tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75987488176310667712024-03-19T06:05:59.605+07:00Thư viện Đồng TiếnEmail : thuviendongtien@gmail.comhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-81442332367558222382020-10-31T07:06:00.007+07:002020-10-31T21:03:31.025+07:00THE VIRGIN MARY - THE ARK OF THE NEW COVENANT<p> </p><p align="right" class="menu" style="margin-left: 0.25in; margin-right: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px; text-align: left;">Michal Hunt, </span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Copyright © 2002, revised 2006 Agape Bible Study. </span></span><a href="http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/Permission_to_use_Agape_Bible_Study_Material.htm" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Permissions</a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"> All Rights Reserved.</span><span style="font-size: 10.6667px;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;">• </span><a href="https://www.agapebiblestudy.com/charts/Pentateuch_Charts_Menu.php" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;">Pentateuch Charts List</a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;">• </span><a href="https://www.agapebiblestudy.com/charts/Old_Testament_vs_New_Testament_Charts_Menu.php" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;">Old Testament compared to New Testament Charts List</a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;">• </span><a href="https://www.agapebiblestudy.com/charts/Typology_Charts_Menu.php" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;">Typology Charts</a></p><br />"Mary, in whom the Lord himself has just made his dwelling, is the daughter of Zion in person, the Ark of the Covenant, the place where the glory of God dwells. She is 'the dwelling of God [...] with men.'"<br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">CCC# 2676</a><br /><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="7" cellspacing="0" style="border: thin outset buttonshadow; break-inside: avoid; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; margin-left: 0.25in; margin-right: 0.25in;"><caption><br /></caption><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="color" style="background: rgb(255, 238, 140); border: outset rgb(210, 105, 30);" valign="top"> <br style="text-align: inherit;" /><b>The Ark of the Covenant</b></td><td align="center" class="color" style="background: rgb(255, 238, 140); border: outset rgb(210, 105, 30);" valign="top"><b>The Virgin Mary<br style="text-align: inherit;" />The Ark of the New Covenant</b></td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">God the Holy Spirit overshadowed and then indwelled the Ark. The Ark became the dwelling place of the presence of God [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/exodus/40?34">Exodus 40:34-35</a>]</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">God the Holy Spirit overshadowed and then indwelled Mary. At that time Mary's womb became the dwelling place of the presence of God [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/1?35">Luke 1:35</a>].</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">The Ark contained the Ten Commandments [the words of God in stone], a pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that came back to life [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/deuteronomy/10?3">Deuteronomy 10:3-5</a>; <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/hebrews/9?4">Hebrews 9:4</a>].</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">The womb of the Virgin contained Jesus: the living Word of God enfleshed, the living bread from heaven, "the Branch" (Messianic title) who would die but come back to life [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/1?35">Luke 1:35</a>].</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">The Ark traveled to the hill country of Judah to rest in the house of Obed-edom [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2samuel/6?1">2 Samuel 6:1-11</a>]</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">Mary traveled to the hill country of Judah (Judea) to the home of Elizabeth [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/1?39">Luke 1:39</a>]</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">Dressed in a priestly ephod, King David approached the Ark and danced and leapt for joy [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2samuel/6?14">2 Samuel 6:14</a>]</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">John the Baptist, son of a priest who would himself becomes a priest, leapt for joy in Elizabeth's womb at the approach of Mary [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/1?43">Luke 1:43</a>]</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">David shouted for joy in the presence of God and the holy Ark [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2samuel/6?15">2 Samuel 6:15</a>]</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">Elizabeth exclaimed with a loud cry of joy in the presence God within Mary [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/1?42">Luke 1:42</a>]</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">David asked, "How is it that the Ark of the Lord comes to me?" [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2samuel/6?9">2 Samuel 6:9</a>]</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">Elizabeth asks, "Why is this granted unto me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/1?43">Luke 1:43</a>]</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">The Ark remained in the house of Obed-edom for 3 months [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2samuel/6?11">2 Samuel 6:11</a>]</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">Mary remained in the house of her cousin Elizabeth for 3 months [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/1?56">Luke 1:56</a>].</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">The house of Obed-edom was blessed by the presence of the Ark [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2samuel/6?11">2 Samuel 6:11</a>]</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">The word "blessed" is used 3 times in <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/1?39">Luke 1:39-45</a> concerning Mary at Elizabeth's house.</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">The Ark returned to its sanctuary and eventually ends up in Jerusalem where the presence and glory of God is revealed in the newly built Temple [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2samuel/6?12">2 Samuel 6:12</a>; <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1kings/8?9">1 Kings 8:9-11</a>]</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">Mary returned home from visiting Elizabeth and eventually comes to Jerusalem, where she presents God the Son in the Temple [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/1?56">Luke 1:56</a>; <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/2?21">2:21-22</a>]</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">God made Aaron's rod (which would be kept in the Ark) return to life and budded to prove he was the legitimate High Priest [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/numbers/17?8">Numbers 17:8</a>].</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">God would resurrect His Son, who had become enfleshed in Mary's womb and born to bring salvation to all mankind, to prove He is the eternal High Priest [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/hebrews/4?14">Hebrews 4:14</a>].</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">When the Ark was outside the Holy of Holies [when it was being transported] it was to be covered with a blue veil [<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/numbers/4?4">Numbers 4:4-6</a>]</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">In Mary's appearances outside of heaven visionaries testify that she wears a blue veil.</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">In <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/revelation/11?19">Revelation 11:19</a> John sees the Ark of the Covenant in heaven [this is the last verse of chapter 11]</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;" valign="top">In <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/revelation/12?1">Revelation 12:1</a> John sees Mary in heaven. It is the same vision Juan Diego saw of Mary in 1531 — the Woman clothed with the sun and standing on the moon.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="copyright" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 0.25in; margin-right: 0.25in;"><br /></p><p class="copyright" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 0.25in; margin-right: 0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="copyright" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 0.25in; margin-right: 0.25in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkjxlz87ZTDCeARoGHuywnA3V4nezSJEQ74enEWsfEO7wRfwa1pNTYPtkktro2fJHj9TCroAZFD6UI7FkDxzv3RHeLSp_ZAQUyUuVr9cIslyz8Aymvhe8qxawxG7Q8uqfwPL-Cs0StLr8/s3432/THE+VIRGIN+MARY+-+THE+ARK+OF+THE+NEW+COVENANT.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3432" data-original-width="917" height="1107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkjxlz87ZTDCeARoGHuywnA3V4nezSJEQ74enEWsfEO7wRfwa1pNTYPtkktro2fJHj9TCroAZFD6UI7FkDxzv3RHeLSp_ZAQUyUuVr9cIslyz8Aymvhe8qxawxG7Q8uqfwPL-Cs0StLr8/w297-h1107/THE+VIRGIN+MARY+-+THE+ARK+OF+THE+NEW+COVENANT.jpg" width="297" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><br /></span><p></p>hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-79858559116879047872020-10-30T22:22:00.004+07:002020-10-31T07:26:23.128+07:00How do I reset my Brother printer after changing toner?<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1caASZqRg_rDtpbB_PqdXoosGaJGOLXQja1rXGUSFE7EBqfLEdwgQhAm8ZZQ0i0QhTjQ9oAE9fGqew8FKzaGLuyGq7Bk1oFr0eV0bmt1lIyNDoQd0sH1GiOP2UVr6gkt4vhj9MTAvovU/s2000/print-icon-icon-printer-button-clipart.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="2000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1caASZqRg_rDtpbB_PqdXoosGaJGOLXQja1rXGUSFE7EBqfLEdwgQhAm8ZZQ0i0QhTjQ9oAE9fGqew8FKzaGLuyGq7Bk1oFr0eV0bmt1lIyNDoQd0sH1GiOP2UVr6gkt4vhj9MTAvovU/s320/print-icon-icon-printer-button-clipart.png" /></a></div><br />Cartridge recognition issues sometimes occur with compatible or genuine Brother toner cartridges. When you install a Brother TN2345 cartridge in your HLL2300D HLL2340DW or HLL2365DW and the toner counter doesn’t reset, you may wish to try the following procedure.<br /><br /><div> 1. Open the front cover and leave open while completing the following steps.<br />2. Turn the printer off.<br />3. Hold the ‘go’ button while turning the printer on.<br />4. After 3 seconds release the ‘go’ button.<br />5. (USER MODE) will appear.<br />6. Press the ‘go’ button NINE times.<br />7. The Wifi led will flash once.<br />8. Press the ‘go’ button 5 times.<br />9. Close the cover. Your toner is now reset<br /><br />Press OK 3 times to print a status page and this will show that the toner has reset back to 100%<br />Note: This procedure has been tested on the HL-L2365DW printer but may work on other printers using the TN2345 toner (HL-L2300D HL-L2340DW HL-L2365DW).<p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #383838; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #383838; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><span face="Open Sans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #383838;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">https://help.tmtoner.com/brother-hl-l2365dw-toner-counter-reset/</span></span></p></div>hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-60159090355493250822020-10-20T07:47:00.003+07:002020-10-31T07:23:31.086+07:00tao QR code tren Google Sheet<p> </p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRuiAxzo_yzxS3IOc-6oN58L4C1zoCY0bnHtodLM4b99VnC4MMXY4lw4MwKAoFih3GMjsMKV3RLooo5Js300XQfjdwK5GrNoJRcWz8IO8v4Gu7c3urBj9fGbIUpKqgiTJAao4QvoJLZkQ/s16000/dongtien.jpg" /></a></div><b>Bước 1: </b>Gõ vào thanh địa chỉ trình duyệt địa chỉ <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">https://sheets.new</a> để có thể tạo ra 1 tài liệu Google Sheets mới<br /><br /><b>Bước 2:</b> Chuẩn bị dữ liệu của bạn, giả sử dữ liệu của bạn ở trong cột A, bắt đầu từ ô A2<br /><br /><b>Bước 3:</b> Sử dụng công thức sau đây trong ô B2 và kéo xuống cho các ô còn lại:<p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><code style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: roboto, sans-serif; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 8px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="default-formula-text-color" dir="auto" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">=</span><span class="default-formula-text-color" dir="auto" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">image</span><span class="default-formula-text-color" dir="auto" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(</span><span class="string" dir="auto" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=qr&chs=<span style="background-color: yellow; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">200x200</span>&chl="</span><span class="default-formula-text-color" dir="auto" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">&</span><span class="default-formula-text-color" dir="auto" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ENCODEURL</span><span class="default-formula-text-color" dir="auto" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(</span><span dir="auto" style="background-color: yellow; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A2</span><span class="default-formula-text-color" dir="auto" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">)</span><span class="default-formula-text-color" dir="auto" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">)</span></code></p>trong công thức trên, bạn có thể thay ô A2 bằng bất kì ô nào chứa dữ liệu của bạn và thay phần 200×200 bằng kích thước mà bạn mong muốn. Như vậy mỗi khi nội dung ở cột A thay đổi, thì ngay lập tức QR Code tương ứng sẽ được cập nhật.<br /><br />Sau khi tạo QR code xong, bạn có thể copy và dán QR code vào chỗ nào bạn muốn.<br /><br />Khi sử dụng, dùng cellphone quét vào QR code này và nó sẽ nhận ra nội dung mà QR code mang theo.<br /><br />Với cách tạo ra QR Code trong Google Sheets này, bạn có thể tạo ra rất nhiều QR Code cho mình để phục vụ công việc rất nhanh chóng và hiệu quả.hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-32516849982919987082020-09-24T21:42:00.007+07:002020-09-24T21:49:29.312+07:00Contact with God<p> </p><div class="Section1">
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<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><b><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Loyola University Press Chicago</span></b></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">©1991 by Loyola
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<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Loyola University
Press<br />
3441 North Ashland Avenue<br />
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Previously published by<br />
Gujarit Sahitya Prakash, Anand, India<br />
Cover design by Beth Herman<br />
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data<br />
De Mello, Anthony, 1991</span></span></p><p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></span></p>
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<td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 293.4pt;" valign="top" width="391">
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Contact
with God: retreat conferences/Anthony de Mello.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">p. cm.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">ISBN
0-8294-0726-X</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 32.0pt; text-indent: 18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Jesuits – Spiritual life. 2. Retreats. 3.
