After "Ardent Desire" comes "Continuous Prayer"

[MariaChristi]

1. Solomon, the model given us by the Holy Spirit in the acquiring of Wisdom, only received this gift after he had desired it, sought after it and prayed for it for a long time. “I desired wisdom and it was given to me. I called upon God and the spirit of wisdom came to me.” (Wis 7.7) “I have loved and sought wisdom from my youth, and in order to have her as my companion and spouse I went about seeking her.” (Wis 8.2,18) Like Solomon and Daniel we must be men of desire if we are to acquire this great treasure which is wisdom. (cf Dan 9.23)

THE SECOND MEANS: CONTINUOUS PRAYER

1. The greater the gift of God, the more effort is required to obtain it. Much prayer and great effort, therefore, will be required to obtain the gift of Wisdom, which is the greatest of all God’s gifts. Let us listen to the voice of Wisdom himself: “Seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you, ask and it shall be given you.” (Mt 7.7; Lk 11.9) It is as if he said: If you wish to find me, you must seek me; if you wish to enter my palace, you must knock at my door; If you wish to receive me, you must ask for me. Nobody finds me unless he searches for me; nobody enters my house unless he knocks at my door; nobody possesses me unless he asks for me. We can only do this by prayer. Prayer is the usual channel by which God conveys his gifts, especially his Wisdom. The world was asking for the incarnation of divine Wisdom for four thousand years. For fourteen years Mary prepared herself by prayer to receive him in her womb. Solomon received Wisdom only after praying most fervently for a long time: “I went to the Lord and besought him, and I said with all my heart… Give me that Wisdom that sits by your throne.” (Wis 8.21; 9.4) “If any of you lacks wisdom let him ask God, and ir shall be given him, for God gives his gifts to all men abundantly and ungrudgingly.” (Jas 1.5) Note here that the Holy Spirit does not say, “If anyone lack charity, humility, patience, etc.,” although these are most excellent virtues, but he says, “If anyone lacks Wisdom.” For by asking for Wisdom we ask for all the virtues possessed by incarnate Wisdom.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

There is much to ponder in these words given by the Holy Spirit to St. Louis de Montfort. By God’s Grace may we continue to ask Him to strengthen within us an Ardent Desire for His gift of Wisdom and to ask His Help to Pray with Mary, – especially the in the Words Jesus taught us: “Our Father…”

Come, Holy Spirit fill the Hearts of yoru Faithful; kindle in us the Fire of Your Love! Jesus we trust in You! Mary, Mother of the Church pray for us.

 

[patricius79]

The greater the gift of God, the more effort is required to obtain it. Much prayer and great effort, therefore, will be required to obtain the gift of Wisdom, which is the greatest of all God’s gifts. Let us listen to the voice of Wisdom himself: “Seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you, ask and it shall be given you.” (Mt 7.7; Lk 11.9)

Thank you, MariaChristi.

I agree wholeheartedly with the idea of seeking, knocking, and asking for Wisdom (Mercy), and for praying without ceasing.

I struggle with the first part here about “greater effort”.

It’s not that I’m unwilling to work on embracing the Cross. I am working on that, with Mary, my Mother’s, help.

It’s just that as a neuotic type of person I can tend to “try too hard”, which as you said, leads to focusing on myself rather than on God’s Goodness.

So I have to emphasize what St. Faustina and St. Therese teach about trusting in Christ’s Mercy.

So I love what St. Louis says in True Devotion to Mary:

1. Please note that I say that saints are moulded in Mary. There is a vast difference between carving a statue by blows of hammer and chisel and making a statue by using a mould. Sculptors and statue-makers work hard and need plenty of time to make statues by the first method. But the second method does not involve much work and takes very little time. St. Augustine speaking to our Blessed Lady says, “You are worthy to be called the mould of God.” Mary is a mould capable of forming people into the image of the God-man. Anyone who is cast into this divine mould is quickly shaped and moulded into Jesus and Jesus into him. At little cost and in a short time he will become Christ-like since he is cast into the very same mould that fashioned a God-man.
   https://www.ewtn.com/library/Montfort/TRUEDEVO.HTM

 

[hazcompat]

The servant of God, however, because he roars from the recollection of the Sabbath, where the Kingdom of God is, which flesh and blood shall not possess, says, I have roared with the groaning of my heart.

And who observed and noticed the cause of his groaning? All my desire is before You (Psalm 37:9). For it is not before men who cannot see the heart, but it is before You that all my desire is open! Let your desire be before Him; and the Father, who sees in secret, shall reward you. (Matthew 6:6)

For it is your heart’s desire that is your prayer; and if your desire continues uninterrupted, your prayer continues also. For not without a meaning did the Apostle say, Pray without ceasing.(1 Thessalonians 5:17) Are we to be without ceasing bending the knee, prostrating the body, or lifting up our hands, that he says, Pray without ceasing? Or if it is in this sense that we say that we pray, this, I believe, we cannot do without ceasing.

There is another inward kind of prayer without ceasing, which is the desire of the heart. Whatever else you are doing, if you do but long for that Sabbath, you do not cease to pray. If you would never cease to pray, never cease to long after it. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.

