Composed by: Sr. Pier Giorgio Frassati

The traditional definition of Prayer is the action, act, or practice of praying. When I was younger, prayer was as simple as that definition. It was a mindless action, act, or practice that had little substance.Prayer for me consisted of an assortment of memorized lines and phrases that all blended together. I can remember countless occasions when a bed time Hail Mary haphazardly intermingled with Bless Us, O Lord for These Thy gifts…. Being scolded by my parents eventually helped me become vigilant of saying the proper prayers, yet merely reciting these “prayers” meant little to me. I used to question the importance of prayer in my life because it always seemed so unproductive. Prayer for me was just another ordinary action, act, or practice.

This was because I never gave any thought to the words that I was saying. Prayer was not important to me. Until I began learning howto authentically pray, I felt that I could not relate to words that I mechanically repeated on a daily basis. I was having trouble making a connection between God and prayer.I was talking at God rather than to Him. Until recently prayer for me has typically been one-sided.
As I grow older, however, I havebecome more open to prayer.I have realized that my immature prayer life was a lack of a deeper sense of faith. My seemingly inactive prayer life only began to grow as I acknowledged that prayer was more than just the cliché of “going through the motions.” Prayer, as I am continuing to discover, is not just about recited words. It is about what those words mean and how they relate to my life.

Prayer takes many forms. The traditional prayers of my youth are only a small piece of the picture. By incorporating different realities of prayer into my spiritual formation, I am able to strengthen the connection with God that I previously struggled to make. Prayer can be a free flowing conversation with God, a faith based discussion among peers, or contemplation of spirituality. It can be expressed though song, art or poetry. It is a process of seeking, listening, discerning, and growing.

For me personally, praying with Scripture has been an excellent tool in exploring prayer. Through scripture I am able to take on a more active role in the process of prayer. It allows me to identify with my faith and listen more deeply to God’s will for my life. Since praying with scripture has been such an essential part in my faith journey I would like to share with you an example of how I pray with Scripture.
One passage of particular importance is the story of Martha and Mary. I feel that as people try to meet the many demands of life—families, friends and society—we can all relate somehow or other to this passage. Consider reading this gospel passage (Luke 10: 38-42) while keeping in mind the following points:

• While you read the passage take note of any images, words, or phrases that may resonate with you.
• Ask yourself if you can relate to any of the people in the passage.
• Take note of any particular themes that stick out in your mind

A reading from the Gospel According to Luke:

As they continued their journey he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed Him.  She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do all the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” (Luke 10: 38-42)
 
I would now like to give you some examples of how I would answer some of the points I mentioned to keep in mind before the reading of scripture.

One person that I can identify with in this passage is Martha.Martha is“burdened with much serving.” In the reading, Christ points out that she is “anxious and worried about many things.” She is more consumed by attending to her work than spending time with Jesus, the son of God. How many times in my life have I felt burden with class work and extra activities? I often let my busy schedule distract me. Like Martha, I tend to overlook the presence of Christ when He is right in front of me. I make Christ another bullet on my check list to be tended to along with the other “burdens” of my day.
Although I identify with Martha, I desire to be more like her sister Mary. Unlike her sister, Mary recognizes the presence of Christ. She sits with Him and takes part in His company. Martha on the other hand comes to Jesus only to ask something of him. In the passage I just read, Maratha approached Jesus saying “Tell her to help me.” Again we see Martha consumed by her work. She is “anxious and worried about many things,” so she commands the Lord to tell her sister to help her. As my difficultly with prayer suggests,like Martha, I too have approached God many times with a demanding tone to ask for His intercession.

If Martha sat with Jesus as Mary did, she would not have had toask Him to tell her sister to help.She would have been given her answer by merely listening to the word of God. The relief she is looking for is not help from her sister, rather it is found in the presence of Christ. As my struggles with prayer have illustrated, I too have fallen prey to making a two-sided connection with God. I have gone through the motions of speaking to God, telling Him what I need, but He already knows what I need. As He tells Martha, “There is need for only one thing”: To be completely immersed in His love.

The points I have just discussed are examples of how I pray with Scripture. This particular passage may be interpreted in many different ways. It probably speaks to you in a different way than it speaks to me. Words, phrases, and themes that I highlighted are important to me because they resonate with my life. I could identify with Martha, yet you may be able to identify more with Mary. Because we are unique individuals, Christ speaks to us in many different ways. Take some time out of your busy schedules to hear how Christ is speaking to you!
 