Spiritual exercises. 4. Spiritual life – Catholic authors. I. Title.</span></span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">BX3703.D46 1991</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">91-30524</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">CIP</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">269’.6 – dc20<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
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<span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"><br clear="all" style="break-before: page; page-break-before: always;" />
</span></span>
<p class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><a name="bookmark2"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark3;"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark4;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span></span></a></p><p class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a name="bookmark4"></a><a name="bookmark3"></a><a name="bookmark2"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark3;"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark4;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Contents</span></span></span></span></a></span></b><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark4;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark3;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark2;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; mso-table-layout-alt: fixed;">
<tbody><tr style="height: 14pt; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="height: 14pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="top" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Preface to the American Edition</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="height: 14pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" valign="top" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 18pt;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.1pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="height: 15.1pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="top" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Foreword</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="height: 15.1pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" valign="top" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 0cm;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<tr style="height: 16.15pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td style="height: 16.15pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">1. Receiving the Holy Spirit</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="height: 16.15pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 0cm;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
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<tr style="height: 14.35pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td style="height: 14.35pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="top" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">2. The Apostle’s Retreat</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="height: 14.35pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" valign="top" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 0cm;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.45pt; mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td style="height: 15.45pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="top" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">3. Dispositions for Starting a Retreat</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="height: 15.45pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" valign="top" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 0cm;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 14.7pt; mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td style="height: 14.7pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="top" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">4. How to Pray</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="height: 14.7pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" valign="top" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 18pt;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.45pt; mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td style="height: 15.45pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="top" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">5. The Laws of Prayer</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="height: 15.45pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" valign="top" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 0cm;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.45pt; mso-yfti-irow: 7;">
<td style="height: 15.45pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="top" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">6. Petitionary Prayer and Its Laws</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="height: 15.45pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" valign="top" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 18pt;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.1pt; mso-yfti-irow: 8;">
<td style="height: 15.1pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="top" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">7. More Laws of Prayer</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="height: 15.1pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" valign="top" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 18pt;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
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<tr style="height: 15.45pt; mso-yfti-irow: 9;">
<td style="height: 15.45pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="top" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">8. The Jesus Prayer</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="height: 15.45pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" valign="top" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 18pt;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.1pt; mso-yfti-irow: 10;">
<td style="height: 15.1pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="top" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">9. Shared Prayer</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="height: 15.1pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" valign="top" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 18pt;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.1pt; mso-yfti-irow: 11;">
<td style="height: 15.1pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="top" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">10. Repentance</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="height: 15.1pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" valign="top" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 18pt;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.1pt; mso-yfti-irow: 12;">
<td style="height: 15.1pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="top" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">11. The Dangers of Repentance</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="height: 15.1pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" valign="top" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 18pt;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 14.7pt; mso-yfti-irow: 13;">
<td style="height: 14.7pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="top" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">12. The Social Aspect of Sin</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="height: 14.7pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" valign="top" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 0cm;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 14pt; mso-yfti-irow: 14;">
<td style="height: 14pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="top" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">13. The Benedictine Method of Prayer</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="height: 14pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" valign="top" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 18pt;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.8pt; mso-yfti-irow: 15;">
<td style="height: 15.8pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">14. The Kingdom of Christ</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="height: 15.8pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 18pt;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 14.35pt; mso-yfti-irow: 16;">
<td style="height: 14.35pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="top" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">15. To Know, to Love, to Follow Christ</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="height: 14.35pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 18pt;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 14pt; mso-yfti-irow: 17;">
<td style="height: 14pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">16. Meditation on the Life of Christ</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="height: 14pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 18pt;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 16.15pt; mso-yfti-irow: 18; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="height: 16.15pt; padding: 0cm; width: 230.2pt;" valign="top" width="307">
<p class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="Other"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Appendix: Aids to Prayer</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="height: 16.15pt; padding: 0cm; width: 47.75pt;" valign="top" width="64">
<p align="right" class="Other0" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 18pt;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"><br clear="all" style="break-before: page; page-break-before: always;" />
</span></b>
<p align="center" class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><a name="bookmark6"></a><a name="bookmark5"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark6;"><span class="StyleHeading2LatinTimesNewRomanComplexTimesNewRo"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Preface to the</span></span></span></a><span class="StyleHeading2LatinTimesNewRomanComplexTimesNewRo"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"> <a name="bookmark8"></a><a name="bookmark7"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark8;">American Edition</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Contact with God was</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
published posthumously by Gujarit Sahitya Prakash, a Jesuit press in India. In undertaking
an American edition, the editors had a dilemma of sorts; for example, whether
to generalize and formalize the text, or to leave it more or less as delivered
orally to a male – and Indian Jesuit – religious audience. In deference to Father
de Mello, it appeared the better course was to follow the original text where it
served, leaving the reader to adjust to his spoken style and to accept a number
of informalities. His paraphrasing of Scripture and some absence of attribution
where texts are quoted are examples. It being a posthumous publication, the usual
recourse of querying the author was, naturally, not possible. Outside of quotations,
American spellings are used, and inclusive language was employed where the text
permitted it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="right" class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Joseph F. Downey, S.J.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Editorial Director</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Loyola University Press<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"><br clear="all" style="break-before: page; page-break-before: always;" />
</span></b>
<p align="center" class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><a name="bookmark9"></a><a name="bookmark10"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark9;"><span class="StyleHeading2LatinTimesNewRomanComplexTimesNewRo"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Foreword</span></span></span></a><span class="StyleHeading2LatinTimesNewRomanComplexTimesNewRo"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Those who were familiar with Tony de Mello in his lifetime
know and still remember that his ministry went through several distinct stages,
corresponding partly to the needs of the people he served but also to the demands
of an inner development. Externally, one could perceive successively the spiritual
director, the therapist, the Guru; internally, a close friend has spoken of
“the progression of values from holiness through love to freedom.”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Obviously, these values are not mutually exclusive;
nor were the stages compartmentalized. There was not only continuity but a certain
unity in the various roles he assumed. In fact, one might say that he was first
and last a spiritual director in the great Christian tradition. Further, it could
be argued that the ultimate reason why he remained popular to the end, when
some had misgivings about the way he was going, was that he never outlived his
beginnings and always came across as an incomparable guide to closer contact with
God.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">And so we come to this posthumous publication: a transcript
of his retreat conferences, which he himself carefully edited but never released.
There is no answer to why he did not make them available; or to what he would
think of the present venture. The incontestable fact is that many people of all
sorts will be very happy to have these notes.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The text is reproduced just as Tony left it; only a
title has been provided, and some slips were corrected – though there was a suggestion
favoring revision. The style is somewhat old-fashioned, the content not altogether
post-conciliar, the language quite sexist<a href="file:///G:/_Kho%20sach/_Prayer/Contact%20with%20God/Contact%20with%20God.doc#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><sup><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></sup></span><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a>
This last flaw, regarded as unpardonable today, could be excused because he was
orig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">in</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">ally addressing
Jesuits. But there is hardly any reference to the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises,
which were presumably dealt with in private interviews. The subject of the talks
can be summed up in the classical Three Fundamental Principles: prayer, penance
and the love of Christ The style is typical of Tony: forceful.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">That is how he always was; he did not impose himself
but ir- resistably invited us to share in his experience. In the final phase before
his death, it was not clear what he experienced; and his attempts at articulation
were not too convincing. But he was always the same Tony. So this book is a sort
of homecoming; and it is appropriately timed for the Ignatian Jubilee, which commemorates
the birth of Ignatius of Loyola in 1491, and calls on Jesuits and their friends
all over the world to enter more deeply into the spiritual legacy of the saint.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">For this occasion, Tony de Mello and his retreat conferences
have a message, and we find it expressed in a homily he delivered much later,
on July 31, 1983:</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">We need to sink deep roots into God if we are going
to be attuned to the creating Spirit within, if we are going to have the power
to love and to be loyal to this Church which will at times oppose and misunderstand
us. Only contemplatives can do this. Only they will know how to combine loyalty
and obedience with creativity and confrontation. I pray at this Mass that God and
history will not find us wanting. I pray that Saint Ignatius will have cause to
be proud of us.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Parmananda R. Divarkar, S.J. Bombay</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">June 1990<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="right" class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"><br clear="all" style="break-before: page; mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span>
<p align="center" class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><a name="bookmark12"></a><a name="bookmark11"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark12;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Receiving the Holy Spirit</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark12;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark11;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I wish to situate this retreat in the context of
the Church and the world today. We have assembled here for a period of silence and
prayer and withdrawal at a time when the Church is in crisis and the world in desperate
need of peace and development and justice. May we not be rightly accused of escapism?
Can we afford the luxury of an eight-day withdrawal when the house is on fire and
every available hand is needed to put the fire out?</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid;"><a name="bookmark14"></a><a name="bookmark13"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark14;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Are We Escapists?</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark14;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark13;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I want to continue with that comparison. The house is
indeed on fire. But too many of us, tragically, have no motivation to put it out;
we would rather busy ourselves with our little worlds and little lives. Too many
of us are too blind even to notice the fire – we notice only what suits us. And
even supposing we are gifted with motivation and proper sight, how many of us lack
the strength to work perseveringly on this fire; how many of us lack the wisdom
and reflection to find the best and quickest means for putting the fire out. And
then there is so much selfishness in the way we set about the task – a selfishness
that makes us come in one another’s way even when we have good intentions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The retreat, on the face of it, does seem like a
luxury and an escape. But it is the kind of luxury taken by a general who withdraws
from the direct line of firing to give himself time to reflect and to come up with
a more effective plan of battle. It is the kind of escape that will enable us
to strengthen our motivation, to widen our hearts, to sharpen our sight, to energize
ourselves to plunge more wholeheartedly into the tasks that God has assigned
for us in the world. Dag Hammarskjold, the mystic who became U.N. Secretary General,
was so right when he said in his diary, “In our era the path to holiness necessarily
passes through the world of action.” We contemplate and pray to re-create ourselves
and to act more energetically and more effectively for God’s glory and the benefit
of the world.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid;"><a name="bookmark16"></a><a name="bookmark15"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark16;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Greatest Need of the Church</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark16;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark15;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">The Church is passing through a period
of chaos and crisis. This is </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">not</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
necessarily a bad thing. A crisis is a challenge to grow. Chaos precedes creation
– provided, and this is a big proviso, the Spirit of God is hovering over it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The greatest need of the Church today is not new legislation,
new theology, new structures, new liturgies – all these without the Holy Spirit
are like a dead body without a soul. We desperately need someone to take away our
hearts of stone and give us a heart of flesh; we need a fresh infusion of enthusiasm
and inspiration and courage and spiritual strength. We need to persevere in our
task without discouragement or cynicism, with new faith in the future and in
the people we work for. In other words, we need a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">To put this more concretely, we need </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">people</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
who are charged with the Holy Spirit The Spirit works through people. Salvation
comes through people. “There was a man sent from God whose name was John,” we read
at the dawn of Christ’s coming. A </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">person,</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
not a plan, not a blueprint, not a message. “Unto us a child is born, unto us a
son is given” – God saved us, not through a “plan of salvation” but through a human
being, Jesus Christ, a man who was mighty in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not
come down upon buildings but upon people; it is people he anoints, not blueprints;
he circulates in the hearts and spirits of human beings, not in the latest machinery.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">So to say that the Church’s most desperate need is
for a fresh infusion of the Holy Spirit is to say that the Church needs a whole
army of spirit-filled people. That is why we are making this retreat. We have
come here in the hope that we shall become spirit-filled people. We have withdrawn
with the attitude and the expectation with which the apostles withdrew to the cenacle
before Pentecost.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid;"><a name="bookmark18"></a><a name="bookmark17"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark18;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">How to Get the Holy Spirit</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark18;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark17;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">There’s nothing more certain than this:
The Holy Spirit is not produced by any efforts of our own. He cannot be “merited.”