You will be ceasing to speak, if you cease to long for it. Who are those who have ceased to speak? They of whom it is said, Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. (Matthew 24:12) The freezing of charity is the silence of the heart; the burning of charity is the cry of the heart.

Therefore follows, And my groaning is not hid from You. From You indeed it is not hid; but from many men it is hid. The servant of God sometimes seems to be saying in humility, And my groaning is not hid from You. Sometimes also he seems to smile. Is then that longing dead in his heart? If however there is the desire within, there is the groaning also. It does not always find its way to the ears of man; but it never ceases to sound in the ears of God.

How to Pray Without Ceasing Through the Desire of the Heart

Peace

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear patricius,

Thanks for your reply and your “heart” which is willing to read and ponder the Word of God, and the words of His Saints.

It seems to me that in writing “The greater the gift of God, the more effort is required to obtain it.” St. Louis deMontfort trusts God sees each of our hearts and God knows our efforts perfectly. We are not always the best judge in our own case. St. Teresa of Avila and other saints tell us that we need true self-knowledge and that Truth can only come from God. So when de Montfort quotes Jesus’ words from Mt 7: 7; Lk 11:9, it seems to me St. Louis wants us to trust Jesus is faithful to His Promise.

The emphasis on continuous prayer is that we need to keep praying for the graces we need with faith that God knows the efforts we have made and He does not ask us to carry any cross beyond our strength. We can trust Him. Your quote from St. Louis de Montfort’s “True Devotion” is another way of seeing how God provides for us, in saying “Behold your Mother”. When we look to Mary, we see how she followed Jesus, in perfect faith, hope and above all Charity. Mary stood beneath His Cross to the end. If we obey Jesus as John did and take Mary into our lives, it seems to me St. Louis de Montfort’s words will “come true” for us:

… Anyone who is cast into this divine mould is quickly shaped and moulded into Jesus and Jesus into him. At little cost and in a short time he will become Christ-like since he is cast into the very same mould that fashioned a God-man. ( from paragraph #219 in “True Devotion”)

By God’s Grace, let us, grow more and more Christ-like by the power of His Holy Spirit, through Mary our Mother. Hope that helps a bit.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear hazcompat,

Thanks for the quote from St. Augustine. Saints to whom God gave Wisdom and who wrote as St. Augustine and St. Louis de Montfort wrote, spent time with the Lord, they listened carefully to His Word in Scripture, and they pondered His Words and what He did, pondering all in their hearts as Mary did – far more than many of us do today.

The inward prayer of which St. Augustine wrote is truly possible for us, iit seems to me, if we ask for the grace we need for that “Ardent Desire” and “Continuous Prayer” St. Louis de Montfort wrote about in the two paragraphs posted today from “The Love of Eternal Wisdom”.

As Augustine wrote, : …if your desire continues uninterrupted, your prayer continues also.

Ah, the wisdom of the Saints!

 

[patricius79]

The emphasis on continuous prayer is that we need to keep praying for the graces we need with faith that God knows the efforts we have made and He does not ask us to carry any cross beyond our strength. We can trust Him. Your quote from St. Louis de Montfort’s “True Devotion” is another way of seeing how God provides for us, in saying “Behold your Mother”.

Thank you MariaChristi.

St. Louis wrote about how much easier it is to find Christ if we pray frequently to Mary.

In my own life, I could not seem to make any spiritual progress or find any consolation until I read words like these from St. Louis, and begin to seek Jesus through Mary:

This devotion is a smooth way. It is the path which Jesus Christ opened up in coming to us and in which there is no obstruction to prevent us reaching him. It is quite true that we can attain to divine union by other roads, but these involve many more crosses and exceptional setbacks and many difficulties that we cannot easily overcome. We would have to pass through spiritual darkness, engage in struggles for which we are not prepared, endure bitter agonies, scale precipitous mountains, tread upon painful thorns, and cross frightful deserts. But when we take the path of Mary, we walk smoothly and calmly.

St. Louis explains that actually with Mary we find more crosses, but that she–the Mediatrix of All Graces–makes these crosses sweet for us, through love. I think he means that Mary helps us to love the Cross, which is wisdom.

Jesus gave her to us because she helps us to desire nothing but union with Jesus and the whole Trinity.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear patricius,

Thanks for your reply. Yes, St. Louis de Montfort speaks God’s Truth to us, which he learned by the power of the Holy Spirit and Mary’s intercession, as he read and pondered the Old Testament Book of Wisdom. True devotion to Jesus through Mary is a “smooth way” as St. Louis wrote in his book, “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin”. Yet he continued to explain as you quoted him:

This devotion is a smooth way. It is the path which Jesus Christ opened up in coming to us and in which there is no obstruction to prevent us reaching him. It is quite true that we can attain to divine union by other roads, but these involve many more crosses and exceptional setbacks and many difficulties that we cannot easily overcome. We would have to pass through spiritual darkness, engage in struggles for which we are not prepared, endure bitter agonies, scale precipitous mountains, tread upon painful thorns, and cross frightful deserts. But when we take the path of Mary, we walk smoothly and calmly.

Today is the anniversary of Mary’s third apparition at Fatima, let us honor her this Saturday, in some special way – perhaps praying her Rosary with our most fervent attention and devotion.