PRAYER

WE OUGHT ALWAYS TO PRAY AND NOT TO FAINT

LUKE 18:1

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THE IMPORATANCE OF PRAYER

Question:

How Plato opened his Republic?

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Answer:

- Socrates, a pagan, who prays

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Socrates: 

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“I went down yesterday to Piraeus (a port, now part of Athens) with Glaucon the son of Ariston, that I might offer up my prayers to the goddess (Artemis) and also because I wanted to see in what manner they would celebrate the festival, which was a new thing.”

The unexamined life is not worth living

Một đời không tự kiểm là cuộc đời không đáng sống

1. St. Thomas Aquinas:
1. the worship of God takes the first place in the order of moral virtues; it is occupied more with God and leads us nearer to Him than the others.
2. Now the easiest means of doing so, a means that we can employ at all times and in all places, is found in PRAYER.

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• St. John Chrysostom says: “Without prayer it is absolutely impossible to lead a virtuous life.”

Whether it be the prayer of praise or thanksgiving or impenetration or propitiation, we are worshipping God, for every prayer is a humble acknowledgment of the greatness or goodness or fidelity or mercy of God.

TYPES OF PRAYER AND HOW TO PRAY

��������WHEN, WHERE AND HOW �JESUS PRAYS?�

• Jesus prays in public �

• During his public minitry (raise his eyes to heaven before healing, performing miracles), speaking out loud during the last super (Gospel of John’s Last super discourse), on the cross – forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.
• => Jesus prays everywhere and anytime: “Our Divine Redeemer had no need,” as St. Ambrose says, “to retire to a lonely place to pray; for as His blessed soul was constantly in the presence of His heavenly Father, in every place and in all circumstances, He thought of Him and continually interceded for us.”

• Jesus prays in private �

• As St. Matthew relates, “Having dismissed the multitude he went into a mountain alone to pray. And when it was evening he was there alone.” (Matt. 14:23).

TWO TYPES OF PRAYER

In Public

In Private

Vocal prayer, or prayer pronounced by the lips, is very pleasing to God because by it the endless Majesty of God is acknowledged and glorified.

DEFINITION

How to do Vocal Prayer:

Attention: How could the Lord, continues the same Saint, hear the prayers of him who knows not what he wants, and does not even wish to be heard? How can you expect the Lord to hear you when you cannot hear yourself? says St. Cyprian.

Devotion: to please God we must pray not only with the lips, but also with the heart.

• Tập Trung Bên Ngoài/ Exterior attention: abstain from everything that is incompatible with interior recollection. For example, it would hardly be proper during prayer to speak with others or to listen to a conversation that is going on, or to gaze about at every distracting object.
• Tập Trung Bên Trong/ Interior attention (threefold): (1) to words you utter, (2) to their sense, (3) to God.
2. (1) to the words when you are careful to pronounce them well.
3. (2) to the sense of the words when you try to understand their meaning in order to unite suitable affections of the heart with the verbal utterance.
4. (3) to God, and this is the best kind of attention, when during prayer your mind is fixed on God with a view to adore Him, to thank Him, to love Him or to ask Him for His graces.

• The annals of Citeaux contain the following vision which St. Bernard had one day when at prayer with his religious brethren. At the side of each of the brethren, he saw an angel who stood and wrote. Some of the angels wrote with gold, others with silver, still others with ink, and some with water—while a number held the pen in their hand without writing at all. At the same time God enlightened the Saint to know what this meant: the gold denoted that the prayers of these particular brethren were said with the greatest fervor; the silver indicated that the devotion of others left something to be desired; the writing in ink meant that the words were carefully spoken, but that no devotion accompanied them; the water was intended to show that the words were carelessly pronounced, and little or no attention paid to what was said; finally, the angels who wrote nothing at all were standing beside the brethren who knowingly entertained voluntary distractions.
• Before entering the church, let us follow the advice of St. John Chrysostom and dismiss all worldly thoughts. Offer Him beforehand the prayers you intend to say, and beg Him to preserve you from distractions.

EJACULATIONS – LỜI NGUYỆN NGẮN

NHỮNG TÊN LỬA DẤU YÊU

• The easiest means of practicing vocal prayer consists in uttering fervent ejaculations.
• Examples: “O my God, I desire only Thee and nothing else”; or, “I give myself wholly to Thee; I desire what Thou desirest; do with me according to Thy good pleasure.” These few words alone are enough: “My God, I love Thee”; or “My Love, my All!” You may also, without uttering a word, raise your eyes to Heaven or cast a loving glance at the tabernacle or the crucifix.

EJACULATIONS – LỜI NGUYỆN NGẮN

NHỮNG TÊN LỬA DẤU YÊU

• Among all ejaculations and prayers, the invocation of the holy names of Jesus, Mary and Joseph should have the first place. It has always been the laudable practice of devout Christians to unite with the names of Our Lord and His holy Mother the beautiful name of St. Joseph. St. Teresa says that she never remembers to have sought his aid in vain. “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul; Jesus, Mary and Joseph, assist me in my last agony; Jesus, Mary and Joseph, may I breathe forth my soul in peace with you.”
• Be careful on all occasions, alone as well as in company!

WHY MENTAL PRAYER/ MEDITATION IS NECESSARY?

Mental prayer/ meditation

helps us to know about ourselves

Mental prayer/ meditation

helps us know what to ask in prayer

KNOW ABOUT OURSELVES

Mental prayer/ meditation helps us to know about ourselves:

• St. Bernard compares mental prayer to a mirror, and the comparison is very apt; for if you happen to have a speck of dirt on the face and you come before a looking glass, you see the dirt at once and remove it. Had you not looked in the mirror, you would not have thought of the dirt nor washed it away. So it is with mental prayer: While at meditation we are standing, as it were, before a mirror of the soul. It is then we recognize our faults and the danger we are in, and accordingly we take measures to rid ourselves of the faults and to escape from the danger that threatens us.
• St. Teresa once wrote to the Bishop of Osma: “Although we appear to have no imperfections, we discover that we have very many when God opens the eyes of the soul, as He does in meditation.” “He,” says St. Bernard, “who does not meditate will scarcely ever perceive his faults, and as a result will have no horror of them.”

WHAT WE NEED

Mental prayer/ meditation helps us what to ask in prayer

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• The absence of meditation makes us blind to our own condition and needs; hence we are led to neglect the prayer of petition.
• A great servant of God once said: “Meditation and sin cannot exist together”; and experience teaches that those who are zealous in the practice of meditation rarely, if ever, fall into God’s displeasure. A soul that loves meditation, says the Royal Psalmist, is like a tree that is planted by the running waters; it bringeth forth fruit in due season, and all its actions are meritorious before God. (Ps. 1:2–3).
• It was for such a heart that Solomon prayed: “Give to thy servant, O Lord, an understanding heart, to discern between good and evil. And the word was pleasing to the Lord that Solomon had asked such a thing.” (3 Kgs. 3:9–10).

THE PREPARATION, THE CONSIDERATION AND THE CONCLUSION

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A METHOD OF ST. ALPHONSUS

A METHOD OF ST. ALPHONSUS