There is absolutely nothing we can </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">do</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
to get him. He is a pure gift of the Father.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The problem we face is the problem the apostles faced.
They, like us, were in need of the Holy Spirit for their apostolate. Jesus gave
them instructions on how to receive the Holy Spirit He said,</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 1cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">You must wait for the promise made by
my Father, about which you have heard me speak: John, as you know, baptized with
water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, and within the next few
days... You will receive power when the</span></i><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will bear witness
for me in Jerusalem, and all over Judaea and Samaria, and away to the ends of
the earth.</span></i></span><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Jesus
said, “Wait” We can’t produce the Spirit. We can only </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">wait</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
for him to come. And this is something our poor human nature finds very hard to
do in our modern world. We cannot wait. We cannot sit still. We are too restless,
too impatient. We have to be up and about We’d rather undertake many hours of
hard labor than endure the pain of waiting in stillness for something that is
beyond our control; something whose time of arrival we do not know. But wait we
must; so we wait and wait and wait – but nothing happens (or rather, nothing we
can perceive with our unrefined spiritual sight), so we tire of waiting and praying.
We are more at home “working for God” and so we drown ourselves in activity again.
Yet the Spirit is given only to those who wait; those who expose their hearts
day after day to God and his Word in prayer, those who invest hours and hours in
what seems a sheer waste of time to our production-oriented minds.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">We read in Acts 1:4: “<i>While Jesus was in their
company he told them not to leave </i></span></span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Jerusalem</span></i></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">. ‘You must wait,’ he said, ‘for the promise of my
Father</span></i></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">.’” Do not
leave Jerusalem. Once again, resist the urge to be up and doing before you are
freed from the compulsion to act; the urge to communicate to others what you yourself
have not yet experienced. Once the Spirit has come, “You will bear witness for
me in Jerusalem ... and to the ends of the earth.” But not before, or you will
be lying witnesses – or, at best, you will be pushers, not apostles. Pushers are
insecure people who have a compulsion to convince others, so that they themselves
will be less insecure.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Jesus
said, “<i>You will receive power</i>.” Receive is an accurate word! Jesus does not
expect us to produce power, because this kind of power cannot be produced no matter
how hard we try. It can only be received. I am reminded here of a woman who said,
“I have attended dozens of seminars at which I have picked up at least a hundred
beautiful ideas. What I need now is not more beautiful ideas. I need the </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">power</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
to put at least one of those ideas into action!” This is the reason why a retreat
is not like a seminar: there are no lectures, no group discussions; there is a lot
of silence and prayer and exposure to God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark20"></a><a name="bookmark19"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark20;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">What to
Do Concretely: An Attitude</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark20;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark19;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">For tomorrow morning’s prayer and, if you wish, for
the whole of tomorrow’s prayer, I want to recommend to you an attitude and a practice.
The attitude is one of great expectation. </span></span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">St. John</span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> of the Cross says that people receive from God as
much as they expect from God. If you expect little you will generally receive little.
If you expect much, you will receive much. Do you need a miracle of grace in your
life? Then you must expect a miracle to happen. How many miracles have you experienced
in your personal life? None? That is only because you weren’t expecting any. God
never lets you down when your expectations of him are high; he may keep you waiting,
or he may come at once, or he may come suddenly and unexpectedly like a “thief at
night,” to use Jesus’ expression. But come he surely will if you are expecting
him to come.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Someone
has rightly said that </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">the</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
sin against the Holy Spirit is to no longer believe that he can change the world,
to no longer believe that he can change me. This is a more dangerous kind of atheist
than those who say, “God does not exist,” for, while telling themselves that
they believe in God, they have blinded themselves into a practical atheism of
which they are hardly aware. They say, “God can no longer change me. He does
not have the will and the power to transform me, to raise me from the dead. I know,
because I have tried everything. I’ve made so many retreats, prayed so fervently,
had so much good will – but nothing has happened, just nothing.” The God of these
people is, for all practical purposes, a dead God – not the God who by raising
Jesus from the dead has shown us that nothing is impossible to him. Or, to use
the lovely expression of St. Paul who speaks of Abraham in Romans 4; he is the
God in whom Abraham put his faith, the God who makes the dead live and summons
things that are not yet in existence as if they already were. When hope seemed
hopeless, his (Abraham’s) faith was such that he became “father of many nations,”
in agreement with the words, which had been spoken to him: "Thus shall your
posterity be.” Without any weakening of faith he contemplated his own body, as
good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s
womb, and never doubted God’s promise, but strong in faith he gave honour to God,
in the firm conviction of his power to do what he had promised.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark22"></a><a name="bookmark21"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark22;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">What to
Do Concretely: A Practice</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark22;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark21;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I suggest that you read Luke 11:1-13 sedulously. Read
it again and again and ask yourself: What is my response to Jesus’ words, “How
much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Wait
till you feel faith enough in Jesus’ words to really ask for the Holy Spirit in
full confidence. And then, </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">ask!</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
Ask repeatedly, ask earnestly, ask increasingly, even shamelessly, like that man
knocking at his friend’s door at </span></span><st1:time hour="0" minute="0"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">midnight</span></span></st1:time><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">,
refusing to take No for an answer. There are some things we can ask God for only
with the proviso, “If it be your will.” There’s no such proviso here. It </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">is</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
clearly God’s will, his clear </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">promise,</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
to give you the Spirit. What is lacking is not his desire to give you the Spirit,
but (a) your faith that he means to give the spirit to you and (b) constant asking
on your part.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">So don’t hesitate to invest a lot of time in just asking
and asking tirelessly. Say something like “Give us the Spirit of Christ, Lord,
for we are your children;” or, “Come, Holy Spirit, Come, Holy Spirit.” Any ejaculation
will do: say it slowly, with attention, with earnestness. Say it a hundred times,
a thousand times, ten thousand times.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Or ask without words. Just look up to heaven or at
the tabernacle in silence and in a spirit of supplication. If you are alone in
your room, you may want to make this supplication not just with your eyes, but
with your whole body – raising your hands to heaven, perhaps, or prostrating yourself
repeatedly on the floor.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">This
may not be “meditation.” It may bring you no great insights or “lights.” But this
is </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">prayer.</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
And the Holy Spirit is given in answer to earnest </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">prayer,</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
not in response to cleverly thought out meditations. Pray, not just for yourself,
but for all of us – for the whole group. Do not say just “Give me,” say also “Give
</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">us.”</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">And, if you wish your prayer to have its maximum power
and intensity, do what the apostles did when they waited for the Spirit before
Pentecost – pray with Mary. The saints assure us that it was never known that anyone
who sought her intercession or fled to her protection was left unaided. You can
make this experience of the saints your own by having recourse to Mary in all
of your needs. Then you will know this not because of what the saints say but because
of what you have personally felt and experienced. Consecrate this retreat to
Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Seek her blessing as you embark upon it. You will notice
what a difference it makes.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Finally, here are some psalms that may help you to
put into words your petitionary prayer for the Spirit tomorrow: Psalm 4:<a href="file:///G:/_Kho%20sach/_Prayer/Contact%20with%20God/Contact%20with%20God.doc#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><sup><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></sup></span><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a>
<i>Only the light of your face can bring us happiness</i>. Psalm 6: <i>But you,
O Lord ... how long? Each night I weep. Return, Lord ... how long</i>? Psalm
12: <i>How long will you hide your face</i>? Psalm 15: <i>My happiness lies in
you alone</i>. Psalm 23: (second half) <i>Let him enter, the king of glory</i>.
Psalm 26: <i>This is one thing I ask of the Lord. For this I long ... One thing
I long for – to live in the house of the Lord. It is your face, O Lord, that I seek</i>.
Psalm 32: <i>Our soul is waiting for the Lord. In him do our hearts find joy.</i>
Psalm 37: <i>Lord, you know all my longing; my groans are not hidden from you</i>.
Psalm 41: <i>My soul is thirsting for God. My tears have become my bread, by
day, by night</i> Psalm 42: <i>Why are you cast down? Hope in God</i>. Psalm
62: <i>My body pines for you like dry, weary land without water. On you I muse all
through the night</i> Psalm 120: <i>My soul is longing for the Lord more than
the watchman for daybreak.</i> Psalm 136: <i>By the rivers of </i></span></span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Babylon</span></i></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> there we sat and wept remembering </span></i></span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Zion</span></i></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">.</span></i></span><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">You may want to fasten upon one or other of these lines
from the Psalms and pour your heart out to God in the words that God himself has
given to us with which to address him. They will have the power to give you faith
and obtain for you what you are asking for.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"><br clear="all" style="break-before: page; page-break-before: always;" />
</span></span>
<p align="center" class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><a name="bookmark24"></a><a name="bookmark23"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark24;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">The Apostle’s Retreat</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark24;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark23;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I want to start
this conference with a question that is possibly in the minds of some of you. It
is no longer the custom in many quarters to make a silent retreat – or even to
make a retreat at all. Something more in the nature of a seminar or a refresher
course on theology or scripture seems more relevant to our needs. We are apostles
by vocation, not cloistered contemplatives. Our vocation demands that we </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">act, </span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">not be still; </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">speak,</span></i></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> not be silent. So it is, perhaps, understandable
that some ask, “<i>What sense does a retreat make to an apostle</i>?”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">My response to that is; “<i>A retreat is possibly
the most apostolic</i></span></span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> thing an
apostle can do. There is, paradoxically, nothing more necessary for apostles than
that they withdraw to the desert, that they spend prolonged hours in </span></i><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">listening,</span></i></span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> not just talking, that they expose themselves to God and
get their spiritual batteries charged before they offer the light to others. In
prayer apostles present themselves before God so that God may give them what He
wishes him to give to others</span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark26"></a><a name="bookmark25"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark26;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Return
to the Source</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark26;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark25;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There is an urgent need today to return to our sources
in order to seek renewal. Vatican II has urged us to go back to our roots, to our
constitutions and the Gospels, in order to find there the life and the spirit
that is peculiarly our own and that must be reinterpreted and lived out in modern
times. The return to our sources, however, is not primarily a return to documents.
