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Brookline Carmel Bulletin J M J T
September 1959
Cogitatio Sancta
(Holy
Meditation)
Talking With God
(continued)
Thanksgiving accompanies praise.
The consideration of the Divine perfections calls to mind the goodness
of God. We owe Him everything: our being and our life, our place in the
world and our opportunity to attain our place in heaven. How can we consider the constant proofs of
God’s love towards us without singing our gratitude? As children, we were taught to say “thank you.” As children of God, we should be continually
thanking Him for all that we are and all that we have and all that we hope to
receive. Psalm 137, entitled “Hymn
of a Grateful; Heart,” begins with the
words: “I will give thanks to
you, O Lord, with all my heart… I will worship at your holy temple and give
thanks to your name, Because of your kindness…”
and we should never forget that the most perfect expression of thanksgiving is
the Eucharist.
A criterion by which to judge the value of our prayer is the presence
or absence of these three elements: adoration,
praise, and thanksgiving. Without them,
our prayer is “anemic.”
Faith tells us that we are children of God, that He is our Father. It is only natural that we should express
our love for our Father. Our
love, as sinful children, will be mingled with contrition for our sins,
which will give it a savor especially pleasing to God.
“Ask and you shall receive,”
said Our Lord. The prayer of petition
is probably the most common type, the type that comes most spontaneously to our
lips during the course of our troubled existence on earth. We pray for our own needs and for the needs
of others. We pray as individuals and
as members of society. But our prayer
is always offered “through Our Lord Jesus Christ,” the only Mediator between God and man.
These are but a few of the forms that our prayer can take. As we advance, we shall find new things to
say to our Father, and new ways of saying them. We need not follow any particular order. It is better that we speak to God
spontaneously, as the thoughts come to us and seem to seek expression in
prayer. If we are truly close to Our
Lord, He will teach us what to say – nay more, He will speak through us to His
Father in heaven – His Father and our Father!
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“The
highest perfection consists not in interior favors nor in great raptures nor in
visions nor in the spirit of prophecy, but in bringing our will so closely into
conformity with the will of God that, as soon as we realize that He wills
something, we too desire it with all our might, and take the bitter with the
sweet, knowing that it is His Majesty’s will.
This, I think, is the most difficult thing – not so much the actual performance
of it, as the joy in doing something which brings our will squarely into
opposition with our nature…” (St. Teresa, Foundations, Chap. V).
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“There
is no lie so carefully devised and composed that, if we study it carefully, we
cannot tell it in one way or another to be a lie. Nor… is there any devil so completely transfigured as an angel of
light as not to be recognizable if he be examined carefully. Nor is there any hypocrite so artfully
concealed and disguised that you cannot discover him after a few glances.” (St. John of
the Cross, Spiritual Sayings, 15).
L
D V M
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