Day 5

We cannot know the inner nature of God unless it be revealed in PRAYER- through the Word, Jesus Christ, and his Spirit. Suffice to say then that the deepest level of communication therefore is not communication, but COMMUNION. It is wordless. It is beyond words and it is beyond speech and beyond concepts.

Without a discipline of prayer, without extended intervals of silence and solitude in our busy lives, prayer will remain an unrealized sentiment. The living waters come to us over the aqueduct of prayer. As soon as we make the commitment to a prayer discipline, our lives begin to change almost immediately, for the waters of grace come quickly trickling down

The goal and objective of prayer is to bring us into an ever-deepening experiential awareness that Christ is the " Soul of our soul ," to awaken us to this reality and to effect an ongoing transformation of consciousness that God is the GROUND and SOURCE of our being.

Prayer has but one function: to bring us to a personal experiential awareness of our union with God in Christ, a transformation of consciousness...an awakening of the presence of God within us. One function - that function is not what we have reduced prayer to, where we are always asking or casting. Our life is a continuous seeking of God and finding Him by love, and sharing that love with other people. In prayer, we become aware of our inner true self. And once this function is achieved, where we have the awakening of the presence of God within us, you don't need to cast anything, or ask anything. Psalm 127:2, will bw fulfilled in your life- " he pours his gifts on his beloved while they slumber "

It is only in deep, silent "prayer of the heart" that we are gifted with an awareness of our true inner being. At some depth point our self-ceases to experience itself as its own centre, for it has become God-centered; God is now experienced as its inmost living core, the still point of the turning world, both ours within and that without.

This gift brings with it an absolute certitude that God is and that our own self is immersed in a Self that is transcendent and, paradoxically, at the same time closer to us than we are to ourselves. Gradually, day by day, we put on the " mind of Christ " (1 Cor 2:16), whose will, more and more, becomes our will and whose love, more and more, becomes our love by which we are able to love ourselves and love others.

Habitual aliveness to the reality of this deepest Christ-I is what is expressed most simply and profoundly by St. Paul: " I live, now no longer I, but Christ lives in me " (Gal 2:27).

The point is this- When starting out with prayer, some may need to pray the written prayers of others and employ their meditations. As soon as we are able, our prayer should become our own — simple, personal, humble, and heartfelt, bereft of fanciful, artfully constructed language and lofty ideas.

Pray in all simplicity. . . . The publican and the thief were reconciled by a single utterance. In your prayers there is no need for high-flown words, for it is the simple babblings of children that have more often won the heart of the Father of Heaven. There are too many books and methods on prayer that tend to make prayer difficult and complicated.  In recent times prayer has often been made into a science of formulas and methods with detailed prescriptions and laborious techniques. It is not always so.

 The story is told of the disciple who, after several months, complained to his Master that he still had not been given a method or a technique. " What on earth would you want a method for?" asked the Master . " To attain to inner freedom, " the disciple replied. The Master roared with laughter, saying: " You will need great skill indeed to set yourself free by means of the trap called a method !"

The problem with methods — particularly more modern ones — is that they become a crutch, and instead of freeing us, they captivate us, holding us prisoners within the walls of their structures and techniques.

Instead of being freed to come face to face with the Divine Presence, we continue to deal with the methods. Our prayer postures can subtly deceive us: " Look out for the external forms. It is so easy to take the external forms for the reality ." Conscious of our " prayer posture ," we can easily convince ourselves that since we are in a Posture of prayer, we are in fact truly praying, meanwhile we aren't.

Acquire the habit of speaking to God as if you were alone with Him, familiarly and with confidence and love, as to the dearest and most loving of friends. We must pray in the spirit of the publican and like the beggar at the pool of Siloam, waiting for the " stirring of the waters ," the waters of grace. Over time our prayer should become increasingly simplified. As is the case of two people who experience the deepening of their love, words become less and loving silence more.

The prayerful, meditative reading of Scripture, is always fruitful and must continue to nourish us throughout our spiritual journey. As our prayer deepens, so does our understanding of Scripture — depths beyond depths beyond depths. The Holy Spirit " encounters herself " in the words of Scripture, which she herself inspired. We must open the pages of Scripture in an attitude of humble prayerfulness. Do not approach the words of the mysteries contained in the Scriptures without prayer, and asking for God's help. Consider prayer to be the key to the understanding of truth in Scripture.

If we are faithful to our prayer discipline and endeavor to live it, this gifted night awaits us; it will transport us over the threshold that distinguishes the common from the mystical life, from spiritual childhood to spiritual adulthood.

The humility to accept, with thanksgiving, that we can pray at all is a first step on the road of prayer. Believe me – and do not let anyone deceive you by showing you a road other than that of prayer.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Shalom and God bless you

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