It would be more accurate to speak of a return to our Source, in the singular,
for there is only one source of our life as Christians and priests, a living person,
Jesus Christ. And this does not involve a return to the past, for Jesus Christ is
a person who is living today and can be met today. This is the Source that we
must get in touch with and draw all our strength and inspiration from. And this
is what a retreat is meant to give you: a chance, not to read books and get fresh
insights, but to meet Jesus Christ, if you haven’t had that experience as yet; and
if you have, to deepen your relationship with him.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark28"></a><a name="bookmark27"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark28;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Apostle:
One Who Loves the Master</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark28;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark27;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You are expected,
during these days, to give </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">him</span></i></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> all your time and attention and love, to lavish it
all on him, as Mary the sister of Lazarus did with that precious ointment. For
the poor we have with us all the year round. But Jesus wants to be known and loved
personally, over and above the love we give him in our neighbor and the poor. “Simon,
son of John, do you love me more than all else?” “Yes, Lord, you know I love
you.” “Then feed my lambs.” No matter how busy you may be with your Master’s
work, no matter how important the nature of the task assigned you, your first and
chief duty is to have a personal love for the Master. Before Jesus committed
the pastoral office to Peter he gave him a screening test He asked Peter two questions,
and both those questions had to do with his own person, not with the flock. The
first question was, “Who do you say that I am?” The second, “Do you love me?”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">These two questions must resound within our hearts
these days as we seek to become more “apostolic.” We must hear Jesus say to each
of us, ‘John, Mary, Tom, ... who do <i>you</i></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> say that I am? In other words, don’t just answer with
a formula like ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ That was Peter’s
formula. What formula would you use to describe what I am or who I am </span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">for you?</span></i></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> John, Mary, Tom, ... do you love me more than all else?” If we wish to
be apostles and pastors it is vital for us to deepen our love for Jesus these
days so that we can say confidently, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you indeed.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark30"></a><a name="bookmark29"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark30;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Apostle:
One Who Has Seen Christ</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark30;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark29;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Before the early Church recognized people as apostles
it demanded this of them: that they be people who had seen the Risen Lord. This
is partly the reason why Paul had so much difficulty getting his apostolic charism
recognized. He insists he is a real apostle, not a bit inferior to the twelve and
the other apostles, because he has seen the Risen Lord. “Am I not an apostle?”
he says to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 9:1), “Did I not see Jesus our Lord?”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">And
he insists that he received his gospel directly from the Lord. He did indeed preach
a doctrine that he had received from others. (“First and foremost I handed on
to you the facts which had been imparted to me: that Christ died for our sins, in
accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised to life
on the third day, according to the scriptures and that he appeared to Cephas and
afterwards to the Twelve” 1 Corinthians 15). He got his historical </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">facts</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
from others but his </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Gospel</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
and his </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">commission</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
to preach the Gospel he received from no one but Jesus himself. Not from the Church,
not from the Christian community, not from any authority in the Church, but from
Jesus in person. He even seems to have some of his historical facts from Jesus in
person.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 1cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">For the tradition which I handed on
to you came to me from the Lord himself: that the Lord Jesus, on the </span></i><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">night of his arrest, took bread and, after giving
thanks to God, broke it and said: “This is my body, which is for you; do this as
a memorial of me.”</span></i></span><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">1 Corinthians 11<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Paul will speak boldly of “my gospel” (Romans
2:16). Which of us would dare use an expression like that? or these bold words
from Galatians:</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 1cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">I must make it clear to you, my friends,
that the gospel you heard me preach is no human invention. I did not take it over
from any man; no man taught it to me; I received it through a revelation of Jesus</span></i><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> Christ... in his good pleasure God, who had set me
apart from birth and called me through his grace, chose to reveal his Son to me
and through me, in order that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles. When that
happened, without consulting any human being, without going up to Jerusalem to see
those who were apostles before me, I went off at once to Arabia, and afterwards
returned to Damascus. Three years later I did go up to </span></i></span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Jerusalem</span></i></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> to get to know Cephas. I stayed with him for a fortnight,
without seeing any other of the apostles, except James the Lord's brother. What
I write is plain truth; before God I am not lying.</span></i></span><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Galatians
1:11-20<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Isn’t this just the way it ought to be? Apostles are
witnesses. They must bear witness to what they themselves have seen and heard
if their message is to carry any conviction, just as much as, and even more than,
witnesses in court who must witness to what they themselves have seen and heard,
if they are to convince; not to what they have picked up from hearsay. How well
this point is brought out in the two accounts that Paul gives of his vision of
the Risen Lord and his conversion. In Acts 22 he says,</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">There, a man called Ananias, a devout
observer of the Law and well spoken of by all the Jews of the place, came and stood
besi</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">de me and said, “Saul, my brother,
recover your sight.” Instantly I recovered my sight and saw him. He went on:
“The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will and to </span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">see the Righteous One and to hear his
very voice, because you are to be his witne</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">ss before the world, and testify to what you have seen
and heard. ”</span></i></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In Acts 26, it is Jesus himself who says these words
to him.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 1cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">I said, “Tell me, Lord, who you are”;
and the Lord replied, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But now, rise to
your feet and stand upright I have appeared to you for a purpose: to appoint
you my servant and witness, to testify </span></i><span class="Bodytext2"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">both to what you have seen and to what
you shall yet see of</span></i></span><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"> me!”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is the kind of language the other apostles spoke.
John says,</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">It was there from the beginning; we have
heard it; we have seen it with our own eyes; we looked upon it, and felt it with
our own hands; and it is of this we tell. Our theme is the word of life. This life
was m</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">ade visible; we have seen it and bear
our testimony... what we have seen and heard we declare to you, so that you and
we together may share in a common life, that life which we share with the Father
and his Son Jesus Christ And we write this in order that the joy of us all may
be complete.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">1 John 1:1-4<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">And Peter says,</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext20" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 1cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">It was not on tales artfully spun that we relied when we told
you of the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming; we saw him with our
own eyes in majesty, when at the hands of God the </span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Father he was invested with honour
and glory, and there came to him from the sublime Presence a voice which said,
“This is my Son, my Beloved, in whom my favour rests.” This voice from heaven we
ourselves heard; when it came we were with him on the sacred mountain.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">2 Peter 1:16-17<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is no less a test of a true apostle and witness
today, two thousand years after Jesus died and rose again, than it was twenty years
after his death and resurrection. Every genuine apostle in the history of the
Church has measured up to the test. In fact some of them continue to nourish
the Church with their doctrine and to influence the life of the Church, men like
the Fathers and the Doctors of the Church, precisely because they were men who were
in direct touch with Jesus Christ: men who were great contemplatives as Paul and
Peter and John were great contemplatives. If to be a contemplative means being in
living and constant communion with Jesus the Risen Lord, then how can you be an
apostle without being contemplative? And how can you be a contemplative unless
you give much time to personal, intimate converse with Christ? This is why we are
making a retreat, not a seminar or refresher course.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark32"></a><a name="bookmark31"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark32;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Apostle:
Someone of the Spirit</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark32;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark31;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">We read in Acts 19 that when Paul went to Ephesus
he met a group of converts who had not even heard there was such a thing as the
Holy Spirit. Paul somehow detected this. Then he laid his hands on them and gave
them the Holy Spirit. That, after all, is the chief business of the apostle, to
give the Holy Spirit to others. This was why they were given the Spirit in the
first place; this was to be their specialization, their special contribution to
the world. They were to experience the transforming effects of the Spirit in their
own hearts first and then make this same transforming power available to others.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Acts 8 tells us that when the apostles heard that Samaria
had received the word of God they sent Peter and John down to them to give the new
converts the Holy Spirit. That hardly seems fair to Philip, who had done the evangelizing
of Samaria. It isn't as if the apostles were the only ones who could give the Spirit
to others. This is something every Christian should be able to do, and presumably
Philip could have done it quite effectively. But somehow this work seemed most appropriate
to the apostles. So Peter and John went down to </span></span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Samaria</span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">. We are told that they </span></span>prayed for
the converts, asking that they might receive the Holy Spirit For until then the
Spirit had not co<span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">me upon any of them... So Peter and
John laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Acts 8:15-17<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Notice
an important detail: they </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">prayed</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
before laying hands on those good Samaritans. It was primarily by the power of
their prayer that the apostles communicated the Spirit They themselves had received
him only after intensive praying before Pentecost. What more natural than that
this should be the way they would normally communicate him to others? Any wonder
that they were very reluctant to get immersed in activity that would unduly distract
them from this their main task? We hear them say in Acts 6:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It would be a grave mistake for us to neglect the
word of God in order to wait at table. Therefore, friends, choose seven men of
good reputation from your number ... and we will appoint them to deal with these
matters, while we devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">We are living in the age of the hyphenated priest:
The priest-worker, the priest-scientist, the priest-artist. We have apostles
who are concerned to take up some profession or other as a help to their apostolate.
All very well, indeed, provided they keep fully alive what is most characteristic
of their vocation as apostles, the ability to communicate the Holy Spirit to others.
This is how I would judge the success of our formation programs. At the end of
his years of formation I would say to the young priest about to set out on his
apostolate, “Do you have the Holy Spirit? Do you feel confident that you can by
God’s grace, give him to others?” If he says, No, then what is the use of all his
formation, of his philosophy and theology and all the expertise he has picked
up in languages or homiletics or liturgy or Scripture or the profane sciences
or whatever? Of what use is it to the doctor that he is an expert in literature
or any other subject, if he is weak in medicine?</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Our
young priest may be a good theologian. He may even present his theology to others
in an attractive way. But the world is not hungering for theology. It is hungry
for God. The early Church did not offer people a theology of the Holy Spirit
The theology would come later. First he offered the Holy Spirit himself, the </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">experience</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
of His power. The hungry man wants real food, not attractive pictures of food. And
a hungry man certainly doesn’t want words instead of food. Are our formation programs
primarily and centrally geared to equipping our priests not just with words and
concepts but with the Holy Spirit? Is this the sole motive behind all the changes
we are making in their seminary formation? Is all else rigorously beaten back into
second place?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">What does it mean to be able to give the Holy Spirit
to others? Many things, but boiled down to its essentials it would mean this:
to have the experience that you are transforming hearts and lives through the
power of your word and the power of your prayer. And of the two, the ability to
transform others through the power of prayer is far more important This is the
power that Paul used principally for success in his apostolate. His spoken word
doesn’t seem to have had much of an effect on people. He willingly accepts the
accusation of some of the Corinthians that he was a poor speaker. But the power
of his prayer! This he was constantly using. There’s barely a letter in which
he doesn’t say he is constantly praying for his converts. To the Ephesians, for
instance, he says,</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">I kneel in p</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">rayer to the Father from whom every family in heaven
and on earth takes its name, that out of the treasures of his glory he may grant
you strength and power through his Spirit in your inner being, that through faith
Christ may dwell in your hearts in love. With deep roots and firm foundations,
may you be strong to grasp, with all God’s people, what is the breadth and length
and height and depth of the love of Christ, and to know it, though it is beyond
knowledge. So you may attain to fullness of being, the fullness of God himself.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ephesians 3:14-19<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Here is Paul seeking to impart to his Christians spiritual
gifts (strength, power, faith, love) that no one can impart to another through
mere words (for this is something that is beyond words, even beyond all knowledge).
And we find him, true apostle that he was, seeking to impart these gifts through
the power of his intercessory prayer. There is no other way.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Here, then, is another reason why apostles withdraw
to make a retreat: they need to be charged with the Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit
is given to those who watch and pray and wait patiently, those who have the courage
to get away from everything and come to grips with themselves and with God in solitude
and silence. No wonder every one of the great prophets, indeed Jesus himself, retired
to the desert for prolonged periods of silence, praying, fasting, and wrestling
with the forces of evil. The desert is the furnace where the apostle and the prophet
are forged. The desert, not the marketplace. The marketplace is where apostles
function. The desert is where they are formed and seasoned and receive their commission
and their message for the world, “their” gospel.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark34"></a><a name="bookmark33"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark34;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Apostle:
Someone of Discernment</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark34;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark33;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Here is another reason why apostles need retreats:
the retreat teaches discernment, it helps to create and deepen within our hearts
that silence within which the voice of God is heard. And who is in greater need
of constantly listening to God’s voice than apostles? They must listen so that
they may know what to say to others. Even more importantly, they must listen so
that they may know where to go, what to do, when to speak, to whom to speak and
how. How else will they ever know the will of God?</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Apostles are sent on a mission. It is vitally important
that they keep constantly in touch with headquarters! How much of what we call
our apostolic activity is a great bustle covering up the fact that we are just
doing our own will! We haven’t taken the time out to purify our hearts of our prejudices
and inordinate attachments or aversions, in order to see God’s will with unclouded
eyes. It is not enough to be full of zeal and goodwill. The pharisees, says St
Paul in Romans 10, had a zeal for God’s glory, but it was a misguided zeal and
so, far from doing good they were doing positive harm. I am reminded of the priest
who once said to me, “Now that I have begun to pray again and see things in the
light of the Gospels, I look back with sadness on the many years I have worked
for Christ; and I wonder if I have done work for Christ or just given him more
work to do in undoing the harm I have done!” What a pity he saw this so late in
life; that it took him so long to begin to listen to the voice of God within him
before he launched out into action!</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">When we begin to strain our ears to listen to God’s
voice we find all kinds of other sounds crowding into our ears: loudest among
them are the insistent demands of our own selfish desires; and the most dangerous
of these sounds, though not necessarily the loudest, are the whisperings of the
angel of darkness, the “prince of this world,” as Christ called him, coaxing us
on to a path of action that seems to glorify God, for he appears as an angel of
light (2 Corinthians 11:14) but his promptings, if followed, lead to havoc in
Christ’s kingdom.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">That is why apostles need to be people of discernment.
