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The Life of Prayer

The Life of Prayer. NCSU LYFE 28 January 2018. “Give me a Drink of Water…”.

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The Life of Prayer

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  1. The Life of Prayer NCSU LYFE 28 January 2018

  2. “Give me a Drink of Water…” ”’If you knew the gift of God!’ The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God's desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God's thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.” Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) 2560

  3. Definition of Prayer “Prayer is the lifting up of our minds and hearts to God to adore Him, to thank Him for His benefits, to ask forgiveness, and to be Him all the graces we need whether for soul or body.” An Explanation of the Baltimore Catechism of Christian Doctrine, no. 304

  4. Nine Levels of Prayer Vocal Prayer, with attention to what one is saying or reading and God, whom one is addressing. Discursive Meditation: consideration of a spiritual truth; application to oneself, and resolve to do something about it. Affective Mental Prayer: one turns to "other," namely, God, and prayer becomes "the language of love." Acquired Recollection: also called prayer of simplicity, prayer of simple regard, acquired contemplation, the loving awareness of God.

  5. Nine Levels of Prayer (cont) Infused Recollection: the first degree of infused, mystical contemplation. Prayer of Quiet: the will is totally captivated by divine love; sometimes all the faculties are likewise captivated (sleep or ecstasy). Prayer of Simple Union: both the intellect and the will are absorbed in God. Prayer of Ecstatic Union: this is the "mystical espousal" or "conforming union." Prayer of Transforming Union: also called the "mystical marriage" because it is the most intimate union of the soul with God that is possible in this life.

  6. Three Stages of the Interior Life “Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it…” Psalm 34:15

  7. Purgative Way The soul's chief concern in this stage of perfection is an awareness of its sins, sorrow for the past, and a desire to expiate the offenses against God all in view of attaining an intimate union with Him.

  8. Dark Nights • Active Night of the Senses—this is our effort at purifying our senses • Passive Night of the Senses—"God establishes the soul in the dark night of sense that He may purify, prepare and subdue its lower nature, and unite it to the Spirit, by depriving it of light and causing it to cease from meditation." • Dark Night of the Spirit--detach the soul from spiritual consolations (not only sensible ones) and from all self-love (even love of one's own virtue).

  9. Illuminative Way The intermediary stage between purification and union on the path to Christian perfection. Also called the "Way of the Proficients," the main feature of the Illuminative Way is an enlightenment of the mind in the ways of God and a clear understanding of his will in one's state of life.

  10. Unitive Way The third and final stage of Christian perfection, beyond the purgative and illuminative. Its principle feature is a more or less constant awareness of God’s presence, and a habitual disposition of conformity to the will of God.

  11. Vocal Prayer “Vocal prayer is an essential element of the Christian life. To his disciples, drawn by their Master's silent prayer, Jesus teaches a vocal prayer, the Our Father. He not only prayed aloud the liturgical prayers of the synagogue but, as the Gospels show, he raised his voice to express his personal prayer, from exultant blessing of the Father to the agony of Gesthemani.” CCC 2701

  12. The Life of Prayer • Morning Offering • Daily Meditation • Daily Mass/Spiritual Communion/Eucharistic Adoration • One-breath Prayers • Examination of Conscience

  13. St. Alphonsus Liguori on Prayer “All the saints have become saints by mental prayer.”

  14. Meditation “Meditation is above all a quest. The mind seeks to understand the why and how of the Christian life, in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking. The required attentiveness is difficult to sustain. We are usually helped by books, and Christians do not want for them: the Sacred Scriptures, particularly the Gospels, holy icons, liturgical texts of the day or season, writings of the spiritual fathers, works of spirituality, the great book of creation, and that of history the page on which the "today" of God is written.” CCC 2705,

  15. Meditation  “There are as many and varied methods of meditation as there are spiritual masters. Christians owe it to themselves to develop the desire to meditate regularly, lest they come to resemble the three first kinds of soil in the parable of the sower. But a method is only a guide; the important thing is to advance, with the Holy Spirit, along the one way of prayer: Christ Jesus.” CCC 2707

  16. Preparation Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity Acts of Humility and Contrition Prayer for Light

  17. Catholic Mindfulness? Where does prayer come from? Whether prayer is expressed in words or gestures, it is the whole man who prays. But in naming the source of prayer, Scripture speaks sometimes of the soul or the spirit, but most often of the heart (more than a thousand times).” CCC 2562

  18. The Body of the Meditation Considerations—convince ourselves of the importance of the truth upon which we are meditating Self-Examination—How have I lived up to this point? **Affections towards God**— Acts of Worship, Thanksgiving, Sorrow, Firm Purpose of Amendment Prayers of Petitionsfor God’s help for the necessary growth

  19. Conclusion “To meditate on what we read helps us to make it our own by confronting it with ourselves…. It is a question of acting truthfully in order to come into the light: ‘Lord, what do you want me to do?’” CCC 2706

  20. Contemplation “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 heart. Contemplative prayer is a communion in which the Holy Trinity conforms man, the image of God, ‘to his likeness.’” CCC 2713

  21. Centering Prayer? “taking it upon oneself to stop and suspend thought is what I mean should not be done…” St. Theresa of Avila

  22. Reexamine the Examen “But to fulfill this commandment of love perfectly, four things are required. The first is the recollection of the divine benefits, because all that we have, whether our soul or body or exterior things, we have them all from God. Therefore we must serve him with all this and love him with a perfect heart. A man would be extremely ungrateful if, after thinking of all the benefits he received from someone, he did not love him. With this in mind, David said (1 Chron 29:14): ‘All belongs to you. What we received from you we give to you.’ Therefore in his praise it is said (Sir 47:10): ‘With all his heart he praised the Lord, and loved the God who made him.” St. Thomas Aquinas, On the Two Commandments

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