"Attentive to what is – the supreme reality of God’s Presence."

One message of the Benedictine John Main is that to be aware and attentive to the Presence of God, we must learn to stop thinking about ourselves. That is why he so strongly recommends Christian Meditation. As we sit in silence and repeat a prayer word, we give our attention to the prayer word as a way of taking attention off ourselves. All the while, as we have made that act of faith in the reality of the Presence of God, we are just letting God work in our hearts to wake us up to the love which God has for us.
This is a journey for everyone!. It is simple. It is an act of trust in the love that God has for us. And it is good to remember that St. Paul has told us that the Holy Spirit prays in us. Often with ‘groaning". I remember one time after my mother was in her 90’s I heard her groaning and I rushed to her room. She just said: Oh I am all right, I was just having a groaning prayer.
So whenever we pray and ini whatever way, the Holy Spirit is praying in us and for us. We do not need to fear. What we need is persistence. Say your chosen prayer word or phrase, over and over and come back to it whenever you find yourself thinking about anything! This is the journey of our whole life. To go from self-concern to God-concern, to profound trust which flows from faith in the love God has for us.
I want to share a well-known prayer of St.Ignatius. He wrote it first in Latin and often said it in Latin so you will see a difference from the one translated from the Spanish. I might add also that early Church Fathers thought grace was relly the uncreated Energy of God What a gift!
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and all my will, - all that I have and possess. You, Lord, have given them all to me. I now give it back to you, O Lord. All of it is yours. Dispose of it according to your will. Give me love of yourself along with your grace for that is sufficient for me.