Daily Thought For June 21, 2014

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Insights On Prayer

Prayer is like a field. In this field, there is a treasure: the union with God. We must dig for it without giving up. 

 It is a rendezvous of love.

 He wants to hear us and speak to us. We just have to be aware of it through faith. It is a type of awakening.

 In order to pray, we must follow Saint Benedict's advice: "First, with fervent prayer, beg of Him to finish the good work begun ... " (RB, Prologue).

 We must expect that God seems to withdraw, but this withdrawal is only to invite us to go further in our search for him. It is a divine process arranged so that we don't stop when we have reached just the small part of God that we only have begun to find. From God's viewpoint, it is a forward flight. He touches us, excites us, flees, and then comes back to incite us again. This heart-to-heart is never interrupted by God. If we interrupt it, he will come back to it through another path or road. We must be firm, accept the trial, leave what encumbers us behind, and prefer God to everything and in everything, imitate Jesus Christ, renew our desire and expectations of him through hope, finding our satisfaction in no one else. Thus, he will draw us out of ourselves, rip us from ourselves, and pour a greater degree of charity into our hearts.

 The Lord hides himself so that the heart will seek him more ardently. The meeting is put off so that the person will find his own capacity for God and so that, one day, the believer will more fully find what he seeks. By appearing not to respond to our immediate desires, God intends to fulfill us even more. God neglects our request so that he can respond to his deeper intention.
The Lord calls the soul to a higher mountain, thus a greater love and then, in this way, little by little, he lifts it and makes it grow. But in order to unite with it at the summit that he shows us now, it must descend into the valley (see RB, 7), descend as deeply as the summit is high.
from 15 Days of Prayer With Saint Benedict by André Gozier pp.126-127

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