Ever heared of this

[Brain]

I have been praying recently for the ability so simply bear all my intentions and concerns or a very complex and vast body of intentions openly to God in few words or even somthing as simple as a breath or single thought. It just there are so many things i want to say and even though i try to put them simply, many times they are pure emotion and i cant really describe what i feel.
I base this whole idea off of when Christ stood on the hill outside Jerusalem and said “oh jerusalem.” such a complex and wide reaching prayer expressed in a simple sigh.
I have been calling this thing im praying for the gift of groaning (I ask for it because i was allowed to do it once a while back and again this morning when i said the petitions in the lauds, its not wholly pleasant but it is very meaningful in restrospection), but is there a correct term for this? I know God doesnt care about terminology but im just curious is there is a term for this gift? and if groaning isnt the term, than what is groaning if anything?
Of course perhaps i should just be happy that it happened twice and leave it at that, cant force God to give us gifts.

 

[Joysong]

Dear Brain,

I understand the cry of your spirit. How to apply an appropriate name to what is a deep groan in one’s soul? … I just don’t know. St. Teresa of Jesus referred to it as a “distress” that embraces us interiorly and it can be very intense at times. I asked the Lord what it was one time when I was unable to remove it and it was particularly keen, and I understood it through these words, “Foxes have dens, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

At these moments the soul just “groans” and has no other earthly place in which to rest. It soars above like an eagle. The key for me is that we are unable to remove it until the Lord permits, and the “pain” is so sweet to our spirit that we do not wish for it to be removed. To use carmelite terminology, if I’m understanding you correctly, this is “arid” contemplation, rather that form of contemplation which is sweet and joyful — it presses us with groaning.

As usual, these interior matters are difficult to express and convey with human language. And yes, it is a gift from the Lord.

Carole

 

[tjmiller]

It sounds as if Brian may be experiencing a kind of contemplative prayer-gift frequently bestowed upon those who dispose themselves for that kind of infused, passive prayer life. In the prayer of simplicity or simplification, a multitude of petitions and intentions can be simultaneously offered to God in interior prayer without effort on the part of the intellect or will. They arise like a breath from one’s spirit and ascend to the Lord like incense wafting aloft on the gentle, wafting breeze of the Holy Spirit. Or they shoot up on high like arrows, or bubble up like a spring.

Significantly, these “aspirations” or “exhalations” do not occupy the attention, they simply arise to the Lord and are gone. One can pray for a thousand different specific persons and intentions within the space of Vespers or a Rosary decade this way, without disturbing one’s recollection. It’s a beautiful gift which enables one to engage in active and passive prayer at the same time.

As for the groanings of the Spirit, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings” (Rom. 8:26)!

 

[Joysong]

Dear Brain,

I have been calling this thing I’m praying for the gift of groaning (I ask for it because I was** allowed to do it once** a while back and again this morning when I said the petitions in the lauds, its not wholly pleasant but it is very meaningful in restrospection), but is there a correct term for this?

As you may have already noticed, this gift is “infused” by God passively without our active cooperation. When I wrote, “the key for me is that we are unable to remove it until the Lord permits,” I forgot to mention that we are also unable to receive it or experience it at will. God decides the moment.

God be with you,
Carole

 

[Joysong]

Dear Brain,

It is the strangest thing to be inspired during mass, but this morning I remembered your words stating that you were aware of the “groaning” experience while you recited *lauds *yesterday morning.

Morning prayer yesterday had Psalm 43, which says, “Why are you cast down, my soul, why groan within me?”

If you received that interior touch from God during this psalm and for some period afterwards (depending on its duration), it was His way of teaching you what was occurring. Some of God’s deep teachings to me came in moments like this where he correlates the words we are reciting with the experience He grants, so that we can truly “see” and understand.

What is so utterly special is that you were not expecting it or even thinking about it at the time, but simply praying from the breviary. God wonderfully preserves us in that manner from deception, as we ponder the experience afterwards.

Carole