Day 347: Contemplative Prayer (2709-2724)

• It’s Day 347!!

• CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER

• What is contemplative prayer?

• Paragraph 2709 says, “What is contemplative prayer? St. Teresa answers: ‘Contemplative prayer [oración mental] in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.’ Contemplative prayer seeks him ‘whom my soul loves.’ It is Jesus, and in him the Father. We seek him, because to desire him is always the beginning of love, and we seek him in that pure faith which causes us to be born of him and to live in him. In this inner prayer we can still meditate, but our attention is fixed on the Lord himself.”

• Contemplative prayer is a graced kind of prayer

• As we enter into contemplative prayer, remember that YOU ARE MADE FOR CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER

• You are made to contemplate THE ONE WHO LOVES YOU

• That is all it is

• It is a gift of God

• It is a determined response on our part

• This is what your human heart has been made for, to meditate on, to contemplate, to enter into communication with God who loves you

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise and glory. We ask you to please help us pray today. Send your Holy Spirit in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, to help us to pray today. Help us to be able to seek you whom our soul loves, that our heart has been made for. Help us to not be afraid of getting close to you. Help us to not be afraid of silence. Help us to not be afraid of being alone with you, to be alone with the alone. Lord God, help us to not fear that silence, not fear that solitude, but enter into it with great confidence, great courage, great love. Help us to find you. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• In meditative prayer, we are thinking about things like the book of spirituality, the book of creation, the book of history, etc.

• When it comes to contemplation, WE ARE FOCUSING ON HIM (GOD)

• This is the gaze upon our Lord Himself

• Paragraph 2710 says, “The choice of the time and duration of prayer arises from a determined will, revealing the secrets of the heart. One does not undertake contemplative prayer only when one has the time: one makes time for the Lord, with the firm determination not to give up, no matter what trials and dryness one may encounter. One cannot always medicate, but one can always enter into inner prayer, independently of the conditions of health, work or emotional state. The heart is the place of this quest and encounter, in poverty and in faith.”

• We can’t pray at all times unless we pray at specific times

• Have I made the decision to pray?

• OR…

• Do I just kind of pray willy nilly?

• This is about transformation

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about RCIA…

• This is about making time for the Lord, not just learning about Him

• We have to make time for the Lord with the firm determination to not give up no matter what trials and dryness we may encounter

• When we encounter trials and dryness in prayer, that is normal

• That does not mean we are doing something wrong

• That is what is to be expected

• SO TAKE HEART!!

• We can always contemplate, even when we are sick

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about what it’s like to be sick and try praying…

• Paragraph 2711 says, “Entering into contemplative prayer is like entering into the Eucharistic liturgy: we ‘gather up’ the heart, recollect our whole being under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, abide in the dwelling place of the Lord which we are, awaken our faith in order to enter into the presence of him who awaits us. We let our masks fall and turn our hearts back to the Lord who loves us, so as to hand ourselves over to him as an offering to be purified and transformed.”

• None of these things involves massive mental gymnastics

• Contemplative prayer is entering into God’s presence, acknowledging God’s presence, and simply abiding in His presence

• Not the fake version of you, not the church version of you, not the prayer version of you

• THE REAL YOU!!

• When we do that, we don’t need to have big thoughts

• We don’t need to try to figure something 0out

• We simply abide in the presence of God Himself

• “In the name of Jesus, I am approaching the Father…”

• Paragraph 2713 says, “Contemplative prayer is the simplest expression of the mystery of prayer. It is a gift, a grace; it can be accepted only in humility and poverty. Contemplative prayer is a covenant relationship established by God within our hearts. Contemplative prayer is a communion in which the Holy Trinity conforms man, the image of God, ‘to his likeness.’”

• We cannot force contemplative prayer to happen

• Paragraph 2714 says, “Contemplative prayer is also the pre-eminently intense time of prayer. In it the Father strengthens our inner being with power through his Spirit ‘that Christ may dwell in [our] hearts through faith’ and we may be ‘grounded in love.’”

• Paragraph 2715 says, “Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus. “I look at him and he looks at me’: this is what a certain peasant of Ars in the time of his holy curé used to say while praying before the tabernacle. This focus on Jesus is a renunciation of self. His gaze purifies our heart; the light of the countenance of Jesus illumines the eyes of our heart and teaches us to see everything in the light of his truth and his compassion for all men. Contemplation also turns its gaze on the mysteries of the life of Christ. Thus it learns the ‘interior knowledge of our Lord,’ the more to love him and follow him.”

• Paragraph 2716 says, “Contemplative prayer is hearing the Word of God. Far from being passive, such attentiveness is the obedience of faith, the unconditional acceptance of a servant, and the loving commitment of a child. It participates in the ‘Yes’ of the Son become servant and the Fiat of God’s lowly handmaid.”

• We can’t just listen to God’s Word in a passive way

• We have to listen with attentiveness, the obedience of faith

• “God, where do you want me to move?”

• “Let it be done to me according to thy word.”

• Paragraph 2717 says, “Contemplative prayer is silence, the ‘symbol of the world to come’ or ‘silent love.’ Words in this kind of prayer are not speeches; they are like kindling that feeds the fire of love. In this silence, unbearable to the ‘outer’ man, the Father speaks to us in his incarnate Word, who suffered, died, and rose; in this silence the Spirit of adoption enables us to share in the prayer of Jesus.”

• There are times in vocal prayer and meditative prayer that are for speeches

• Speeches are fine

• It is necessary to enter into silence in contemplative prayer

• So many of us find silence scary 

• We find solitude scary

• AND YET…

• If we are going to have contemplative prayer, THE MUSIC HAS TO BE TURNED OFF

• If we are going to have contemplative prayer, WE MUST CLOSE THE BOOK I’VE BEEN MEDITATING ON

• If we are going to enter into contemplative prayer, WE NEED TO BE WILLING TO TOLERATE THE SILENCE

• Remember, we cannot force contemplative prayer

• We need to be willing TO SEEK OUT SOLITUDE

• ENJOY THE SILENCE!!! Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence (Official Video)

• We all have a lot of noise in our lives

• When we go into prayer, so often there is more noise

• When it comes to contemplative prayer and entering into silence and seeking solitude, PRESS STOP

• LET IT BE QUIET!!

• Let all those crazy thoughts that are drowned out by noise, let them come out

• Do not be afraid of the silence because THE LORD IS WITH YOU!!

• Do not be afraid of the solitude because GOD IS NEAR!!

• Enter into that silence

• Enter into that solitude

• Receive the grace that can only be accepted in humility and poverty

• THE GRACE OF CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER!!

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other…AND ENTER THE SILENCE AND SOLITUDE!!!

• I cannot WAIT…