'Prayer/Journaling'

 

I heartily apologize for not listing Sources or References attributed to these gems for assimilating. I read two to three books at a time, daily scripture and commentaries, the breviary, bulletins, Vatican Information Service daily, postal mail,  Internet Favorites,  a few weeklies, newsletters and newspapers, and have for years hence…well, you see my point! (You are invited to click Read! Read! Read! and see for yourself!)

 

I never dreamed that I would be able to share this wonderful verbiage on this link and now, alas, I cannot go back and find all! Just enjoy and know that He is whom we seek by any verbiage we can read, apostolic action we can do and hearts that know no bounds in seeking Him, our Bread of Life and Source of all that is Right and Good.

 

“Let us exercise our desire in prayer”   Augustine:  Letter to Proba

Why in our fear of not praying as we should, do we turn to so many things, too find what we should pray for? Why do we not say instead, in the words of the psalm:  I have asked one thing from the Lord, this is what I will seek:  to dwell in the Lord’s house all the days of my life, to see the graciousness of the Lord, and to visit his temple. There, the days do not come and go in succession, and the beginning of one day does not mean the end of another: all the days are one, simultaneously and without end, and the life lived out in these days has itself no end….After all, we pray to one who, as the Lord himself tells us, knows, what we need before we ask for it.

   Why he should ask us to pray, when he knows what we need before we ask him, may perplex us if we do not realize that our Lord and God does not want to know what we want (for he cannot fail to know it) but wants us rather to exercise our desire through our prayers, so that we may be able to receive what he is preparing to give us. His gift is very great indeed, but our capacity is too small and limited to receive it…In this faith, hope and love we pray always with unwearied desire. However, at set times and seasons we also pray to God in words, so that by these signs we may instruct ourselves and mark the progress we have made in our desire, and spur ourselves on to deepen it. The more fervent the desire, the more worth will be its fruit. When the Apostle tells us:  Pray without ceasing, he means this:  desire unceasingly that life of happiness which is nothing if not eternal, and ask it of him who alone is able to give it.

 

Take the trouble to pray, it quiets the mind.

 

I get up early and pray as long as it takes me to view my day in terms of divine value and be able to look at it in a calm, focused way and then, as I begin the day, when I discover that I am losing the divine centeredness and focus, I know it’s time to pray again. Prayer should not be some time I have ransomed to be alone with God, but a time to thrust me into an active world where my mind and spirit are so focused and divine-centered that I can see everything, every piece of reality, in those terms.

 

It is good for a married woman to be devout, but she must never forget she is a housewife.

 

Punctuate the day with silent reverence, awe, wonder, grace bestowed.

 

Enter a state of quiet solitude, an oasis of stillness to allow God the room to speak to us. Say, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” Love to pray – feel often during the day the need for prayer, and take the trouble to pray. Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God’s gift of himself. Ask and seek, and your heart will grow big enough to receive him and keep him as your own.

 

So often real prayer must be, not that God would send us the things we wish, but that he would make us able to accept the things he wills.

 

Take everything to him in prayer. The more we do that, the more we grow to love him and accept his will. The more we become like him, the more he will be able to tell us.

 

Feel often during the day the need for prayer and take the trouble to pray. Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God’s gift of himself.

 

It may not be possible to find more time, but it is possible to find some time.

 

God is more ready to answer than we are to pray.

 

Meditation: to think deeply and quietly, to ponder, to consider at length, to contemplate. Prayer is talking to God, meditation is listening.

 

Journaling is a crucial self-discovery tool. It enables you to record your thoughts, experiences, and feelings; it frees you from keeping thoughts trapped inside your head. It allows you to capture your contemplations and insights; puts you in touch with the deeper part of yourself. You have permission to break the rules:  use pictures, symbols, cartoons or mindmaps. Experience with crayons, markers, colored ink while sitting in bed, lying under a tree or listening to music. It helps you through times of change and transition, challenge or if you need clarity on a subject. Gives you deeper insight into yourself, but it takes discipline. Free-form style – don’t edit or censor, just let the thoughts flow from mind to paper!

 

Focus on the universal call to holiness; steps along the path of spiritual living – silence, solitude, prayer, reading, meditation, journal-keeping, contemplation and mutual service. Contemplation and a life of action go together. The more I receive in prayer, the more I can give.

 

Silence reminds me to take my soul with me wherever I go.

 

The great questions of the human condition:  the presence of God, the foundation of human relationships, the nature of self-development, the place of purpose. Life is a way of walking through the universe whole and holy. We begin to grow when we finally want to grow.

 

It is acceptable to have less then you have now and still be happy.

 

The Rule does not call for absolute silence; it calls for thoughtful talk.

 

The work of discernment is to do everything in our power to be open to the Truth, to God, and to attempt to appreciate our inherent resistance to change so we can let go and allow the Spirit of God to lead.

 

The Rule of Benedict set out to make the normal and the natural the stepping stones of the holy.

 

The monastery environment designed with a clear purpose in mind…to orientate everything to the pursuit of mindful living.

 

The spiritual life is a complete reordering of our values and our priorities and our lives. Spirituality is that depth of soul that changes our lives and focuses our efforts and leads us to see the world differently than we ever did before.

 

A life of holiness brings maturity, balance and depth to the human personality. When God becomes important, the other things fade into the background, and loyalty to Hikm becomes the only thing that matters…through spouse, children, peers, parents, siblings, extended family and friends. Change one’s own life before changing others; by example, the most powerful influence.

 

Leadership is imagined not as the action of a particular man but as a wider stirring of power…ordinary folk finding themselves gifted in extraordinary ways.

 

If monastic formation encourages the monk to see a Christ in our midst as well as on our altars it also encourages the guest to recognize the holiness within, to be more hospitable to the self; in weariness and wonder:  “O, Jesus Christ, it is You again?”

 

Time seems to stand still…involves a new time-scale, involves a tranquil, unhurried, absolutely dominating rhythm and that this liturgical sense of time is the greatest difference between monastic life and any other.

 

Lack of proportion always corrupts.

 

You have only to let the place happen to you…A monk.