Build An Oratory Within Yourself

Build an oratory within yourself, and there have Jesus on the altar of your heart. Speak to Him often of His holy love, of His holy sufferings and of the sorrows of Most Holy Mary. - St. Paul of the Cross

Why Your Body Matters for Prayer

Christian prayer is embodied prayer. In C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters we discovered an experienced devil giving lessons to a young temptor. At one point, the veteran orders his young charge to encourage his 'client,' a budding Christian, to envision prayer as something very 'interior' and 'mystical,' having little to do with posture or the position of the body. He wants the poor Christian to think that whether he stands, slouches, sits, or kneels is irrelevant to the quality of his communication with God. This, of course, is the Cartesian voice, the belief that our bodies and souls are independent and have little to do with each other.

But then consider the view of William James. In his Principles of Psychology, James writes that it is not so much sadness that makes us cry as crying that makes us feel sad. The body in a significant sense precedes the mind.

The same dynamic occurs when we pray. It is not so much keen feelings of devotion that force us to our knees as kneeling that gives rise to keen feelings of devotion.

If you're having difficulty in prayer today, try kneeling, or bowing, or making some sort of reverent gesture. The body often leads the mind into a deeper spiritual space. - Fr Robert Barron

Prayer Is Helplessness Casting Itself On Power...

Prayer is helplessness casting itself on Power, infirmity leaning on Strength, misery reaching to Mercy, and a prisoner clamoring for Relief. - Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

In Times Of Aridity

In times of aridity arouse your spirit gently, by acts of love; then rest in the will of God. It is thus that the soul gives the strongest proof of her fidelity to God. Make a bouquet of the sufferings of Jesus, and place it on the bosom of your soul, as I have told you. You can from time to time call them to mind, and say sweetly to your Saviour: 'Oh good Jesus, how swollen, bruised, and defiledwith spittle do I behold Thy countenance! Oh my Love! why do I see Thee all covered with wounds? Oh Infinite Sweetness! why are Thy bones laid bare? Ah, what sufferings! what sorrows! O my God! for what are Thou all wounded! Ah, dear sufferings! dear wounds! I wish to keep you always in my heart'. - Saint Paul of the Cross

Most Potent And Acceptable Prayer

The most potent and acceptable prayer is the prayer that leaves the best effects. I don't mean it must immediately fill the soul with desire...The best effects [are] those that are followed up by actions - when the soul not only desires the honor of God, but really strives for it. - Saint Teresa of Avila

Taste And See

Jesus Christ finds means to console a soul that remains with a recollected spirit before the Most Blessed Sacrament, far beyond what the world can do with all its feasts and pastimes. Oh, how sweet a joy it is to remain with faith and tender devotion before an altar, and converse familiarly with Jesus Christ, who is there for the express purpose of listening to and graciously hearing those who pray to him; to ask his pardon for the displeasures which we have caused him; to represent our wants to him, as a friend does to a friend in whom he places all his confidence; to ask him for his graces, for his love, and for his kingdom; but above all, oh, what a heaven it is there to remain making acts of love towards that Lord who is on the very altar praying to the Eternal Father for us, and is there burning with love for us. Indeed that love it is which detains him there, thus hidden and unknown, and where he is even despised by ungrateful souls! But why should we say more? 'Taste and see.' - Saint Alphonsus De Liguori

Staying Still In Silence Before Jesus In The Blessed Sacrament Let's Us Perceive What He Wants From Us

It is by staying still, in silence, and possibly for long periods, before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, that we perceive what He wants from us, put aside our own plans to make way for His, and let God's light gradually penetrate the heart and heal it. - Fr. Cantalemessa

External Action Is Fruitless Unless It Is Born From A Deep Inner Communion With Christ

Activism by itself can be heroic, but in the end external action is fruitless and loses its effectiveness unless it is born from a deep inner communion with Christ. - Pope Benedict XVI

Jesus Actively Permits Himself To Be Pierced, Ceaselessly Pouring Forth From Himself A Perfect Merciful Love

As God, Jesus actively permits Himself to be pierced, ceaselessly pouring forth from Himself a perfect merciful Love that has its source in the Father and invites man’s heart to enter into interpersonal communion with the Heart of God. - Rev. Gregory Gresko

When The Heart Of Man In His Entire Person Authentically Meets The Pierced Heart Of Jesus

