More thoughts on prayer

 

Something Has Happened

One of the experiences of prayer is that it seems that nothing happens. But when you stay with it and look back over a long period of prayer, you suddenly realize that something has happened. What is most close, most intimate, most present often cannot be experienced directly but only with a certain distance. When I think I am only distracted, just wasting my time, something is happening too immediate for knowing, understanding, and experiencing. Only in retrospect do I realize that something very important has taken place. Isn’t this true of all really important events in life? When I am together with someone I love very much, we seldom talk about our relationship. The relationship, in fact, is too central to be a subject of talk. But later, after we have separated and write letters, we realize how much it all meant to us, and we even write about it. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on meditation

 

“Waste” Your Time with God

John Eudes talked about that moment, that point, that lies before comparison, before the beginning of the vicious cycle or the self-fulfilling prophecy. That is the moment, point, or place where meditation can enter in. It is the moment to stop reading, speaking, socializing, and to “waste” your time in meditation. When you find your mind competing again, you might plan an “empty time” of meditation, in this way interrupting the vicious circle of your ruminations and entering into the depth of your own soul. There you can be with him who was before you came, who loved you before you could love, and has given you your own self before any comparison was possible. In meditation we can come to the affirmation that we are not created by other people but by God, that we are not judged by how we compare with others but by how we fulfill the will of God. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on love

  "Love one another as I love you." How amazing that we can actually do that: love each other with Divine Love! It is so much more than human love. And this Love is given to us as a fruit of Easter. The Holy Spirit is poured out ever anew upon Jesus' close friends (whom Jesus defines as those who follow his commandments) and the first two evident fruits of his presence are Divine Charity followed by Joy. Joy, we could say, is a "radiant belongingness." In joy we know to whom we belong and we radiate that belongingness to all around us.

As we continue this Easter season, preparing ourselves for Pentecost, we might ask Our Blessed Mother to teach us how to open ourselves more fully to the wholeness of God's Love. May this inflowing (and outflowing) Love--way beyond our human abilities--be coupled with an ebullient sense of belongingness which radiates from us as deep-down Joy.

-Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ

Thoughts on silence

 

The Spirit of God Prays in Us

Silence means rest, rest of body and mind in which we become available for him whose heart is greater than ours. That is very threatening; it is like giving up control over our actions and thoughts, allowing something creative to happen not by us but to us. Is it so amazing that we are so often tired and exhausted, trying to be masters of ourselves, wanting to grasp the ultimate meaning of our existence, struggling with our identity? Silence is that moment in which we not only stop the discussion with others but also the inner discussions with ourselves, in which we can breathe in freely and accept our identity as a gift. “Not I live, but He lives in me.” It is in this silence that the Spirit of God can pray in us and continue his creative work in us. . . . Without silence the Spirit will die in us and the creative energy of our life will float away and leave us alone, cold, and tired. Without silence we will lose our center and become the victim of the many who constantly demand our attention. Henri Nouwen