Their sight must be clear and their hearing sharp if they are to discern the will
of God from their own impulses, the promptings of the Holy Spirit from those of
the evil spirit In Acts, we see the Apostles as people who are constantly attuned
to the voice of the Spirit within them precisely because they were men of prayer.
In Acts 10, Peter receives the revelation to go to the gentiles; his first response
is one of pious horror. But Scripture tells us he was in prayer at that moment,
so he was able to overcome his relig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">us prejudices and be open to this unexpected plan
of God. If he had not been a man of prayer, if, instead of going up to the terrace
to pray that afternoon, he had lost himself in a great bustle of activity, he
would, very possibly, have done much good for the cause of Christ. But would he
have been able to open up the Church to the whole world of the gentiles so successfully?
We have only to read his words in Acts 11 and Acts 15 to appreciate this. The time
he seemingly “wasted” in dealing with God and discovering his will was time that
gave rich dividends indeed.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I think with envy of those men of Acts who were so
completely under the influence of the Holy Spirit in all their apostolic work
Philip the evangelist is sent by the Spirit to the desert road of </span></span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Gaza</span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">. Who in the world would think of going to that desert
strip of land as a place that would yield apostolic results? No amount of planning
or position papers or statistics or sociological surveys would have shown this
to Philip. Only the Spirit can give us such seemingly foolish directions if our
ears are unclogged with the noise of the world and of our selfish desires.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Or take that marvelous passage of Acts 16 that must
arouse the envy of any apostle who is struggling to find God’s will.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">They travelled through the Phrygian and
Galatian region, because they were prevented by the Holy Spirit from delivering
the message in the province of </span><st1:place><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Asia</span></st1:place><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">; and when th</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">ey approached
the Mysian border they tried to enter </span></span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Bithynia</span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">; but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them, so
they skirted </span></span><st1:place><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Mysia</span></span></st1:place><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> and reached the coast at </span></span><st1:place><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Troas</span></span></st1:place><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">. During the night a vision came to Paul: a Macedonian
stood there appealing to him and saying, “Come across to </span></span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Macedonia</span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> and help us.” After he had seen this vision we at
once set about getting a passage to </span></span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Macedonia</span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">, concluding that God had called us to bring them
the good news.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Acts 16:6-10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Paul was certainly in constant touch with headquarters.
We know from 2 Corinthians 12 that he was a contemplative, an outstanding mystic.
But prayer was certainly no escape for him. It was reporting for orders on where
to go, how long to stay there, what to do, what to say. It was living, loving intercourse
with the Risen Lord that not only gave Paul the guidance he needed but also brought
him encouragement and fortitude. After his conversion, he is praying in the temple
of Jerusalem when he falls into a trance and, in his own words,</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
saw him there, speaking to me. “Make haste,” he said, “and leave </span><st1:city><st1:place><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jerusalem</span></st1:place></st1:city><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> without delay, for they
will not accept your testimony about me.” “Lord,” I said, “they know that I imprisoned
those who believe in thee, and flogged them in every synagogue; and when the blood
of Stephen thy witness was shed I stood by, approving, and I looked after the clothes
of those who killed him.” But he said to me, “Go, for I am sending you far away
to the Gentiles.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Acts 22:1*7-22<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">When he is in Corinth the going becomes tough; the Risen
Lord appears again to encourage his ambassador.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">One night in a vision the Lord said
to Paul, “Have no fear: go on with your preaching and do not be silenced, for I
am with you and no one shall attempt to do you harm; and ther</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">e are many in this city who are my people.”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Acts 18:9-11<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Similarly,
during his final arrest, the Lord himself comes to commend him and tell him where
he will go next: The following night the Lord appeared to him and said, “Keep
up your courage; you have a</span></span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">ffirmed
the truth about me in Jerusalem, and you must do the same in Rome.”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Acts 23:11<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark36"></a><a name="bookmark35"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark36;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">How to
Acquire These Characteristics of an Apostle</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark36;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark35;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There was nothing we could do to acquire or merit our
vocation to the apostolate. This was a pure gift of the Lord. Similarly, there is
nothing we can do to merit or acquire the things that most characterize the apostle:
the encounter with Christ, the ability to impart the Spirit, the discernment of
God’s will. These too, are pure gifts. Well, there is something we can do to get
these gifts from the Lord. We can (a) desire them ardently and (b) ask for them
constantly.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Christ generally appears, the Holy Spirit is generally
given, to people of great desires. The day a burning desire for God arises within
your heart, rejoice, because it won’t be long before the desire is fulfilled. Unfortunately,
however, there are many who don’t even have this desire. They have lost their appetite
for God. If this is true of you, don’t be discouraged. Do you at least want this
appetite for God? Yes? Then all is well! You must then fall back on the second
means of the two I mentioned above: you must make diligent use of petitionary prayer:
pray for the grace to meet Christ (this is your right and privilege as an apostle);
pray to receive the outpouring of the Spirit; pray to recover your appetite for
God. Surely, this is nothing very difficult that is being asked of you. Just sit
like a beggar in the presence of the Lord tomorrow and keep rattling your begging
bowl until he fills it Refuse to take “No” or “Later” for an answer. The Lord loves
this kind of loving persistence, chiefly when the gift we are insisting on receiving
is the gift of himself. Be like the Canaanite woman of Matthew 15 who refused to
be put off even by a clear rebuff of the Lord – and how the Lord loved and admired
her for it! Or be like the centurion of Mathew 9: “One word of yours, Lord, is enough
– all you have to do is say one single word.” How warmly the Lord responded to
that kind of prayer too!</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">So make this sort of prayer tomorrow! Take an ejaculation
and repeat it ceaselessly: “Lord, teach me to pray” or “Lord, I want you with all
my heart” Or borrow the words of the psalmist, “My soul is thirsting for you”;
“As the deer longs for streams of living water, so do I long for you.”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">You may feel tired or bored after a while. But persist
in prayer. No single word of petition you say is really wasted. The Lord hears every
single word of supplication that comes from your lips. If he delays a while in
coming, in order to strengthen your faith, he certainly will not delay too long.
And you will have the thrilling experience of discovering the immense power there
is in prayer, if you haven’t discovered it already.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">There’s
something else you can do, particularly if you feel you are something of a “desperate
case.” You can get Our Lady to put in a word for you. See what she was able to
achieve at the wedding feast of Cana! If you do this, you will make another thrilling
discovery (if you haven’t made it yet) that Mary’s influence with Christ is enormous
and that the apostle has in her intercession a source of enormous strength and
comfort and peace.<a name="bookmark38"></a><a name="bookmark37"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark38;"><o:p></o:p></span></a></span></span></p>
<span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"><br clear="all" style="break-before: page; page-break-before: always;" />
</span></span>
<p align="center" class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark37;"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark38;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Dispositions for Starting a Retreat</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark38;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark37;"></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark40"></a><a name="bookmark39"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark40;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Why Make
a Retreat?</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark40;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark39;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Each one of you has come to this retreat with some
expectations. It is a great help to make these expectations explicit. I have
sometimes participated in Encounter Groups where the first thing the participants
are invited to do is to express their expectations and fears: What is it you fear
in this Encounter? Imagine yourself leaving this group after the sessions are over;
what would you like to have gained from it? In other words, what do you expect,
concretely, from this Encounter? This helps greatly to clarify goals and to draw
more profit from the experience of the Encounter Group.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is what I invite you to do in prayer, either
tonight before you go to bed, or tomorrow in your morning prayer. Ask yourself:
Do I have any fears about making this retreat? What are they? Do I bring any expectations
to this retreat? What are they, concretely?</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">People come with very varied expectations; some will
want to deepen their prayer life; others to overcome some defect or rid themselves
of some inordinate attachment or fear; yet others to find out God’s will for themselves.
Once you have faced your fears and concretized your expectations you may want
to talk them over with your spiritual director, and discuss what you ought to
do to achieve your goals during these precious retreat days.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">One very legitimate expectation that people have of
the type of retreat I am offering you is this: they expect to experience God,
to encounter him more deeply, more powerfully. This is a retreat, not a seminar.
So it is geared to giving you not theology, not even “spirituality,” but an experience:
the experience of God, the experience of falling in love with him and the experience
of being deeply loved by him. This sort of experience will affect in your heart
what no amount of theology or learning will, good and useful as these are in their
proper place and time.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">We
who claim to be apostles are particularly in need of this experience in our lives
if we are going to offer to others, not just formulas about God, but God himself.
How will you ever introduce others to a God or a Jesus Christ whom you yourself
have never met? You surely know that the world today is sick of words. The market
is glutted with books and more books and still more books; with ideas, ideas, ideas;
with talk, talk, talk. What the world is looking for is </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">action</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
and </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">experience.</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
It won’t be patient with God-talk any longer. The modern world is saying, Show
me; where is this God of yours? Can I meet him in my life? If not, of what use is
he to me? If so, how? Where? The modern world is becoming increasingly atheist
What proof is there that there is a God? one Hindu book puts it so well. “The finest
proof of his existence,” it says, “is union with him.” If we can offer to others
the experience of union with God and the peace and joy that this experience brings,
we will have much less difficulty bringing atheists to God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark42"></a><a name="bookmark41"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark42;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The World’s
Hunger for God</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark42;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark41;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Before
Charles Davis left the priesthood, he wrote an article in </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">America</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
magazine that, in hindsight, is very poignant. He said something like this in
that article:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">After Vatican II I was enthusiastic
about the prospects</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> there were for Church renewal,
for updating and changing structures. I would offer to packed audiences the wonderful
new theology of Vatican II that contained such rich potential for aggiomamento and
reform. But gradually, it dawned upon me that all those faces turned up toward
me were not seeking a new theology: they were seeking God. They were not looking
up to me as a theologian with a message, but as a priest, who might be able to
offer them God. They were obviously hungry for God. Then I would look into myself
and realize, with a sinking heart that I could not offer them God; I barely had
him myself! There was a great void in my heart – and the busier I was with things
like Church reform and updating structures, even with the liturgical renewal and
scripture studies and pastoral methods, the easier it was for me to escape from
God, to escape from the void in my heart.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">That, more or less, is the gist of what Charles Davis
had to say in that article. How many of us priests have to admit as true of ourselves
what he frankly confessed about himself? If the priest comes to the modern world
equipped with every conceivable talent but lacks the direct, personal experience
of God, the world will simply refuse to take his God-talk seriously and will have
little use for him as priest, much as it may value him as an educator or philosopher
or scientist.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">What the modern world, and in particular the younger
generation, is saying to us today – “Don’t just talk, show me” – is what India
has been saying to us for centuries. I remember good Father Abhishiktananda telling
me, some years ago, of a holy Hindu he met in the South of India, who said to him,
“You missionaries will never have any impact on us unless you come to us as gurus.”