 

Composed by: Sr. Caterina de Siena

My Lay Dominican community, Joy of the Just, recently went on retreat and we were blessed to have as our retreat director, Fr. Carleton Jones, O.P., the Prior of St. Dominic’s Priory in Washington, DC.

One never knows what God will reveal to the soul on retreat and how He desires to dwell in the depths of the heart.  Such was the case with me when Fr. Carleton wisely said that we often do not see or know the “Divine Perspective” of our lives.  For me, this insight is worthy of deep contemplation.

Consider your life as it is right now.  There is your perspective on what is happening and then there is God’s perspective.  I found Fr. Carleton’s words of wisdom on the “Divine Perspective” very freeing.  I was filled with joy and peace knowing that God sees events in my life that I have not the vision to see, nor the wisdom to understand.  The “Divine Perspective” is far superior to my insights and I trust that the events that unfold in my life are in the Holy Hands of the One who created me.

Fr. Carleton recommend that I read Contemplative Provocations – Brief, concentrated observations on aspects of life with God by Fr. Donald Haggerty.  I obediently ordered the book and as soon as it arrived I began in earnest to read the Foreward written by Timothy Cardinal Dolan of New York.  I did not venture far into the text when I came across the phrase, “there is asked of all the baptized a profound surrender and not just resignation.” (p. 13).

I continue to ruminate on the literal and spiritual meaning of these two words.  The literal definitions of these two words from the Merriam-Webster dictionary are these:

Surrender - to give oneself over completely or agree to forgo especially in favor
                      of another
 
Resignation – resistance or acceptance of something undesirable but inevitable

When applied to the spiritual life, surrender is freely and lovingly giving control of our will to God while resignation accepts what is happening in our lives, but wishing it was otherwise – according to our will.
The Rt. Rev. Dom Vitalis Lehodey, O.C.R. in his book, Holy Abandonment, says,


Holy abandonment surrenders one's own will to that of the Will of God:  surrender is more than resignation or submission, for it is done out of total love for and trust in God, after first having accomplished in oneself indifference to the Will of God, that is, having no preference whatsoever, but that one always wills what He wills, because He wills it.
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In resignation, one can still maintain one's preference while accepting the Will of God.  This is submission, not surrender because one has not completely given up one's own will.

​Surrender or holy abandonment to God’s Will paves the way for joy to enter the soul that loves and trusts God implicitly.  We need look no further than to our holy Mother, Mary, to see that she is the role model for how one surrenders to God.  Her beautiful Fiat is the perfect example of surrender to God’s Will and I find myself praying it often:  Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum - “let it be done to me according to your word”.  (Luke 1:38)

Surrender is the gentle and loving giving over of our will and ourselves to God’s perfect plan.  This gentle self-offering is accepted by God and He dwells in the soul in profound ways when we pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church encourages this surrender to God:

2825  ….We ask our Father to unite our will to his Son's, in order to fulfill his will, his plan of salvation for the life of the world. We are radically incapable of this, but united with Jesus and with the power of his Holy Spirit, we can surrender our will to him and decide to choose what his Son has always chosen:   to do what is pleasing to the Father.

2826  By prayer we can discern "what is the will of God" and obtain the endurance to do it.  Jesus teaches us that one enters the kingdom of heaven not by speaking words, but by doing "the will of my Father in heaven."

2827  "If anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him."  Such is the power of the Church's prayer in the name of her Lord, above all in the Eucharist. Her prayer is also a communion of intercession with the all-holy Mother of God and all the saints who have been pleasing to the Lord because they willed His will alone.

We can confidently surrender to God’s Will knowing that we are in good company with Our Lady and all the saints in heaven who know the difference between resignation and surrender.  Resignation clings to self-will and accepts God’s actions and stirrings as if God’s Will is somewhat undesirable and inevitable.   Surrender brings joy, peace and freedom in doing God’s Will because He loves us perfectly and can be trusted to “will our good.”   

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.  Jeremiah 29:11

If you choose the path of surrender, I offer you the surrender prayer from St. Ignatius of Loyola:

Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory,
my understanding and my whole will.
All that I am and all that I possess, You have given me:   
I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your Will.
Give me only Your love and Your grace;
with these I will be rich enough and will desire nothing more.  Amen.
 
Jesus, I Love You and I Trust in You! 

N.B.   Fiat Chaplet prayers may be found at: 
          http://www.lovecrucified.com/prayers/fiat_chaplet.html
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Image Source: 
https://silentwindsofchange.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/two-paths-choose-well/
​http://www.lovecrucified.com/prayers/fiat_chaplet.html