Lord, my heart is not proud; nor are my eyes haughty. I do not busy myself with great matters, with things too sublime for me. Rather, I have stilled my soul, hushed it like a weaned child. Like a weaned child on its mother’s lap, so is my soul within me –
Psalm 131:1-2.
PROVIDING THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE:
Psalm 131 highlights both the context of prayer and the right relationship that the disciple needs to have with God. This relationship is very special because it is one of Creator to creature, Savior to the redeemed. The passage echoes the wisdom of surrender and filial trust in the loving kindness of God. Prayer is that time with God when “I have stilled my soul and hushed it like a weaned child on its mother’s lap.”
Our relationship with God is the most profound of all our relationships. Given the nature of God, we will change profoundly if we choose to accept God’s enduring love. Jesus tells us that in knowing him we will know the Father and through him we will enter into the life of the Trinity: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father also. From this point on you know him; you have seen him. (John 14: 6-7)” And in talking about the Holy Spirit, Jesus says, “When he comes, however, being the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth… All that the Father has belongs to me. That is why I said that what he will announce to you he will have from me. (John 16: 13-15)” Hence it would be more appropriate to describe prayer or our meetings with God as encounters rather than visits. In prayer we are standing before our Creator and Lord, our Savior and Teacher. The only authentic way to stand in God’s presence is by becoming transparent to God and especially to ourselves. Making excuses, offering conditions, and imposing restrictions and compromises, are tantamount to distorting the relationship, to making ourselves the sun instead of the satellite. This distortion is idolatry. We end up worshipping a false god, an idol that we have created in our own likeness and preference. If, however, we enter into the relationship with a deep reverence for the transforming mystery of God, we will experience a profound conversion of heart, mind, and spirit, and come to a deeper appreciation of our true self as well. We will indeed experience Jesus as the resurrection and the life. Belief in Jesus and surrender to him will bring us everlasting life.
MAGNANIMITY REQUIRED FOR THE ENCOUNTER WITH GOD:
God does indeed have a magnanimous (can be translated as large-hearted or generous-minded) disposition toward us. Magnanimity is best demonstrated in challenging times. As we have already observed in the previous weeks, throughout salvation history, through thick and thin, God’s commitment to us never wavered. On the contrary, it got stronger the more we wavered and sinned. And in Jesus, God-among-us, God’s love was especially demonstrated. “There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends… Instead, I call you friends, since I have made known to you all that I heard from my Father. (John 15:13-15)” Thanks to God’s passionate commitment to us, we can pin our exuberant hopes on God fulfilling His promise to make us his sons and daughters through his son, Jesus Christ. God’s dreams for us are as inexhaustible as the divine mysteries. No wonder in his letter to the Ephesians Paul can assert that God wants to make us holy, blameless, and full of love as God is. In our journey with God, regardless of our personal failures and miserable track record, we need to envision limitless horizons because God’s designs for us are inexhaustible. We need to believe that we can do anything in Christ who strengthens us. Discipleship founders when the heart is faint. It blossoms when the spirit is intrepid and indomitable because the Holy Spirit is at the helm of our affairs.
There is the mistaken notion that in order to enter into a meaningful relationship with God, we need to be good and upright. The opposite is true. Jesus came precisely for sinners. God asks that we come with hearts and minds that are open and willing to be overwhelmed by God’s love and forgiveness. When we have truly experienced God’s love and compassion, we will move toward repentance and discipleship. We will desire to love and serve God and our neighbor with all our hearts and minds and souls, imitating Jesus Christ, our teacher and role model.
In this walk with God, having a large heart and generous spirit are essential. Anyone desiring to enter into a significant relationship with God will have to be prepared to take on the characteristics and dispositions of God Himself. It does not make sense to be afraid to look beyond our noses when God’s horizons are limitless and all-embracing. Being magnanimous on our part will mean that we truly allow God to be God; we truly trust God to fulfill His promises to us, to make us His own sons and daughters, created in his own image and likeness, and washed in the blood of his son, Jesus Christ.
REVERENCE:
True intimacy with God will always take into consideration the awe-inspiring majesty of God. God is immanent and transcendent, more intimate to us than our very breath, and totally other than who we are at the same time. It is important that we keep in proper balance the immanence and transcendence of God in our prayer and everyday lives. Moses was rendered speechless at the burning bush and Mt. Sinai. A deep sense of unworthiness came upon him as he realized how utterly holy God was, totally other than he. Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God (Exodus 3:6). Isaiah, too, felt an acute sense of sinfulness before the holy God who was calling him to be a prophet. He exclaims, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips…yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5). Jesus is both the Good Shepherd who carries his lamb around his shoulders, and the Risen Lord who sits at the right hand of the Father. True reverence for God creates genuine intimacy that enlivens and transforms. Familiarity, without reverence, breeds superficiality and self-centeredness.
TRANSITION:
As our relationship with God is unique among all our relationships, it is important that we bring our whole person to the dialogue. It makes sense to create a sacred space when we come to prayer. It is a good idea to set aside some time to transition into our prayer. Transition enables us to close the door to whatever activity we were engaged in and apply our full attention to communing with God. It is a good idea to take as much time as we need to become quiet, or else our prayer period could become more distracting and difficult than it need be.