The guru is a man who does not merely talk about what he has read in a book. He
talks from the assurance of his own relig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">us experience. He guides his disciples with a sure
touch because he leads them along paths to God that he has himself traversed, not
just read about. It will profit us little to tell our Hindu brothers and sisters
about the experience of a man called John of the Cross-whose works we have in our
libraries and of whom we are justifiably proud. They will be interested, but not
impressed. They will say, “That’s fine. And what has your experience of God been?
You come to us with theology, liturgy, scripture, and canon law. However, behind
all these rites and words and concepts is a Reality that these rites symbolize and
these concepts cover inadequately. Are you in direct touch with this Reality? Can
you put me in touch with it?”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark44"></a><a name="bookmark43"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark44;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Sonic Suggestions</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark44;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark43;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If the experience of God is one of your expectations,
then a retreat like this one is just the thing for you. I shall offer you a number
of suggestions during these days to help you dispose yourself to experience God,
to pray and communicate with him in greater depth. There are some suggestions I
should like to make right now.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><b><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">1. Observe silence strictly all through the day.</span></i></b></span><b><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">A few years ago it was self-evident that the voice
of God is heard best in silence; that a retreat should be made in silence. This
is no longer obvious to many people. Silence is a discipline on the ear more than
on the tongue. We silence our tongues in order that we may hear better. How hard
it is to pick up subtle sounds when we are talking! And the voice of God is a very
delicate, subtle sound, particularly for ears that are not accustomed to it. If
your ears are not accustomed to hearing God’s voice then you are in special need
of silence. A conductor will detect the sound of a fragile instrument like a flute
even in the midst of the crashing sounds of a hundred instruments in the orchestra.
The untrained ear needs to be exposed to that flute alone for quite some time before
it can recognize it unerringly in the midst of the orchestra. And we need to be
exposed to God’s voice in silence for a long time if we are later to detect it amidst
the noise of the marketplace.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Modern
humanity finds silence particularly irksome. We find it hard to sit still with
ourselves. We are always itching to be up and about, to do something, to say
something; we cannot act, and so most of our activity is not free, creative, dynamic
as we like to think it is; it is compulsive. When you acquire the ability to sit
still and be silent, you will be </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">free</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
to act or not, to speak or not, and then your speech and your activity will take
on new depth and power.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Modern humanity is suffering a serious crisis of superficiality.
We cannot go deep into ourselves because the moment we attempt to do this we are
cast out of our own heart as the sea casts out a dead body. One author has put it
eloquently: human beings cannot be happy unless they get in touch with the springs
of life in the depths of their souls; however, they are constantly exiled from
their own home, locked out of their own spiritual solitude; so they cease to be
a person. The poet Kahlil Gibran says, “You talk when you are no longer at peace
with yourself. Moreover, when you can no longer dwell in the depths of your heart,
you live on your lips. And sound becomes a diversion and a pastime.”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Do you want a simple test of how much you yourself
are a victim of the crisis of superficiality? See if you are comfortable with silence.
How much silence can you endure without the compulsion to talk? This is far from
being the only criterion of depth, but it is a fairly good one.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: 14.7pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><b><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Avoid reading.</span></i></b></span></span><b><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Keep
away from all reading except Scripture and books that clearly foster prayer,
books like </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Imitation
of Christ.</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"> A book may help prayer, but during a
retreat it frequently becomes a hindrance to facing God. You can bury your head
in a book the way a man buries his head in a newspaper when he is avoiding contact
with people. When the going gets tough and communication with God becomes frustrating
and dry (as sooner or later it is bound to become) the temptation to take refuge
in a book is very strong. Then, instead of exposing yourself with courage to
the rigors and frustrations of making contact with God, instead of enduring the
pain of dryness and desolation, you will anesthetize yourself with an interesting
book. Learn to battle against your distractions, to bear your coldness of heart
patiently without crutches like books; the pain will be purifying. This is one
of the standard trials of the contemplative life. Your prayer will deepen if
you bear the trial and the pain, not shield yourself against it with a book<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Not only in time of prayer, but at other times too
during the retreat, stay away from books, just as you stay away from conversation
with others. Be silent and attentive to God all through the day, not just in time
of prayer and do not give in to the distraction of reading – a pious distraction,
no doubt, but a distraction nonetheless.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">For
many people spiritual reading, while very valuable, even necessary, in their </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">spiritual life,</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
is no help at all in </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">time of prayer.
</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">It is a kind of drug with which to ease the pains of
contemplation. I must add, however that for some people taking small doses of
this drug would be better than total abstention. If after a couple of bookless
days you suspect that this is true of you, I invite you to talk the matter over
with your spiritual director. Most retreatants say to me after a couple of
days, “Reading? But there’s just no time to read.” That is generally a good sign
that they have really taken off the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: 14.7pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><b><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Invest time heavily in prayer.</span></i></b></span></span><b><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Give all the time you can to prolonged hours of silent
dealing with God. This is the way to get the maximum profit from the retreat It
is the toughest way, but decidedly the best. If you invest much time, your prayer
life will improve considerably and this will be a lasting treasure you will take
with you from this retreat.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Most retreatants give from five to six hours a day
to prayer, not counting the time given to the Eucharist, the Office, and shared
prayer at night That isn’t too much at all; I once made a retreat under a Buddhist.
He had us wake up at four in the morning and meditate for an average of twelve
hours a day. Some of our number put in as many as fourteen or fifteen hours. That
is intensity for you. I thought amusedly of our Catholic retreats where people
generally think they have done something heroic by praying for six hours a day.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I’ll have more to say later about giving time to prayer.
Here I shall content myself with advising you to pray much and to have fixed periods
of prayer of an hour or more each time. I insist on the “fixed period”; set a time
when you begin and when you end. This is a great help to most people who would otherw</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">is</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">e “pray all through the day,” but whose prayer would
lack depth and intensity because it is too general and vague. So fix your times
for prayer, and pray outside these times too, of course.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark46"></a><a name="bookmark45"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark46;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Desire
for God</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark46;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark45;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If you wish to attain a deeper experience of God in
this retreat, you must bring two vital dispositions with you. If you do not have
these dispositions, you must give time at the beginning of the retreat to acquiring
them. The first of these dispositions is a desire for God; the second is courage
and generosity.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The desire for God: God cannot resist the one who desires
him ardently. I was much impressed by the Hindu story of a villager who came to
a sannyasi (a holy man) while he was meditating under a tree and said to him,
“I want to see God. Show me how I can experience God.” The sannyasi, typically,
said nothing. He continued with his meditation. The good villager returned with
the same request next day – and the next and next and next, though he received no
reply until, seeing his perseverance, the sannyasi at last said to him, “You seem
to be a genuine seeker after God. This afternoon I shall go down to the river
for my bath. Meet me there.” When the two of them were in the water, the sannyasi
grasped the head of the man firmly, pushed it under the water, and held it there
for a couple of minutes while the poor man struggled to come out of the water.
After a couple of minutes the sannyasi released him and said, “Come again to
the banyan tree tomorrow.” When he came the next day, it was the sannyasi who spoke
first. “Tell me,” he said, “why did you struggle so much while I held your head
under the water?” “Because,” said the man, “I was gasping for air – without air
I would have died.” Then the sannyasi smiled and said, “The day you desire God as
desperately as you desired air, you will surely find him.”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">That is the chief reason why we do not find God: we
do not desire him ardently enough. Our lives are crowded with far too many other
things and we can get on pretty well without God. He is certainly not as essential
to us as the air we breathe. This is what he was to a man like Ramakrishna. Each
time I think of his life I feel deeply moved. He was barely sixteen years old and
already a priest in a Hindu temple, charged with performing the rites of the temple
deity. He was seized with a longing to penetrate through the veil of the temple
idol and get in touch with the Infinite Reality that the idol symbolized, a Reality
he called “Mother.” This became such an obsession with him that he would sometimes
forget to perform the rites. At other times, he would begin waving the sacred lamp
before the deity and, seized with his obsession, would absentmindedly continue
to wave it for hours until someone would come in and bring him to his senses and
stop him. He had all the signs of a man who was deeply, passionately in love. Each
night before retiring to sleep he would sit before the deity and cry, “Mother, another
day has passed and I have still not found you! How long must I wait, Mother,
how long?” And he would weep bitterly. How can God resist such longings? Is it any
wonder that Ramakrishna became the extraordinary mystic he was? He once said to
a friend, speaking about what it means to long for God, “If a thief were sleeping
in a room that was separated from a treasury fully of gold only by a thin wall,
would he sleep? All night long he would be awake contriving devices to get at
that gold. When I was a youngster, I desired God even more ardently than that
thief desired gold.”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><st1:city><st1:place><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">St. Augustine</span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> tells us of the great restlessness of the human heart
that cannot rest till it has found its rest in God. Without God, for whom we are
created, we are like fish out of water. If we do not experience the agony of
the fish it is only because we kill the pain with a host of other desires and pleasures,
even problems, which we allow to occupy our minds and which we allow to suppress
the desire for God and the pain of not having him yet.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If you do not have this kind of desire for God, ask
for it. It is a grace that the Lord gives to all whom he wishes to reveal himself
to. Hopefully the retreat, by quieting the other cravings in your heart, will bring
this deep-rooted desire to the surface.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark48"></a><a name="bookmark47"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark48;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Generosity
and Courage</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark48;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark47;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is the second disposition you need. To pray is
no easy task, particularly when you invest a long time in prayer. You will experience
strong resistances within you – feelings of boredom, of disgust, even of fear as
your prayer becomes deeper. No less a person than St. Teresa of Avila says there
were times when she would feel so disgusted with prayer that she had to summon
up all her courage to make herself even enter her oratory. “I know how grievous
such trials are,” she says. “They need more courage than do many trials in the
world.” Moreover, no one can accuse St. Teresa of not knowing what trials in
the world are – she was very much out there in the world, battling to establish
her Carmelite reformed convents throughout Spain. So, to persevere in prayer these
days you are going to need generosity "with God, and courage.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There’s another reason why you need courage and generosity:
it isn’t just that prayer itself can be a demanding exercise but that the God
you meet in prayer is going to lay bare your rationalizations, to break down your
defenses, to make you see yourself as you really are – and this can be very painful.
The encounter with God is not always a pleasant, soothing experience. Someone has
said rightly that the encounter is surgical before it becomes soothing. The God
of the Bible is encountered in a command. Each time someone experiences him in
the Bible it is in connection with some sacrifice that has to be made, something
that must be given up, some task that has to be undertaken, generally an unpleasant
task. Witness the reluctance of people like Jeremiah and Moses to accept the unpleasant
task God lays on their shoulders. If you want to meet God you must be ready to
hear his voice calling you to something you may not like.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">When you were young you fastened your
belt about you and walked w</span></i><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">here you chose;
but when you are old you will stretch out your arms, and a stranger will bind
you fast, and carry you where you have no wish to go.</span></i></span><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">John 21:18<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This does not mean that we must be fearful. The words
we hear will not just be demanding words. They will be loving words, strengthening
words. God will give us the love and strength we need to measure up to his demands.
