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“Responding to God’s Call” Retreat DAY FOUR: PRAYER
Scripture Reading
“All these were persevering with one mind in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. …] And continuing daily with one accord in the Temple, and breaking bread from house to house they took their meat with gladness and simplicity of heart.” (Acts 1:14; 2:46)
Meditation
A great part of any Christian life should involve assiduous prayer. This is especially true of the consecrated life. Since the life of grace is a spousal life, the life of prayer is the place where the basic loving exchange of hearts is lived daily. This prayer must be constant and the center of the experience the religious has of his consecration.
Most religious communities have common prayer as a part of their day. The central prayer of all for which must have a rather developed taste before embarking on the adventure of the vows is the prayer of Christ himself, the Mass. Whether or not one is in an institute made up largely of clerics, the daily participation in the community Mass is the central nourishment for the life of grace. One should therefore enjoy church. If one is bored or easily distracted at Mass this is probably a sign that one is not called to religious life.
After Jesus rose from the dead, the apostolic community was often at prayer beginning with their gathering for the first novena in the Upper Room with Mary. The apostolic community also frequented the Temple prayers, which are the ancestor of the Liturgy of the Hours which are now said by most religious communities. Not only must the religious pray for his or her own salvation, but he or she is also obliged to pray for the Church as a whole. The normal way to do this is by the daily recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours, a prayer rooted in the recitation of the Psalms, the prayer book of ancient Israel. The New Testament also testifies to the fact that this was the basic prayer used by Jesus and Mary. Because of this taste for prayer a religious must also truly enjoy prolonging the union with God fostered at Mass by some part of the Liturgy of the Hours, usually Morning Prayer (Lauds) and Evening Prayer (Vespers).
These public prayers of the Liturgy must also be nourished and supported by private prayer. Each religious needs to constantly experience God’s personal providence for him as an individual. The spousal union is so deep and intimate that God has his personal plan for each one and each must be a solicitous to discover and pursue this providence as they would if they were married to a human spouse. Most religious communities have some form of meditation or mental prayer in common for this purpose. If a person ever forgets that God is constantly caring for THEM and in both suffering and joy showering them with his love, they cannot long persevere or they do so only with great difficulty for themselves or others. Religious know that if one stops praying there is little either the community or the superior can do to save the vocation. They may be present in body by rule, but they cannot be present in spirit by love.
There are many methods in the Church to encourage this relationship with the heavenly Spouse. No one method fits all people. A person considering a priestly or religious vocation must therefore be very patient and also very interested in prayer, which goes far beyond merely the mandated attendance at community exercises. They must be really interested in Christ as a person and want to know and experience everything he does.
One famous religious who left in the 1940’s stated sadly, “Half heartedness in prayer was the beginning of my downfall. …] I was too busy finding fault with the structure to have concerned myself with the dweller within.” One who is tired or bored with Christ or is not fascinated by HIM should not enter the religious state. Prayer would merely be a penance for them. Realistically it would be like marrying a man and woman you did not love and find interesting.
Devotion to Mary is a necessary item too. She is the model of prayer and she always accompanies and encourages our prayer as she did the Apostles in the Upper Room in the first novena. The story is told that St. Albert the Great, one of the most famous theologians of the Middle Ages and a Dominican, was discouraged because he could not understand his studies and wanted to leave as a young religious. He put the ladder to the cloister wall and as he was about to climb he knelt down and said one more Hail Mary. All his doubts vanished and he became one the greatest of medieval theologians, the teacher of Thomas Aquinas.
Points of Reference
Do I have a genuine love of and taste for prayer?
Do I love the Mass and do I find Christ fascinating?
Can I see myself disciplining myself to a regimen of prayer which takes up several hours a day?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, You Yourself taught us how to pray and often gave us an example by going away to a lonely place and resting in Your Father’s presence. Grant that I may always desire prayer because it is a loving conversation with You. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
religiouslife.com
Scripture Reading
“All these were persevering with one mind in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. …] And continuing daily with one accord in the Temple, and breaking bread from house to house they took their meat with gladness and simplicity of heart.” (Acts 1:14; 2:46)
Meditation
A great part of any Christian life should involve assiduous prayer. This is especially true of the consecrated life. Since the life of grace is a spousal life, the life of prayer is the place where the basic loving exchange of hearts is lived daily. This prayer must be constant and the center of the experience the religious has of his consecration.
Most religious communities have common prayer as a part of their day. The central prayer of all for which must have a rather developed taste before embarking on the adventure of the vows is the prayer of Christ himself, the Mass. Whether or not one is in an institute made up largely of clerics, the daily participation in the community Mass is the central nourishment for the life of grace. One should therefore enjoy church. If one is bored or easily distracted at Mass this is probably a sign that one is not called to religious life.
After Jesus rose from the dead, the apostolic community was often at prayer beginning with their gathering for the first novena in the Upper Room with Mary. The apostolic community also frequented the Temple prayers, which are the ancestor of the Liturgy of the Hours which are now said by most religious communities. Not only must the religious pray for his or her own salvation, but he or she is also obliged to pray for the Church as a whole. The normal way to do this is by the daily recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours, a prayer rooted in the recitation of the Psalms, the prayer book of ancient Israel. The New Testament also testifies to the fact that this was the basic prayer used by Jesus and Mary. Because of this taste for prayer a religious must also truly enjoy prolonging the union with God fostered at Mass by some part of the Liturgy of the Hours, usually Morning Prayer (Lauds) and Evening Prayer (Vespers).
These public prayers of the Liturgy must also be nourished and supported by private prayer. Each religious needs to constantly experience God’s personal providence for him as an individual. The spousal union is so deep and intimate that God has his personal plan for each one and each must be a solicitous to discover and pursue this providence as they would if they were married to a human spouse. Most religious communities have some form of meditation or mental prayer in common for this purpose. If a person ever forgets that God is constantly caring for THEM and in both suffering and joy showering them with his love, they cannot long persevere or they do so only with great difficulty for themselves or others. Religious know that if one stops praying there is little either the community or the superior can do to save the vocation. They may be present in body by rule, but they cannot be present in spirit by love.
There are many methods in the Church to encourage this relationship with the heavenly Spouse. No one method fits all people. A person considering a priestly or religious vocation must therefore be very patient and also very interested in prayer, which goes far beyond merely the mandated attendance at community exercises. They must be really interested in Christ as a person and want to know and experience everything he does.
One famous religious who left in the 1940’s stated sadly, “Half heartedness in prayer was the beginning of my downfall. …] I was too busy finding fault with the structure to have concerned myself with the dweller within.” One who is tired or bored with Christ or is not fascinated by HIM should not enter the religious state. Prayer would merely be a penance for them. Realistically it would be like marrying a man and woman you did not love and find interesting.
Devotion to Mary is a necessary item too. She is the model of prayer and she always accompanies and encourages our prayer as she did the Apostles in the Upper Room in the first novena. The story is told that St. Albert the Great, one of the most famous theologians of the Middle Ages and a Dominican, was discouraged because he could not understand his studies and wanted to leave as a young religious. He put the ladder to the cloister wall and as he was about to climb he knelt down and said one more Hail Mary. All his doubts vanished and he became one the greatest of medieval theologians, the teacher of Thomas Aquinas.
Points of Reference
Do I have a genuine love of and taste for prayer?
Do I love the Mass and do I find Christ fascinating?
Can I see myself disciplining myself to a regimen of prayer which takes up several hours a day?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, You Yourself taught us how to pray and often gave us an example by going away to a lonely place and resting in Your Father’s presence. Grant that I may always desire prayer because it is a loving conversation with You. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
religiouslife.com