What is prayer? ( - and how do we pray?)
Thoughts on prayer from The Mystery of Love, by Cardinal Basil
Hume (DLT 2004)
'Prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God.' That definition
in the catechism remains, for my part at any rate, the best of all
definitions of prayer. But one word was omitted: trying. Prayer is
trying to raise our minds and hearts to God. The only 'failure' in
prayer is when we neglect it. The only 'success' in prayer is the sense
of God's presence, or a deep peace and sense of well-being, a
marvellous moment of inner freedom. When that comes, it is a special
gift from God. We have no claim on it, we cannot demand it. Our part is
to turn to him as best we can, trying to raise our minds and hearts to
him.
Becoming friends with God
Holiness involves friendship with God. The movement towards
the realisation of God's love for us is similar to our relationship
with other people. There comes a moment which we can never quite locate
or catch, when an acquaintance becomes a friend. In a sense, the change
from one to the other has been taking place over a period of time. But
there comes a point when we know we can trust the other, exchange
confidences, keep each other's secrets: we are friends. There has to be
a moment like that in our relationship with God. He ceases to be just a
Sunday acquaintance and becomes a weekday friend.
Talking with God
The sound of gentle stillness has to be within, and in that
context think of yourself coming to the Lord like the blind man in St
Luke (chapter 18): 'Lord come to me, be merciful to me a sinner: help
me.' He stands before you, asking, 'What would you have me do?' And you
answer, 'Lord, that I may see, that I may see with the eyes of faith
something of the realities of which you came to speak, something about
your presence in the world in which I find myself. Touch my eyes that I
may see.' I find in that blind man and in the deaf mute good friends
because they reflect what we are like. Those words are addressed to you
and me because those characters in the Gospel are us. So in moments of
silence we reflect a bit on how much the Word of God means to us, and
how much the Sacraments mean to us.
Listening to God
It is in silence that we shall hear a voice deep within us
speaking to our nobler selves, calling us to high ideals and generous
instincts. Silence is the voice of God, sometimes no louder than a
whisper, but speaking to us unmistakably if we learn to listen, to
listen to God. That silence, that presence of God, will bring peace to
our troubled and divided hearts. It will help to heal and restore our
society.
Come now, turn aside from your daily employment. Escape for a
moment from the tumult of your thoughts, put aside your weighty cares.
Let your burdensome distractions wait. Free yourself for a while for
him. Enter the inner chamber of your soul. Shut out everything except
God and that which will help you in seeking him. When you have shut the
door, say to him: 'I seek your face. Lord my God, teach my heart where
and how to seek you.' (Anselm)
Finding forgiveness
In every human life there are things, actions and attitudes
that need forgiveness. There are memories of foolishness and weakness
that lurk like dark spectres to haunt us when the spirit is low or the
going hard. If only we could hear clearly within us that we have been
forgiven. If you and I truly want forgiveness, if our sorrow is real,
what is it that stops us from knowing that we have been forgiven? Is it
our failure to believe in his love for us? If we turn to him, want to
love him, and ask for forgiveness, we may be sure that our sorrow for
the wrongs we have done will bring us closer to him and, with that
closeness, bring us peace of mind.
Finding yourself
A priest started his homily at a funeral by saying, 'I am
going to preach about judgement.' There was dismay in the congregation.
But he went on: 'Judgement is whispering into the ear of a merciful and
compassionate God the story of my life which I had never been able to
tell.' It is a very great encouragement to think of being in the
presence of God who is both merciful and full of compassion, because
God knows me through and through and understands me far better than I
could ever know and understand myself, or anyone else. Only he can
truly make sense of my confused and rambling story.
God in a box?
A mystery is a reality which we can never understand, nor even
discover for ourselves. This mystery can never be solved. It can only
be entered and explored by one who accepts with awe and reverence that
the deepest reality is unimaginably greater than we can ever
comprehend; that beyond the limitations of our senses, and even the
horizon of death, lies a place of inexpressible joy, the fountain of
all life and love.
To embrace the mystery is to discover the real. It is to walk towards
the light, to glimpse the morning star, to catch sight from time to
time of what is truly real. It is no more than a flicker of light
through the cloud of unknowing: a fitful ray of light that is a
messenger from the sun which is hidden from your gaze.
Mysteries are truths revealed by God.
'I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you: search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.'
Amen
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