Tag: PrayerA Guide to Christian Meditation
Many of you know that Father John’s book, The Better Part is in its third printing. In the beginning of The Better Part Father John provided us with a brief but profound guide to Christian meditation. The good news is that now you can have that guide in a new book called A Guide to Christian Meditation. In this book, after a brief historical introduction to Christian meditation (not available in The Better Part), Father John provides an elegant and memorable method for meditation along with very helpful examples of specifically how to put this method into practice. He manages to do this while keeping our sights on Christ, not the method. This emphasis helps the reader to avoid common and unfortunately popular errors that overemphasize the means instead of the all important end – a deeper relationship with Christ himself. If you or anyone you know struggles with prayer or is looking for a way to enhance their prayer life, this is a fantastic resource at a very reasonable price (only $6.95!) Click here to purchase or learn more. Seek Him – Find Him – Follow Him Dan What if I just don’t like to pray at all?
I’m intrigued (and admittedly pleasantly surprised) at your #2 suggestion … in that I would have thought that anyone reading this blog would already be praying daily, and probably for way more than five minutes. I guess I overassumed..? Anyway, I enjoy the interesting posts on this blog. I’m sorry if my question(s) were at all offensive … I’m not Catholic. I’m just a heathen who’s sort of entertaining the idea of converting… thus reading Catholic blogs like this one. A: When I first read your question, I think of many people I know who don’t particularly “like” praying at different moments of the day or during different periods of their life; they are busy and their minds are somewhere else, or they have practical worries, or they are just tired and don’t feel like it. Your question goes a bit deeper, however, because it speaks about not liking to pray “at all.” Within the limits of email correspondence and not having the possibility of a face-to-face meeting with ulterior questions, my best attempt at an answer for your quandary (which, by the way, is not uncommon) would be the need to delve into a deeper knowledge of God. The age-old adage, “You can’t love what you don’t know,” is at the heart of the problem. If God is very foreign to me, or if I know very little about him, or if – practically speaking – he just has no influence in my life, then prayer is going to be difficult and it is going to seem like “talking to myself.” I recommend getting to know God more, and especially the person of Jesus Christ. Just getting to know him – the revelation of the Father – will most certainly turn your heart towards loving him… and then I believe prayer should start to become a sharing and not a monologue. I don’t think it is necessary to start with deep theology – just grab a book on the life of Christ and see who he is, how he dealt with others, the love he had for all men and women. The Gospel is awesome. It is THE book with which to start. But there are also others that narrate the life of Christ in a simple yet comprehensive way and serve to enrich our understanding. I recommend To Know Christ Jesus by Frank Sheed, but there are many, many others. The way your question is written, it seems to me that Our Lord is actually reaching out to you. You are not Catholic. You are thinking about spiritual things. You are desiring to learn more about prayer. These things don’t happen in a vacuum. So I think you are in a very favorable situation and that God will definitely bless all of your good desires. One word about the prayer of petition. Not only is it a valid form of prayer, but the Lord himself exhorts us in many places of the Gospel to ask… and to ask many times without giving up. “Ask and you shall receive” is just an example. My favorite, though, is the Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father. It is full of petitions – some for God himself (may his name be hallowed, may his kingdom come, may his will be done), some for us (give us our daily bread, forgive us our trespasses, lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil). God is the good Father par excellence, and he likes to hear his children ask. You will only experience his joy if you ask him for your needs. In Christ, Father Joseph Burtka, LC The Better Part – A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer
No one who is learning or desires to learn to pray more deeply and meditate more effectively on the person and work of Christ should go without this book. It offers a basic but at the same time sufficiently comprehensive overview of how to meditate in the Christian tradition (no New Age or Hindu/Buddhist influences here.) Beyond the solid instruction on meditation method, Father John provides us with meditations through the four Gospels and group study questions at the end of each of the 303 meditation units. Table of Contents (Partial): Gods Idea of Prayer
Types of Prayer
Four Step Structure of Meditation
Difficulties in Prayer
If you want to deepen your relationship with Christ by learning to meditate on Christ and his teaching through timeless and authentic Catholicism, this is the best way I know to start. Seek Him – Find Him – Follow Him Dan
An interview with Father Jacques Philippe on prayer and “Time for God”
Q: You describe mental prayer or interior prayer as something that does not involve technique. How, then, does it work? Father Philippe: It would be better to say interior prayer instead of mental prayer, because in our modern culture, the word “mental” is associated with thoughts — as something cerebral — whereas this form of prayer is more an affair of the heart, instead of reflection. St. Teresa of Avila said that it is not an act of thinking much, but of loving much. Interior prayer is not a question of technique. It is not a process that can be controlled because it is a meeting with God, who infinitely surpasses anything we can achieve through our own efforts. What must be essentially understood is that there is no method, but an interior attitude. For interior prayer, there are three principles: a true desire for God; the confidence that God will allow us find that which we are looking for; and finally, humility: To accept our poverty and to wait for the goodness and love of God in all things. Q: