JUBILACIÓ QUARESMÀNICA
Dia 32
L' començament de la pregària és desig, el desig d’estimar Déu, que ens ha estimat primer. El desig és la "llum pilot" que manté encès el cremador de la pregària, sempre a punt per barrejar-se amb el "propà" de l'Esperit Sant. Ell és qui després encén, anima i omple els nostres cors de gràcia, cosa que ens permet començar l’ascensió, pel Camí de Jesús, a la unió amb el Pare. (I per cert, quan dic "unió amb Déu", el que vull dir és una unió real i real de voluntats, desitjos i amor tals que Déu visqui totalment i lliurement en tu i tu en Ell). I, per tant, si heu quedat amb mi durant molt de temps en aquest Retiro de Quaresma, no tinc cap dubte que la llum pilot del vostre cor està il·luminada i a punt per esclatar en flames!
What I want to speak of now is not a method of prayer, but what is foundational to any spirituality, because it corresponds with our human nature: body, soul, and spirit. That is, prayer must engage at various times our senses, imagination, intellect, reason, and will. It involves our conscious decision to know and "Estimeu el Senyor, el vostre Déu, amb tot el vostre cor, amb tota la vostra ànima, amb tota la vostra ment i amb totes les vostres forces". [1]Terra 12: 30
We are body and spirit, and we experience the need to translate our feelings externally. We must pray with our whole being to give all power possible to our supplication. -Catecisme de l’Església Catòlica (CCC), n. 2702
Per tant,
Christian Tradition has retained three major expressions of prayer: vocal, meditative, and contemplative. They have one basic trait in common: composure of heart. -CCC, n. 2699
These three expressions of parlant to God, pensament of God, and buscant at God all work toward igniting, increasing, and intensifying the flames of prayer in order to fill the “balloon”—the heart—with God’s love.
Speaking to God
If you think of a young couple falling in love, whenever they meet, they exchange affectionate paraules. In vocal prayer, we speak to God. We begin to tell Him how beautiful He is (which is called praise); we are thankful that He is meeting us and blessing us (thanksgiving); and then we begin to open our heart to Him, sharing our concerns and His (intercession).
Vocal prayer is what “ignites” the burner of the heart, whether it is the prayer of the Liturgy, the recitation of the Rosary, or simply saying out loud the name of “Jesus.” Even Our Lord prayed aloud, and taught us to say the Our Father. I així ...
Even interior prayer… cannot neglect vocal prayer. Prayer is internalized to the extent that we become aware of him “to whom we speak;” thus vocal prayer becomes an initial form of contemplative prayer. -CCC, n. 2704
But before we look at what contemplative prayer is, let’s examine what is called “mental prayer” or meditation, that is pensament de Déu.
Thinking of God
When a couple really starts to fall in love, they begin to think about one another all the time. In prayer, this pensament is called meditation. In vocal prayer, I speak to God; in the Scriptures, or other spiritual texts, God speaks to me. That means that I begin to read and listen to what God is saying to my heart (lectio divina). It means that prayer ceases to be a raça to finish it, but now a resta in it. I rest in God by letting the transforming power of His living Word pierce my heart, illuminate my mind, and feed my spirit.
Remember, earlier in the Retreat, I spoke about the “inner man”, as St. Paul calls it; this interior life in Christ that needs to be fed and nurtured so as to grow in maturity. For Jesus said,
Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. (Matt 4:4)
In order for their to be enough “flame” to fill a hot air balloon, you have to turn up the propane. Meditation is like that; you are welcoming the Holy Spirit to enter your heart, teach you, and lead you into the truth, which will set you free. And thus, as the Catechism says, “Meditation is a quest.” [2]CCC, n. 2705 It is how you begin to be “transformed by the renewal of your mind.” [3]Rom 12: 2
To the extent that we are humble and faithful, we discover in meditation the movements that stir the heart and we are able to discern them. It is a question of acting truthfully in order to come into the light: “Lord, what do you want me to do?” -CCC, n. 2706
Seek in reading and you will find in meditating; knock in mental prayer and it will be opened to you by contemplation. —Guigo the Carthusian, Scala Paradisi: PL 40,998
Looking at God
When a couple has come to know each other by talking, listening and spending time together, words are then often replaced by “silent love”, by a simple yet intense gaze into the other’s eyes. It is a look which seems, as it were, to fuse their hearts together.
In prayer, this is what is called contemplació.
Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus. “I look at him and he looks at me”… -CCC, 2715
And this look of Jesus is what transformacions us interiorly—as it transformed Moses exteriorly.
Whenever Moses entered the presence of the Lord to speak with him, he removed the veil [from his face] until he came out again… Then the Israelites would see that the skin of Moses’ face was radiant. (Exodus 34:34-35)
Just as Moses did nothing to merit this radiance, so too in the New Covenant relationship with God, contemplation “is a gift, a grace; it can be accepted only in humility and poverty.” [4]CCC, n. 2713 Perquè ...
Contemplative prayer is a communion in which the Holy Trinity conforms man, the image of God, “to his likeness.” -CCC, n. 2713
In contemplation, the “propane” valve is wide open; the flame of love is burning high and bright, and the heart begins to expand beyond its limited human capacity as it is fused with God’s heart, thereby lifting the soul into the stratosphere where it finds union with Him.
RESUM I ESCRIPTURA
Vocal, meditative, and contemplative prayer purify and prepare us to see Him face to face, now, and in eternity.
Tots, mirant amb la cara revelada la glòria del Senyor, ens estem transformant en la mateixa imatge de glòria en glòria, com del Senyor que és l’Esperit. (2 Cor 3:18)
Gràcies pel vostre suport i les vostres oracions.
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