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Brookline Carmel Bulletin J M J T
September … 1959
Cogitatio Sancta
(Holy
Meditation)
Talking With God
(The thoughts and general outline of this little treatise are taken
from a paper delivered by R. P. Louis de Ste. Therese, O.C.D., at a Congress of
Spirituality held in Canada last year.
It is not a direct translation and covers only a small portion of the
original paper.)
To pray means to talk with God. St.
Thomas, in his Summa theologica, treats of prayer in the sense of petition.
We use the term prayer here in a much broader sense, to cover
all the things we say to God. Whenever we turn our mind to God and express
any sentiment, either in word or merely in thought, this act constitutes prayer.
Why should we pray? Because we
have been taught from childhood to do so?
Because we need some particular favor at this particular moment? Because we need help to resist
temptation? These reasons are
praiseworthy, but the fundamental reason that we should pray springs from our
relationship with God. God is our
Creator, our Father. We are His
creatures, His children – children who have offended our Father. Whenever we consider our relationship with
God, we should be inspired to speak to Him, which is to pray. The more perfectly we are aware of our own
position in relation to God – our own position as creatures, as children –
sinful children – in relation to our Father – our infinitely perfect Father –
the more perfectly we will pray. When
we set out to pray, our Holy Mother Saint Teresa urges us to “ask
ourselves to Whom we are to speak and who we are, in order to know how we ought
to pray… Yes, approach Him, but reflect and understand to Whom you are about to
speak or to Whom you are already speaking.
If we lived a thousand lives such as ours, we would still not reach an
understanding of how this Lord deserves to be treated, before Whom the angels
tremble. He commands the entire
universe. He can do all! With Him, to will is to do.” Our prayer
should be founded on an awareness of the infinite greatness of God and of our
own lowliness.
What should we then say to God?
Our first act should be one of adoration. By faith, we know that we are in the
presence of our creator, our Lord, our Father.
We humble ourselves before Him and adore Him – often in wordless
adoration, as we are overwhelmed by the consideration of His infinite
perfection
Our next act will ordinarily be one of praise, which springs from the admiration we experience in the face of the divine perfections. Sometimes our praise addresses itself directly to God (“I will extol You, O my God and King, and I will bless Your name forever and ever” – Psalm 145); sometimes it addresses itself to creatures and urges them to express His greatness according to their own capacity (“All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever. O ye angels of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all forever” – Dan. 3, 57-58); sometimes it addresses itself to no one in particular, but merely sings of the Divine grandeur (“For great is the Lord and highly to be praised; awesome is He, beyond all gods” – Psalm 96, 4). The Book of Psalms ends with a triumphal hymn of praise (Psalm 150), entitled, in the Confraternity Edition, “Final Doxology with Full Orchestra” – “Praise the Lord in His sanctuary, praise Him in the firmament of His strength. Praise Him for His mighty deeds, praise Him for His sovereign majesty. Praise Him with the blast of the trumpet, praise Him with lyre and harp, Praise Him with timbrel and dance, praise Him with strings and pipe, Praise Him with sounding cymbals, praise Him with clanging cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Amen.”
(to be continued)….
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