This is the foundation of what it means to be a Christian at all. To believe in God’s love. And this is to say that we walk in mystery.
We do not know the future. We do not know the whole of our own lives. We hardly realize that there are depths to our own being, those caverns within.
Because we believe, we can turn to the life of Jesus and see how trusting Jesus was in the love the Father had and has for Him. We can see that the Spirit led Jesus. We can see that Jesus could feel agony as in the Garden, and really desire to be free of suffering, and still submit Himself with perfect love to the mysterious and unsearchable ways of God in human life. This trust can be ours too, and with it goes the great virtue of Hope.
Hope deals with our memory. Without memory of our past we would be lost and would not know who we are. Se we don’t discard memory. Yet memories of our past definitely affect the present. Memories can feed resentment, feed anger and aggression, promote unmanageable desires, and false pride. They can tyrannize our emotions.
We need to ask God to show us how to unhook from memories that get us all worked up. And what about the other role of memory which makes us anxious about the future? “Do not be anxious for tomorrow for tomorrow with be anxious for itself. Let the day's own troubles be sufficient for that day. The build up of anxiety or worry which problems or crises bring in no way help to bring about a better situation. Makes us worse off.
Hope is that refreshing realization that Jesus rose from the dead/ That there is a future of goodness for us, that sorrows or evil do not have the last word at all.
When we take the time to meditate or center, we are taking the time to entrust our whole life to the mystery of the love God has for us. Meditation is a path to increasing trust and hope and so to more peaceful living. As Jesus says to us, too, My peace I give you, not as the world gives peace. Not in any form of violence, but in coming to believe in the love God has for us.
Let is meditate.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
The consolation and the challenge of the Holy Spirit praying in us
We know from Romans 8:26-27 that the Holy Spirit of God prays in us, with groans and sighs
"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes for us' with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."
However we are praying, in our weakness or our blindness or our selfishness, the Holy Spirit is praying in us according to the will of God..
This is a great consolation. What matters is that we pray, whether it be a groaning prayer, a rote prayer, any way of praying. We can trust that our prayer is transformed by the Spirit to be in accord with the will of God. I love the words in Psalm 86:
Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart to revere your name.
I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name for ever.
For great is your steadfast love towards me;
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
There is also a challenge to us to open our hearts and minds to let God heal our divided hearts. And in Christian Meditation or centering prayer, we just sit without an agenda,, without seeking to achieve anything, without intending to look good in our own eyes. We sit and say a simple prayer phrase or word over and over gently, quietly so that we are open to what God wants to do with us. We accept the mystery that God is truth and beauty and goodness and we entrust our whole being into the hands of God for this 20-30 minutes.
"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes for us' with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."
However we are praying, in our weakness or our blindness or our selfishness, the Holy Spirit is praying in us according to the will of God..
This is a great consolation. What matters is that we pray, whether it be a groaning prayer, a rote prayer, any way of praying. We can trust that our prayer is transformed by the Spirit to be in accord with the will of God. I love the words in Psalm 86:
Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart to revere your name.
I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name for ever.
For great is your steadfast love towards me;
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
There is also a challenge to us to open our hearts and minds to let God heal our divided hearts. And in Christian Meditation or centering prayer, we just sit without an agenda,, without seeking to achieve anything, without intending to look good in our own eyes. We sit and say a simple prayer phrase or word over and over gently, quietly so that we are open to what God wants to do with us. We accept the mystery that God is truth and beauty and goodness and we entrust our whole being into the hands of God for this 20-30 minutes.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
"The Spirit prays in us"
“This is the holiest consolation in our prayer.” Karl Rahner, S.J.
Do read Romans 8 this week where we see that the Spirit prays in us. The Spirit of God does not depend on the quality of our prayer to pray in us. Rather the Spirit goes on praying in us with a Divine Energy that gives glory to God. And as Paul then says, the Spirit always prays according to the Will of God for us.
Remember in one resurrection scene, Jesus breathes on the disciples and says: “ Receive the Holy Spirit.” And then exhorts them to forgive sins. Without mutual forgiveness there can be no peace among us, or in our own hearts. He had said to them: just before this:: My peace I give to you. Earlier in John’s Gospel we find Jesus talking about giving peace. There he was quite specific. “My own peace I give to you, a peace that the world cannot give. This is my gift to you.” John 14:27. So Jesus in breathing upon us his Holy Spirit, gives peace in our hearts even when we are feeling otherwise. If we connect these sayings of Jesus and look at our human life, we can know for sure that getting even, holding grudges, even in so-called little ways, or making war, are totally failing ways to get peace. Then we remember that the Spirit of God prays in us and we know that within us is the divine energy to live the way of peace that Jesus showed us by his words and by his life.
Now just think of this: When we pray, the Spirit of God, praying in us and with us, gives immense dignity to our prayer. However poorly we imagine we are doing when we pray, because the Spirit of God is praying in us, our prayer becomes wonderful to God. This is why Paul tell us to pray always. And this is why it is of such value to meditate twice a day and to develop the habit of a walking prayer.
One way to remind ourselves of this gift of God is to make our meditation prayer or our centering a breath prayer. Say your prayer word or prayer phrase on your breath. Giving attention to both your breath and your word. E.g. Breathing in – Ma; breathing out – ra-na-tha..
As Rahner also says: “because (the Spirit) helps, our prayer is a piece of the melody that rushes through the heavens, an aroma of incense that sweetly rises to the eternal altars of heaven before the Triune God. Let us pray.
Do read Romans 8 this week where we see that the Spirit prays in us. The Spirit of God does not depend on the quality of our prayer to pray in us. Rather the Spirit goes on praying in us with a Divine Energy that gives glory to God. And as Paul then says, the Spirit always prays according to the Will of God for us.
Remember in one resurrection scene, Jesus breathes on the disciples and says: “ Receive the Holy Spirit.” And then exhorts them to forgive sins. Without mutual forgiveness there can be no peace among us, or in our own hearts. He had said to them: just before this:: My peace I give to you. Earlier in John’s Gospel we find Jesus talking about giving peace. There he was quite specific. “My own peace I give to you, a peace that the world cannot give. This is my gift to you.” John 14:27. So Jesus in breathing upon us his Holy Spirit, gives peace in our hearts even when we are feeling otherwise. If we connect these sayings of Jesus and look at our human life, we can know for sure that getting even, holding grudges, even in so-called little ways, or making war, are totally failing ways to get peace. Then we remember that the Spirit of God prays in us and we know that within us is the divine energy to live the way of peace that Jesus showed us by his words and by his life.
Now just think of this: When we pray, the Spirit of God, praying in us and with us, gives immense dignity to our prayer. However poorly we imagine we are doing when we pray, because the Spirit of God is praying in us, our prayer becomes wonderful to God. This is why Paul tell us to pray always. And this is why it is of such value to meditate twice a day and to develop the habit of a walking prayer.
One way to remind ourselves of this gift of God is to make our meditation prayer or our centering a breath prayer. Say your prayer word or prayer phrase on your breath. Giving attention to both your breath and your word. E.g. Breathing in – Ma; breathing out – ra-na-tha..
As Rahner also says: “because (the Spirit) helps, our prayer is a piece of the melody that rushes through the heavens, an aroma of incense that sweetly rises to the eternal altars of heaven before the Triune God. Let us pray.
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