When the heart of man in his entire person – body and soul – authentically meets the pierced Heart of Jesus, this encounter is the sacred place of our salvation where we ask Jesus to be the Lord of our hardened hearts, exchanging them for His Heart so completely full of love and life, as the Holy Spirit pours forth into us as a living spring of the Father’s Divine Mercy (cf. Ezekiel 36.26-28). - Rev. Gregory Gresko

Cultivating The Gift Of Contemplative Prayer

http://www.catholic.org/hf/faith/story.php?id=37506

The Taste Of God In Contemplation Is More Precious Than Everything Else

The taste of God in contemplation is more precious than everything else; for, no matter what a man might wish for, it is nothing when compared to this. For when the spirit of a man stands before God and sees his happiness and tastes his delights, then in truth he as attained to paradise. — Saint Anthony of Padua

The More I Find, The More I Seek

Eternal Trinity, you are like a deep sea, in which the more I seek, the more I find; and the more I find, the more I seek you. - Saint Catherine of Siena

Posted from Blogium for iPhone

Beware That Your Hearts Do Not Become Drowsy From Carousing And Drunkenness

Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the son of man. - Our Lord Jesus Christ

In The Mass, You And I Have Heaven On Earth

Our heritage includes the whole of the Bible, the uninterrupted witness of the Mass, the constant teachings of the saints, the research of the schools, the methods of contemplative prayer, and the pastoral care of the popes and bishops. In the Mass, you and I have heaven on earth. The evidence is overwhelming. The experience is a revelation. - Scott Hahn

God Enriches The Soul Which Empties Itself Of Everything

God enriches the soul which empties itself of everything. - Saint Padre Pio

She Was More Absorbed In What Was Happening Within Her Than Without, For Within Her Was Her Treasure, The Gentle Secret That Left Her Amazed And Speechless

Only when the divine life we receive in the sacraments has been assimilated in contemplation, can it be practically expressed in action - in the practice of the virtues and especially charity. Just as there is no human action that doesn't originate in thought (if it does, it is useless, or extremely dangerous), there is no Christian virtue that doesn't originate in contemplation...Perfection in Christian life consists in being fully like Christ, first in the inner heart and then in exterior action.

Contemplation is, then, the set course for passing from communion with Christ in Mass to the imitation of Christ in life. Therefore, just as everyone in the Church is called to holiness, we can equally talk of everyone in the Church being called to contemplation. The way to Christian perfection goes from the mysteries to contemplation and from contemplation to action.

As soon as we try to apply these general premises on the mysteries of the Eucharist, their importance and relevance is immediately obvious. The result is that to be like Christ it is not enough to eat His Body and drink His Blood; this mystery must be contemplated. There is a big affinity between the Eucharist and the incarnation. St Augustine says that in the incarnation "Mary conceived the Word first in her mind and then in her body" (Prius concepit mente quam corpore). Actually, he adds, it would have been worth nothing to her to have carried Christ in her womb if she had also carried Him with love in her heart.

After the incarnation, therefore, Mary was full of Jesus not only in her body but in her spirit too. She was full of Jesus because she thought of Him and awaited Him (and how she awaited Him!); she loved Jesus. Like any woman expecting a child, but in a much more perfect way, she was more absorbed in what was happening within her than without, for within her was her treasure, the gentle secret that left her amazed and speechless. St. Luke tells us: "Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). In this she is the most perfect model of Eucharistic contemplation: that is what the Christians who have just received Jesus in the Eucharist must be like. They too must receive Jesus with their minds after receiving after receiving Him into their bodies. And to receive Jesus with the mind mean to think of Him and have one's gaze fixed on Him.

- Father Cantalemessa

God Never Resists The Prayer Of His Mother Because It Is Always In Accord With His Will

‎Mary's prayers and requests are so powerful with God that they pass for commands with His Majesty. He never resists the prayer of His dear Mother because it is always humble and in accord with His will. - Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716 AD)

Holy Communion Assures Me That I Will Win The Victory

Every morning during meditation, I prepare myself for the whole day's struggle. Holy Communion assures me that I will win the victory; and so it is. I fear the day when I do not receive Holy Communion. - Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska

Paths of Repentance

A third path of repentance consists of prayer that is fervent, careful and comes from the heart. A fourth path of repentance is almsgiving, whose power is great and far-reaching. A fifth way, moreover, if a man lives a modest humble life, takes away sin. - Saint John Chrysostom