God is obscure to the soul because of God’s infinite mystery.
DeleteDarkness is a way of apprehending God in faith and loving God who is known in the darkness of faith. This way has the character of trial in faith, love, and many other virtues. That is why darkness in the spiritual life is a way of journeying toward God and growing in the love of God.
Gonzalinho
PRAYER IS INDISPENSABLE FOR SALVATION
ReplyDeleteA brother said to Abba Anthony, “Pray for me.” The old man said to him, “I will have no mercy upon you, nor will God have any, if you yourself do not make an effort and if you do not pray to God.”
—The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, transl. with a foreword by Benedicta Ward, SLG, preface by Metropolitan Anthony (Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications, 1984), page 4
Gonzalinho