Tag Archives: Prayer

Saint John Chrysostom – Prayer is the light of the spirit

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Prayer and converse with God is a supreme good: it is a partnership and union with God. As the eyes of the body are enlightened when they see light, so our spirit, when it is intent on God, is illumined by his infinite light. I do not mean the prayer of outward observance but prayer from the heart, not confined to fixed times or periods but continuous throughout the day and night.

Our spirit should be quick to reach out toward God, not only when it is engaged in meditation; at other times also, when it is carrying out its duties, caring for the needy, performing works of charity, giving generously in the service of others, our spirit should long for God and call him to mind, so that these works may be seasoned with the salt of God’s love, and so make a palatable offering to the Lord of the universe. Throughout the whole of our lives we may enjoy the benefit that comes from prayer if we devote a great deal of time to it.

Prayer is the light of the spirit, true knowledge of God, mediating between God and man. The spirit, raised up to heaven by prayer, clings to God with the utmost tenderness; like a child crying tearfully for its mother, it craves the milk that God provides. It seeks the satisfaction of its own desires, and receives gifts outweighing the whole world of nature.

Prayer stands before God as an honored ambassador. It gives joy to the spirit, peace to the heart. I speak of prayer, not words. It is the longing for God, love too deep for words, a gift not given by man but by God’s grace. The apostle Paul says: We do not know how we are to pray but the Spirit himself pleads for us with inexpressible longings.

When the Lord gives this kind of prayer to a man, he gives him riches that cannot be taken away, heavenly food that satisfies the spirit. One who tastes this food is set on fire with an eternal longing for the Lord: his spirit burns as in a fire of utmost intensity.

Practice prayer from the beginning. Paint your house with the colors of modesty and humility. Make it radiant with the light of justice. Decorate it with the finest gold leaf of good deeds. Adorn it with the walls and stones of faith and generosity. Crown it with the pinnacle of prayer. In this way you will make it a perfect dwelling place for the Lord. You will be able to receive him as in a splendid palace, and through his grace you will already possess him, his image enthroned in the temple of your spirit.

via divineoffice .org

 

Bl. Charles de Foucauld & Peace in the Middle East

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Bl. Charles de Foucauld – a saint for our times troubled and violent times. 

"My God, if you exist, make your existence known to me,"  Bl. Charles de Foucauld

On Charles de Foucauld

                        by Joann Nelander

Never having seen the stars of glory,
‘Til encountering them in You.
A mansion of grace without walls
Sheltered him in desert wastes.
The good in his heart was God.

He was a monstrance
His life was Gospel
Preached by a beating heart,
On fire to win man for God.

He lived preparing to die.
He expected martyrdom,
And lived in happy anticipation.
Desert priest and brother of all,
Pray for us,
Who still don’t see the stars.

©2011 Joann Nelander

St. Gertrude the Great

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St. Gertrude the Great – The Exercises pdf

 

Monday Prayer

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Monday Prayer

In Praise

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Praise like cascading waters, like rushing rivers,
Praise like flying birds, and flight of eagles.
Praise like thundering herds cross vast expanse.
Praise written cross skies in clouds and drifting mists.
Praise with the quaking aspen. Praise golden and blissful.

Praise to the heavens, to the highest heavens.
Heartfelt and hallowed, on angels’ wings and from the mouths of babes.
Hush; listen in silence.
Creation, on tip toe, peering beyond Time to Eternity.
Time poised on the brink of the Eternal, awaiting Your Word.

Praise from the heart, one poor and yearning heart.
Come, O Immortal. Come!

©2010 Joann Nelander

A Man Wills Hell for Himself – “Theology for Beginners”

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I’m reading “Theology for Beginners” by F. J. Sheed. In speaking of Hell, Sheed writes:

” being deprived of God is the essential pain, and this deprivation is willed by the self. It has nothing of God but His will to maintain it in existence. The God Who alone could nourish it, it will not have. When a man dies loving self to the hatred of God, what can God do with him? What He does do we know on His own word—He lets him go to his own place. It is hard to see what else He could do. He can hardly take him into heaven, for that would mean an inconceivably close union with the God he hates, a ceaseless torment to the self he loves. Those who deny the existence of hell so confidently never seem to have considered this problem of the people who have made the choice of self against God (though there is nothing in our experience of life to make us feel it impossible). When their attention is drawn to it, they still do not consider it: they merely rap out the suggestion that God should simply annihilate such people—before birth perhaps, by withholding existence from those He knew would make the choice of hatred. A study of the reasons God may have for not annihilating those who hate Him would take us theologically very deep. But quite apart from these, we have no reason of our own to conclude that condemned souls would want annihilation. To me it seems at least probable that love of self carried to that intensity would involve a clinging to self at all costs.”

Start reading it for free: http://amzn.to/1SAHoE8