Posted on 08/25/2016 7:14:46 AM PDT by Salvation
The Lord says that we have to pray and indicates that without prayer we will give way to temptation. Thus prayer is essential for us to escape sin and keep our lives on the right path. While God offers many graces to overcome sin and live holy lives, those graces are often delivered through the doorway of prayer. Prayer is God’s way of knocking at the door of our heart; prayer is our way of answering. Prayer is God’s offer and prayer is our response. Jesus says,
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me (Rev 3:20).
The shared meal referred to here, beyond its reference to the Eucharist, is also a sign of intimacy. While our culture is casual about eating (and just about everything else), in those days sharing a meal was not done with just anyone. Meals were shared with close family and friends. That is one reason that people of Jesus’ time were often surprised to see the people with whom Jesus shared meals. St. Peter also shocked the people of his time when he entered the household of a Gentile (Cornelius) and ate with him (Acts 10 & 11).
So, Jesus knocking at the door of our heart, seeking entrance, and sharing a meal, is a sign of reverence and intimacy. And we surely also need the food He offers: His Word and His Word made flesh.
Yes, prayer is both beautiful and essential.
Yet many Christians find prayer difficult. To some degree, our difficulties today are greater than in previous eras due to the constant noise and abundant distractions of our time. So noisy and frantic are our lives that sitting still and being silent is downright unnerving for many.
This is all the more reason that we must pray and pray well!
Learning to pray is not just a “fake it till you make it” proposition. As with any other area of life, we need to be taught; we can benefit from the experience of those who have gone before us. While it is true that prayer must be more than a “technique,” it is also true that prayer is more than a vague and purely subjective experience. Thus teaching can help us to find what is best and to avoid pitfalls that can discourage us.
Of all the books on prayer I recommend, The Fulfillment of All Desire by Dr. Ralph Martin is at the very top of my list. Anyone for whom I have been a spiritual director will attest that my first request of him or her is to obtain a copy of Dr. Martin’s book and begin reading it.
The book is valuable not only due to Ralph’s own wonderful insights, but also because he organizes and summarizes the teachings of the great Doctors of prayer (from the Catholic and Western traditions) so well. He draws heavily from St. Paul, St. Augustine, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Francis De Sales, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and St. Thomas Aquinas.
He organizes the material along the fundamental stages of prayer: the purgative way, the illuminative way, and the unitive way. In the purgative stage we seek, by God’s grace, to identify our sins and attachments and to become increasingly free of them. We undergo basic conversion and begin to develop the habit of prayer. In the illuminative stage we see our love for and intimacy with God and neighbor increase, the virtues grow stronger within us, and our prayer become quieter and deeper. In the unitive stage, having made progress by grace, we receive a habitual, deep, and ever-deepening union with God, marked by joy, humility, and stability.
In his presentation of each stage, Dr. Martin samples richly from the writings of the saints and the teaching of the Church. He also gives much practical advice that helps to root the teaching within the setting of the modern world. He goes to the sources and brings them to us, applying their wisdom to our situation.
Simply put, the book is essential to anyone who seeks a guide to prayer.
And, dear readers, I hope you do seek a guide to prayer, for prayer is essential. Jesus said that temptation is looming, and if we don’t pray our lives can go off track pretty quickly without that remedy. But the Lord did not leave us alone to respond to so great a summons! He has sent us saints and biblical wisdom to teach us. And in our times, He anointed Dr. Ralph Martin to compile and present this wisdom to us freshly and comprehensively.
If you don’t have a copy of The Fulfillment of All Desire, go sell all that you have and buy one! 🙂
/8^)
look at my #9 and follow on .... this is fun
I think the question was rhetorical
oops ... my #24 ... not 9
Amen!
Do you guys go to the same school .... wait ..... I forgot ....
Yeah, y'DO
The disciples to the LORD Jesus Christ “Lord, please teach us HOW TO PRAY (just as John taught his disciples)”
Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say: “’Father, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’”
Then, teaching them more about prayer, He used this story:
Luke 11:1-5a (The Bible)
Hmmmmmmmmmmm
Dontcha think if Jesus teaches you something, you wouldn’t need any other teacher ???
Do you also have a writer who can improve on the plan of salvation as God designed it ???
well if the Catholic priest thinks that why doesn’t he just say “Read the Bible” ???
Monsignor had a question and answer thing for comments at the bottom of his column.
Why don’t you ask him your questions?
John 21:25
Do we have the COMPLETE teaching? The Bible suggests we don’t.
We don’t have a writer, there cannot be a writer who would improve on the plan of salvation. However people have questions and problems with which their friends along the way can help them.
And there are the different forms of service of which Paul gives examples in 1 Cor. 12:9-10 and Eph. 4:11. Shepherds and teachers ... which suggests that feeding, tending, guiding, and instruction continue after the Ascension and Pentecost.
So I don’t think it’s a slam dunk that there’s no place for guidance in prayer or any other aspect of our walk with Christ.
why don’t we all just ask God ???
Gee how on Earth did our Christian ancestors manage without this Catholic priest to help them ???
how on Earth did they do it with just the Bible...
BTW you said the magic BVDs words “the Bible is incomplete”
youre a Mormon aren’t you ???
Nope. I’m a Catholic. I quoted the Bible.
According to our view, they had Catholic priests from the Pentecost.
But not all writers or teachers on prayer are priests. Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, Julian of Norwich couldn’t pass the physical.
Who said those without spiritual helpers couldn’t make it? But even in prayer there is time wasted “reinventing the wheel.”
By the way, I try to avoid snide conversations. They don’t meet any need I am aware of having.
I think he is assuming the Bible; this would come under the heading of “further reading.”
Ironically someone recommended this book to me a few months ago and I didn’t pay much attention. Just ordered it at half.com for 13 bucks and change.
And the guy who wrote the book is a layman.
It had nothing to do with anything.
True, that.
The distinction escapes the vast majority of Catholics.
No, it suggests that not everything Jesus did was written down, not that we had incomplete teaching.
On the contrary, it tells us this....
2 Timothy 3:14-17 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Show us where anyone in Scripture tells us that it is not complete and that we need other sources to teach us things God neglected to include in the Bible.
Do you really think that He WOULDN'T include everything we needed to know?
.
Everything that Yehova wants us to know about prayer is in his word.
The writings of others is just personal speculation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.