What is the fruit of interior prayer? And why is it important? Isn’t adherence to the sacraments enough? Father Philippe: Interior prayer permits the sacramental life to be more fruitful, more alive, more intense. It is important because it is there that we see and endlessly deepen the most essential dimension of Christian life: the personal relationship of trust and love that is established between God and each of his children, the reciprocal exchange where we give ourselves to God and where God gives himself to us. According to Pope John Paul II in “Novo Millenio Ineunte,” this reciprocity is “the very substance and soul of the Christian life, and the condition of all true pastoral life.” Q: How does mental prayer differ from those who would wish to compare it to yoga or Buddhist practices? Father Philippe: The fundamental difference is that it is a question of living and deepening the relationship of one person to another with God, and it is not solely to acquire the power to practice an interior or psychic state. The possibility of this interpersonal relationship is not founded on initiative or skill, but on God’s desire to reveal himself and to communicate through love. Moreover, God acts within the Holy Trinity revealed in the New Testament: Through Jesus and thanks to the action of the Holy Spirit, we can enter into communion with the Father. Q: You describe mental prayer as “just spending time” with God, like two people in love would, but this can often feel like nothing is happening. Could something be happening interiorly despite the feeling that there isn’t? Or even during times when one is distracted? Father Philippe: The life of prayer is much deeper than the intelligence or the senses can perceive. Even when prayer is poor and distracted, provided that it is made with sincerity and faith, God can communicate secretly with the soul. He puts into it the treasures of light and the power of peace that is often made manifest at other times in life instead of just during prayer itself. And if one perseveres despite times of aridity, there will always be moments when God visits and makes his presence felt. Q: In today’s world, many people just don’t seem to have time to spend half an hour or an hour in silent prayer. How can it be fit in? Does it always have to be practiced in a church? Father Philippe: When one activity is considered vital, we find time to do it. The fundamental question is “what are our priorities?” We must be convinced that God will give us a hundred-fold the time that we devote to him in prayer. If we give part of our time to God with fidelity and perseverance, even just a quarter of an hour ever day, our life will be more peaceful and more fruitful. We can pray at a church, as there is a lot of grace when praying in the presence of the Holy Sacrament, but we can also pray in a corner of our room in front of an icon, out in nature, or even on the bus or the subway. Q: Many people only want to pray when they have an interior prompting to do so. Why is this not helpful both in prayer and in arriving at true interior freedom? Father Philippe: All love relationships need, in order to grow, a choice for fidelity. If a husband loves his wife only when he feels the spirit to do so, the relationship will remain superficial, on only an emotional level. Fidelity and perseverance allow love to move beyond merely the sentimental and to become something very beautiful and rich, a life shared, a mutual gift of persons, one to another. In every love relationship there are times of crisis and difficulty, but if we persevere with fidelity, the love will become stronger and truer. To purchase Father Philippe’s book “Time for God” and support this site, click here. Seek Him – Find Him – Follow Him Dan I talk to God all day… is it really necessary to have dedicated prayer time?
A: Maybe we have to approach this question from a different angle: if you love someone, how much time should you spend with them? Love knows no “necessity” and is ignorant of the word “enough”. Love is pure generosity and self-giving. Instead of asking if what you already are praying is “enough” and if it is “necessary” to do anything else, ask yourself what you need to do to maintain your love for God living and fresh. There is no one set answer. God moves each soul according to its possibilities. That said, it is very laudable to pray constantly and to talk with God throughout the day. In a world filled with so much noise, this takes a lot of effort – an effort few are willing to give. It is very important to remember that we are temples of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Trinity resides within us (when we are in a state of grace) and that He is always speaking to us. To pray, to lift our mind and heart to him often, will make of God a best friend and companion. I recommend that you never lose this habit and even intensify it if you can. Our Lord has blessed you with a wonderful grace. Setting time aside for prayer in a quiet place is also important because it allows us to go deeper in our relationship. What couple doesn’t need and long for quality time to be alone with each other? The same is true for our relationship with Christ. And remember, he himself reminded us in the Gospel that when we pray, we should go into our room and shut the door and pray. We need to shut out the din created by worries and distractions of our busy lives and concentrate only on Him. With that said, I think a simple answer to your question would be, if you can manage it, then please do make some time to be alone with Christ in a silent place. But, don’t feel any pressure. Do whatever you can and whatever you feel in your heart that Christ is asking you to do. Speak to Christ directly. Ask him what he thinks. A brother or a nun has ample time during the day for these quiet times. Depending on the spirit of the congregation, it could be anywhere from one hour to ten. An active mom with several small children might not be able to find more than a few minutes a day. Whatever time you decide on in the end, remember that Christ is very happy with any time that you give him and that for every step we take towards him, he takes many more toward us. Yours In Christ, Father Joseph Burtka, LC PS from Dan: For ideas on how to continue to build your life of prayer, check out “Igniting the Fire Within” by Fr. Thomas Dubay. |
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