Dec 5 Tue
Mary’s prayerful attitude
Twice in the Gospel we are told that Mary kept all these memories in her heart, and meditated upon them, and also that she treasured all these things in her heart.
This is Mary’s attitude; we too must internalize and meditate on everything God sends us.
This is prayer: a meaning dialog with God about Him, about your life, on how you can help the others, about events… Thus, you will be looking at things with God’s eyes.
Nazareth is the school where we begin to learn more about the life of Jesus. Often in our mental prayer we should imagine ourselves as one person working alongside Jesus, Mary and Joseph, or accompanying her at the foot of the Cross... Ask our Mother to teach you to talk to Jesus.
Prayer strengthens us against temptation. The Lord addresses the same words to us as he did to the disciples in Gethsemane: “Why do you sleep? Rise up and pray, that you may not enter into temptation."
To develop the spirit of prayer we must include some regular Norms of piety in our Plan of life. Thus, the incense of our prayer will rise up constantly to God Our Father. St. Josemaría reminds us: “Today I tell you the same thing in different words. We will attain holiness, through faith, through frequently receiving the sacraments, and through our hope and love. All this spiritual dimension of our lives has a series of specific external expressions and interior practices which were already present in the lives of the early Christians. These are the Norms of our plan of life."
“In the spiritual life, nothing new has been discovered, nor will it ever be. The means have been, are, and always will be the same: the sacraments, prayer, mortification, a life of piety, fleeing from temptations and from occasions of sin, opening our hearts wide, and letting God's grace enter deeply, cutting in and burning, cleansing and purifying."
Prayer leads us to live in the presence of God throughout the day. “Prayer then becomes continuous, like the beating of our heart, like our pulse. Without this presence of God, there is no contemplative life. And without contemplative life, our working for Christ is worth very little, for ‘vain is the builder's toil if the house is not of the Lord's building’.”
Resolutions:
- Every day, devote ten minutes to mental prayer.
- Deal with the Holy Family of Nazareth; learn to talk to Jesus as Mary and Joseph did.
Time and again we ask Our Lady, who is already in heaven, body and soul, to petition Jesus for us. Today, offer her the Sunflower, which orienting itself, and looking at the Sun, represents our prayer, facing God, being contemplative in the middle of the World.
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