But we cannot gloss over the fact that the demands are there, that he is calling
us to die to ourselves. And death is something that frightens us initially.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">You
must approach God with no conditions, in a state of complete self-surrender. If
you start out by saying, “Ask me for anything except this” or “Command anything
except such and such,” you are putting a serious obstacle in the way of your encountering
God. I am </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">not</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
saying you are expected to have the strength to do what God wants you to do. Quite
the contrary, you are expected </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">not</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
to have the strength, poor, weak creature that you are. Strength is something
that comes from God, not from ourselves. It is his business to provide it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">What is expected of us is honesty – that we do not
deceive ourselves, that we face the truth about ourselves, our cowardice, our selfishness,
our possessiveness, and shed our rationalizations. The moment we get into prayer,
we shall notice voices coming up within us that we would rather not hear. What is
demanded of us is the courage to listen, and not block our ears, not look the other
way, no matter how unpleasant this might be.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Do not start out with the prejudice that God simply
could not be asking this or that of you, that such and such would be silly or stupid.
God has no inhibitions whatsoever about demanding the foolish and stupid thing
of us. What could be more foolish than that salvation should come through the Cross?
What more ridiculous than that the apostles should speak in tongues and expose themselves
to the charge of being drunk? Indeed our overpowering desire to be always rational
and balanced and respectable is one of the major obstacles to holiness. We want
to appear proper and well balanced, to do what is reasonable and respectable and
conventional; in other words, what society considers proper and reasonable. The
Holy Spirit can be downright “unreasonable” by worldly standards, and the saints,
by these same standards, were mad. Indeed, the dividing line between holiness and
madness is a very thin one; it is frequently hard to distinguish one from the other.
If we would be great saints and do great things for God we must lose our fear
of being considered crazy; we must lose concern for our good name. So let us not
exclude “crazy” things from the list of things God could be demanding of us. Let
us approach him with minds and hearts open to anything he wants, no matter how crazy
or difficult it seems at first sight.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark50"></a><a name="bookmark49"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark50;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Gospel Texts</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark50;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark49;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Here are some texts that may help you with your prayer
tomorrow morning:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Matthew
13:44-46: The parable of the pearl merchant and the parable of the hidden treasure.
Here are crazy men for you. Imagine a man stumbling upon that precious pearl at
a jeweler’s shop. His heart skips a beat! Here is an extraordinary jewel indeed.
This man knows a good stone when he sees one. What is the price? 10,000 rupees.
10,000 rupees? Even to think of a sum as great as that is crazy, for he isn’t a
rich man. So he goes away – but the thought of that pearl just won’t leave him.
He is obsessed with it. Then a truly crazy scheme takes shape in his mind: suppose
he were to sell his house, his land, his tools of labor his very clothes – just
everything (Jesus explicitly says he sold everything he had). If into this sum
he threw all his savings, he would just be able to scrape together those 10,000
rupees. How much doubt he must have gone through before he took that vital decision!
Is it worth risking everything, indeed, actually losing everything for the sake
of one pearl? What will the neighbors say? But when you are obsessed with something,
all other considerations fall by the wayside. The fool actually sold everything
and got his pearl. That is the type of man who gets God – the man who gives everything,
the man whom everyone laughs at and considers a fool. But Jesus tells us that
this kind of man goes away </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">joyfully.</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
Great mystery! He has lost everything – and he is filled with joy. Here is the
pearl, the pearl of joy, of peace, that God gives to those who give up everything
for his sake. But mind you, it must be </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">everything.</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
God deals in fixed prices: 9,000 rupees won’t buy you that joy, nor 9,900, not even
9,999 – give everything and you will receive everything. By contrast we have
the rich young man of Matthew 19 – he has vast possessions and he goes away </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">sad!</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
True and lasting joy is found only in total renunciation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">We have a living model of this in Paul who in Philippians
3:7-22 says so movingly of himself that he did indeed lose everything for Christ:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">But all such assets I have written off
because of Christ I would say more: I count everything sheer loss, because all is
far outweighed by the gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I did
in fact lose everything. I count it so much garbage, for the sake of gaining Christ
and finding myself incorporate in him. ... All I care for is to know </span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Christ, to experience the power of his resurrection,
and to share his sufferings, in growing conformity with his death, if only I
may finally arrive at the resurrection from the dead.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">“All
I want is to know Christ.” Can we say those words of ourselves? Is it true that
this is </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">all</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
we desire? If it is so, then we have already found God or are certainly on the verge
of finding him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">You may want to take Luke 14:26ff. or Matthew </span></span><st1:time hour="10" minute="37"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">10:37</span></span></st1:time><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">-39 and consider the words of Jesus there as addressed
to you. You may find inspiration in Genesis 12, where Abraham becomes a wanderer
in obedience to God or Genesis 22 where he is asked to sacrifice his son Isaac.
There is also Luke 9:57-10:9 and the inspiring cry of Paul that nothing can separate
him from the love of Christ, in Romans 8:35.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Or you may find these texts too demanding, too frightening
for your weakness. Then take Acts 1:4 – 5, 8, 11 where you see the apostles praying
for the Spirit who will take away their cowardice and give them the courage
they are going to need for the apostolate. Do what they themselves did: (a)
Don’t leave </span></span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Jerusalem</span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> – stay in your solitude and cut yourself away from
all unnecessary intercourse with others, (b) Wait patiently for a power which
you will “receive” – it cannot be produced by any efforts of your own. (c) Pray
persistently together with Mary and the saints. Or take Luke 11:1-13. It will encourage
you to ask for the Holy Spirit with confidence.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Or, finally, take 1 Timothy 1:15-17 where you will
find those encouraging words of Paul: “God has done marvellous things through
me, great sinner that I am, so that he might make an example of me to others,
for if he could work wonders with a man like me, what will he not do for others
who trust in him.”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Whatever
you do, whatever texts you take for prayer, for heaven’s sake don’t seek to </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">produce whaX</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
is actually a pure gift of God: the courage and generosity you are seeking is
so heroic, the desire for God you need is so intense that no human being can produce
it within his own heart. This is a gift of God, a gift that is </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">always</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
given to humble, persistent petitionary prayer. So pray for courage. Pray for
power. Pray for honesty. Pray for these gifts, not just for yourself, but for all
of us who are making this retreat Pray that we shall all experience a new Pentecost
during these days. That each single person here will receive the Holy Spirit abundantly
and experience his transforming power in his or her life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"><br clear="all" style="break-before: page; page-break-before: always;" />
</span></span>
<p align="center" class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><a name="bookmark52"></a><a name="bookmark51"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark52;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">How to Pray</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark52;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark51;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I want to talk to you tonight about something you have
come to this retreat to do. You have come here to pray. So I want to speak about
prayer, what it is and how to make it. However, before entering into this topic
let me say something to you about two related topics. The first is the need of
the experience of God for an apostle, the second, silence.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark54"></a><a name="bookmark53"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark54;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Apostle’s
Need for an Experience of God</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark54;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark53;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Swami Vivekananda tells somewhere of his first encounter
with Ramakrishna. The incident illustrates very well what I want to say on this
point. Vivekananda, whose name was then Narendra, was a precocious, somewhat conceited
young college student who claimed he was an agnostic. He had heard about the holiness
of Ramakrishna, so he went to visit him. He found him squatting on his bed. The
conversation went something like this:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP" style="margin-left: 42.55pt; text-indent: -35.45pt;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Narendra:
Do you believe in God, Sir?</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP" style="margin-left: 42.55pt; text-indent: -35.45pt;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Ramakrishna:
Yes, I do.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 42.55pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 42.55pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -35.45pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Narendra: Well, I don’t. What is it that makes you
believe in him? Can you prove to me he exists, Sir?</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP" style="margin-left: 42.55pt; text-indent: -35.45pt;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Ramakrishna:
Yes.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 42.55pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 42.55pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -35.45pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Narendra: Why are you so sure you will be able to
convince me?</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 42.55pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 42.55pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -35.45pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Ramakrishna: Because at this moment I see him more
clearly than I see you.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The tone of voice in which those words were said, and
the expression on Ramakrishna’s face overwhelmed Narendra. He was never the same
again. Those words changed him completely. That is the way it is with the words,
and indeed, the whole being of someone who is in direct touch with God. It is disturbing
to be in the presence of those who truthfully make the claim that they can sense
God and see him – someone like Moses of whom Scripture says, “He was resolute, as
one who saw the invisible God” (Hebrews 11:27).</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">This
is the whole point of our being apostles. The apostle is not just someone with
a message. Apostles are their message. When we point out the way of holiness, people
will not look at the direction our finger is pointing in. The first thing they
will look at is </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">us.</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
This is our greatest apostolic need today – not better planning, better equipment,
better surveys, better knowledge of our people, their language, their customs, better
conversion techniques (if such things exist at all!) but better human beings; a
whole new breed of human beings whose lives are evidently charged with the power
and presence of the Holy Spirit<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark56"></a><a name="bookmark55"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark56;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Identity
Crisis:</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark56;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark55;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">So
many priests and religious are undergoing today what is known as an identity crisis.
The priest no longer knows what he is and what he is supposed to be in the modern
world. This constitutes a problem, yes. But a crisis? We have, no doubt, to study
and reflect so as to come up with a more adequate theological definition of what
a priest really is, and I can see the liberating effect this will have for the life
and work of many priests. But does this lack of an adequate theological definition
have to constitute a </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">crisis</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
for a priest?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Is a happily married layperson in a state of personal
crisis because we are still in search of an adequate theological definition of
marriage (and, for that matter, always shall be, given the richness of different
cultures and of spiritual realities and the limitations of the human mind)?
True, a better definition and a better understanding of marriage will be a help
to our laypersons in their married lives. But in the meantime they are experiencing
the reality of marriage even though they are not in possession of its definition.
They love their spouses and children and are loved by them; they experience the
growth and fulfillment which the joys and pains of married life bring with them.
There is no reason to be in a state of crisis.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Imitation of Christ</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
is very wise when it says, “I had rather experience compunction than be able to
define it.” May we not say the same of many modern priests who are undergoing
their identity crisis? Have they </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">experienced</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
the meaning of their priesthood and not just </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">talked</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
about it? Are they in love with Christ? Are they full of the Spirit? Do they have
the fulfillment that comes from giving the Spirit to others, from bringing Christ
into the lives of others? If they have, I don’t see how they can be going through
an identity crisis any more than the happily married people I spoke of earlier.
But in order to experience love for Christ you must first have met Christ In order
to give the Holy Spirit you must have experienced his power in your own life.
This is what the retreat is all about. It is not a seminar where we speak about
Christ. It is a period of silence when we speak to Christ. The speaking about will
come later. Let us meet him first, develop an intimacy with him. Then we will
truly have something to talk about.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark58"></a><a name="bookmark57"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark58;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Silence</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark58;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark57;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This brings me to my second topic. There are few things
that help so much for conversing with Christ as silence. The silence I speak of
is, obviously, the inner silence of the heart without which the voice of Christ
will simply not be heard. This inner silence is very hard to achieve for most
of us: close your eyes for a moment and observe what is going on within you.
The chances are you will be submerged in a sea of thoughts that you are powerless
to stop – talk, talk, talk (for that is what thinking generally is, me talking
to myself) – noise, noise, noise: my own inner voice competing with the remembered
voices and images of others, all clamoring for my attention. What chances does
the subtle voice of God stand in all this din and bustle?</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Exterior silence is an enormous help for attaining interior
silence. If you cannot bear to observe exterior silence, if, in other words, it
is unbearable for you to keep your mouth shut, how will you bear the silence that
is interior? How will you keep your inner mouth shut? Your tolerance of silence
is a fairly good indicator of your spiritual (and even intellectual and emotional)
depth. It is possible that when you shut your mouth the noise inside you will become
even louder, your distractions will increase, you will be even less able to pray.
This is not caused by silence. The noise was there all along. Silence is only
making you aware of it and giving you the opportunity to quiet and master it.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Jesus tells us to shut the door when we go to pray.