There are other effective ways of becoming still and creating openness to the Holy Spirit in prayer. The sounds around us are echoes of God’s presence. Listening carefully to them, without rejecting any sound either far or near, is a helpful way to arrive at a fair measure of quietness. Similarly, becoming aware of sensations in different parts of the body is another way of creating a helpful transition into prayer. Focusing on our breathing, or on the sensations caused in our nostrils as we inhale and exhale, is also an effective way of becoming still before we enter into God’s presence.
SEEKING THE HOLY SPIRIT’S GUIDANCE:
However hard we try to commune with God, it is important to understand that our transformation and union with God is brought about by the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit’s guidance and wisdom, we would be mired in our own selfishness and pride. Our ego would get in the way of our noblest intentions. Hence it is important that we begin every prayer and action under the umbrage of the Holy Spirit. As I said earlier in this reflection, our meetings with God are encounters! So let the Holy Spirit be the one under whose mantle you do your prayer. As the suggested opening prayer for every session states: “Come, Holy Spirit, and overshadow me with your gentle wisdom and power as I endeavor to sit at the feet of Jesus during this period of prayer. Purify my mind and heart as I seek to make the teachings of Jesus my priority in life, thinking, speaking and doing as He desires. You are the keeper of my soul, leading me into God’s heart. May I be docile and submissive to your wisdom and guidance. May my life be a pleasing offering in your sight. Amen.”
HELPFUL ATTITUDES FOR PRAYER:
- Our relationship with God is the most profound of all our relationships. Given God’s nature we will change profoundly if we choose to accept God’s enduring love.
- In prayer we are standing before our Creator and Lord, our Savior and Teacher. The only authentic way to stand in God’s presence is by becoming transparent to God and especially to ourselves.
- Discipleship founders when the heart is faint. It blossoms when the spirit is intrepid and indomitable because the Holy Spirit is at the helm of our affairs.
- It does not make sense to be afraid to look beyond our noses when God’s horizons are limitless and all-embracing. Being magnanimous on our part will mean that we truly trust God to fulfill His promises to us.
- True reverence for God creates genuine intimacy that enlivens and transforms. Familiarity, without reverence, breeds superficiality and self-centeredness.
- When you are with God, you are in the presence of Holy Mystery. Make an effort to bring your whole being before your Creator and Lord.
- Try coming home to yourself before you make the effort to come into God’s presence. Coming home to self is like feeling hushed as a weaned child on its mother’s lap.
- If you are wondering why your relationship with God does not have the depth and meaning you would like it to have, one reason could be because you have not developed the attitude of reverence.
GUIDELINES FOR PRAYER:
- Be faithful to your time of prayer, and make it between 20 and 30 minutes daily.
- Begin every prayer session with an earnest prayer to the Holy Spirit like the one I have composed for you: Come, Holy Spirit, and overshadow me with your gentle wisdom and power as I endeavor to sit at the feet of Jesus during this period of prayer. Purify my mind and heart as I seek to make the teachings of Jesus my priority in life, thinking, speaking and doing as He desires. You are the keeper of my soul, leading me into God’s heart. May I be docile and submissive to your wisdom and guidance. May my life be a pleasing offering in your sight. Amen.
- Take one of the passages suggested for prayer. During the week you might want to ponder the question, “Is your prayer suffused with reverence for God’s holiness and goodness, or is it plagued with superficiality and preoccupation with self?”
- Lastly, during your prayer make sure you also address God directly and listen for the Holy Spirit’s responses.
- You can end your prayer with the following: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I thank you for your gracious companionship. I praise you for being my Creator, Savior and Lord. May I take your blessings to my day, and may your presence envelop and permeate all my thoughts and actions. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
PASSAGES FOR PRAYER:
Exodus 15: 1-18: Moses’ Song of Victory
1 Samuel 1:9 – 2:10: Hannah’s Prayer
Psalm 51: David’s Prayer of Repentance
Psalm 56: Trust in God
Psalm 66: Praise of God’s Israel’s Deliverer
Sirach 1: 1-29: Praise of Wisdom
Revelation 5: 1-14: The Scroll and the Lamb
SPIRITUAL READING:
The Imitation of Christ:
Book I: Useful Reminders of the Spiritual Life:
Chapter 1: Of the Imitation of Christ
Chapter 2: Of Having a Humble Opinion about Yourself
Chapter 3: Of the Teaching of Truth
SCRIPTURAL READING:
Old Testament:
Psalm 119: Praise of God’s Law
New Testament:
John’s Gospel: The Great Discourse: Chapters 13-17
JOURNALING:
- Journal for a few minutes daily about your experience with God in prayer and during the day.
- Your journal will help you with your sharing in spiritual direction
- Gradually patterns of insights, themes, consolations, and resistance to God’s promptings will emerge.
- Your journal will help you appreciate the Holy Spirit’s action in your being
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