We are obviously not shutting the rest of the world out of our hearts, for we will
take its concerns with us to prayer. But that door must be firmly shut or else
the noisy world will come in and drown out the voice of God, chiefly in the early
stages when concentration does not come easily to us. And the beginner in prayer
needs no less concentration than the beginner in mathematics who cannot work on
a complex problem when there is a lot of distracting noise around him. The time
will come when students of prayer, like mathematics students will be so gripped
by their subject that no amount of noise will be able to take their minds away
from their subject. But in the early stages let them be humble and admit their need
for quiet and for silence.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark60"></a><a name="bookmark59"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark60;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Saints
on Silence</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark60;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark59;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The saints have spoken eloquently of the value of silence.
Here are a couple of quotes I picked up from a book of Thomas Merton. One is from
a Syrian monk, Isaac of Nineveh. What he says is as true for the solitary in
the desert as for the apostle in the heart of a modern city. He says, <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Many are continually seeking, but
they alone find who remain in continual silence... Every man who delights in a
multitude of words, even though he says admirable thiiigs, is empty within. If
you love truth, be a lover of silence. Silence like the sunlight will illuminate
you in God and will deliver you from the phantoms of ignorance, silence will unite
you to God himself. .. . More than all things, love silence: it brings you a
fruit that tongue cannot describe. In the beginning, we have to force ourselves
to be silent But then there is bom something that draws us to silence. May God give
you an experience of this “something” that is bom of silence. If only you practise
this, untold light will dawn on you in consequence ... after a while a certain
sweetness is bom in the heart of this exercise and the body is drawn almost by
force to remain in silence.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Every word in those lines is worth meditating on.
These words will speak powerfully to the heart of anyone who has ever experienced
the treasures there are in silence.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The other quote on silence is from a desert Father,
Ammonas, a disciple of St. Anthony:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Behold, my beloved, I have shown you
the po</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">wer of silence, how thoroughly it
heals and how fully pleasing it is to God. Wherefore I have written to you to
show yourselves strong in this work you have undertaken, so that you may know
that it is by silence that the power of God dwelt in them, because of silence
that the mysteries of God were known to them.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Isaac
of Nineveh is obviously speaking from experience when he says, “In the beginning
we have to </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">force</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
ourselves to be silent.” Silence doesn’t come easily to us at the start. When we
try to observe it we shall notice strong resistances within us: </span></span><st1:place><st1:placename><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Eveyln</span></span></st1:placename><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span></span><st1:placetype><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Underhill</span></span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
tells us the value of overcoming these resistances in her book </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Mysticism:</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
self is as yet unacquainted with the strange plane of silence which so soon becomes
familiar to those who attempt even the lowest activities of the contemplative live;
where the self is released from succession, the voices of the world are never heard
and the great adventures of the spirit take place.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Adventures, indeed. You will make thrilling discoveries
once you have suffered through the initial boredom and restlessness that silence
brings. You will find that this dark silence is really filled with heavenly light
and with heavenly music; that what at first sight seemed empty and nothingness is
really filled with the presence of God. A presence that it is impossible to describe
but that is somehow conveyed so attractively in the words of Simone Weil, when
she tries to describe the effects she felt on reciting the Lord’s Prayer:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">At times the very first words tear my
thoughts from my body and transport it to a place outside space where there is neither
perspective nor point of view. ... At the same time, filling every part of this
infinity of infinity, ther</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">e is a silence,
a silence which is not an absence of sound but which is the object of a positive
sensation, more positive than that of sound. Noises, if there are any, only reach
me after crossing the silence.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">After listening to these words, I imagine that you need
no further urgings from me to plunge into strict silence these days – for you are
not likely to get such a fine opportunity in the rest of the year and the effects
of silence are cumulative, that is, the silence that comes after four days of silence
is deeper than the silence you have at the start of the retreat.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark62"></a><a name="bookmark61"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark62;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">How to Pray:
Jesus the Master of Prayer</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark62;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark61;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If this retreat is to give you the rich fruit you are
expecting of it you must invest a long time in prayer. And if you are to pray well
you must know how to pray. How are you to pray? This is a question that the apostles
asked of Jesus. And Jesus himself taught them what they were to do when they were
in prayer. This is fortunate for us, because we too can learn from him how to pray.
There is no better master in the art of prayer; in fact, for us Christians, there
is no other master.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In Luke 11 we read, “Once, in a certain place, Jesus
was at prayer. When he ceased, one of his disciples said ‘Lord, teach us to pray,
as John taught his disciples.’” How wise of the apostles to have direct recourse
to the Master when they wanted to learn how to pray. I advise you to do the same.
No one can teach you to pray, really. I certainly cannot. The conferences I shall
be giving you these days will, please God, be something of a help to you in your
prayer life. But, sooner or later, you are going to run into difficulties that no
earthly teacher will be able to solve for you, and you will have to have direct
recourse to Jesus and say to him, “Lord, teach me to pray.” And he will solve
your difficulties for you and guide you personally. So I advise you, right from
the start, whenever you run into difficulties and find the going tough, to look
at Jesus and say, “Lord, teach me to pray.” Say it again and again – for the whole
day if need be. Say it without strain or anxiety, calmly, in the firm expectation
that he will teach you; as indeed he will! Here then is the first answer to the
question, “How to pray?” Go to Jesus and ask him to teach you. That is how you learn
to pray.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark64"></a><a name="bookmark63"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark64;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">God-Centered
Prayer</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark64;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark63;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Let us continue with that gospel passage and see what
kind of teaching the Lord gives on prayer. “He answered, ‘When you pray, say, Father,
thy name be hallowed; thy kingdom come.*” Here’s something about the type of prayer
that Jesus teaches. He teaches us to begin not with ourselves but with the Father;
not with our interests and needs but with his kingdom. “Set your mind on God’s kingdom
and his justice before everything else, and all the rest will come to you as well”
(Matthew 6:33). Jesus’ prayer was essentially God-centered, as was his whole life.
We speak of him today as the man for others, as indeed he was. But he was even
more the man for his Father. The Gospels make it abundantly clear that the one
great obsession in Jesus’ life was not humankind, but his Father. His food and
drink was to do the will of his Father. We would be his brothers and sisters and
mother only if we did the will of his Father. He is less concerned with our calling
him, “Lord, Lord,” than with doing his Father’s will as he himself did. In fact,
he is clearly obsessed with trying to get all of us to be lovers and worshipers
of the Father as he himself was. We like to think that it was out of love for
us that he went to his passion, and so it was. However, it is sobering to realize
that, for all the love he had for us, he recoiled from the passion; he did not
want it; the only thing that made him go through it was his Father. Father, take
this cup away from me; I do not want it; but if you want it for me I shall take
it “So that the world may know that I love the Father, and do exactly as he commands,
up, let us go forward!” (John 14:31).</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Here then is the first lesson that Jesus gives us
when he teaches us to pray. He teaches us to begin with God; to be concerned
about the coming of his kingdom, about his name being glorified, about his holy
will being done everywhere. This is one of the reasons why our prayer fails: it
is too self-centered, too human-centered. We must get out of ourselves and center
ourselves on God and his kingdom.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Jesus will make us pray for ourselves too. None of
that superior kind of holy indifference that says, I'm just not bothered about
myself – I leave all my needs to God. No, sir! Jesus will have none of this. We
must become humble, accept the fact that we have needs, even material needs, and
beg God to fulfil these needs. Jesus bids us ask for three things for ourselves:
for our daily bread (for bread, not luxuries!), for spiritual strength, and for
forgiveness of sin.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark66"></a><a name="bookmark65"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark66;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Petitionary
Prayer</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark66;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark65;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Have you noticed something in the prayer Jesus teaches
his apostles? From start to finish it is petitionary prayer: “Father, may your name
be glorified, may your kingdom come, may your will be done ...” Even these things
are the subject of our petition! The kingdom of God is going to come even more
surely than the sun is going to rise. And yet Jesus bids us ask that it may
come.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is what prayer was for Jesus. Prayer, as he taught
it to the apostles, meant asking for things we need, asking for what is good
for us. As if to confirm this Jesus gives us a kind of commentary on the Our Father.
He says,</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Suppose one of you has a f</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">riend who comes to him in the middle of the night and
says, My friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine on a journey has turned
up at my house, and I have nothing to offer him: and he replies from inside, do
not bother me. The door is shut for the night; my children and I have gone to bed;
and I cannot get up and give you what you want I tell you that even if he will not
provide for him out of friendship, the very shamelessness of the request will
make him get up and give him all he needs. And so I say to you, ask and you will
receive; seek and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened. For everyone
who asks receives, he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">The
words are positively startling in their simplicity: </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">everyone</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
– no distinction between saints and sinners, no “ifs” or “buts”; </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">everyone</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
who asks will receive. It is as if this is too much to believe. “These are hard
words, and who can believe them?” All sorts of doubts and reservations come to
our minds. We have asked for things so often and haven’t received them; Jesus
could hardly mean literally what he says. So he rubs it in, so to speak.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Is there a father among you who will
offer his son a snake when he asks for fish, or a scorpion when he asks for an </span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">egg? If you, then, bad as you are, know how to give
your children what is good for them, how much more will the heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is a constant teaching of the New Testament: prayer
is powerful; prayer gives us all we need. And prayer is, basically, petitionary
prayer. Here are some texts where you can check this for yourself. I recommend
that you read them prayerfully. They are bound to strike you between the eyes –
unless, of course, you have known the power of petitionary prayer and been practicing
it all along. Matthew 21:20-22; Mark 11:22-26; Luke 11:1-13, 18:1, 8; John
14:12-14, 15:7, 16:23-24; James 1:5-8, 5:13-18; 1 John 3:22, 5:14-15; Philippians
4:4-7; 1 Timothy 2: 1ff.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark68"></a><a name="bookmark67"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark68;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Key
to the Art of Prayer</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark68;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark67;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Somewhere early in my relig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">us life I had the great good fortune of making a retreat
under an extraordinary man, Father Jose Calveras, who had the reputation of teaching
people how to pray during his retreats. I knew of venerable old Jesuits who had
been many years in relig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">us life and came away from Father Calveras’s retreat
saying, “This man has really taught me to pray” – not entirely accurate, of course,
because there’s barely any Christian who doesn’t know to pray in some way or other.
I suppose what they meant was that Calveras had taught them to pray more satisfactorily
and in greater depth. This he certainly did for me.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I went to his retreat full of great expectations, but
within a couple of days I was afflicted with all my usual prayer problems. When
I took them to Father Calveras, he said to me, quite simply, “How do you pray?”
(It struck me later that no one before had asked me that question point blank!)
So I began to describe, step by step, what I did in prayer. “I take some point
for meditation and get started on that,” I said, “and within a minute or two my
mind wanders. I’m hopelessly distracted.” “What do you do then?” asked he. “Well,
when I realize I am distracted (and that isn’t too soon generally) I come back
to the point I was meditating on.” “And then?” said he. *Then I’m distracted
again.” “And then?” Calveras was very patient while I explained how, in my prayer,
I moved from meditation to distraction, to meditation, to distraction – with
the distraction generally accounting for ninety percent of the time. I have met
dozens of people since then who have had exactly the same experience and I wouldn’t
be surprised if this were the experience of most of you.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Father
Calveras then said to me, “What you are doing is thinking – meditating. You are
not </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">praying.</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
Nothing wrong with meditation, of course, provided it helps you to </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">pray.</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
Tell me, do you have your rosary with you?” (This, I should explain, was in the
days before Vatican II – though I personally retain my devotion to the rosary even
today). “Yes,” I said. “Pull it out, will you?” (I was a very young Jesuit and
Calveras was an old man. He could do this sort of thing with impunity.) I did.
“Do you know how to use that?” “Of course I do.” “Then why don’t you?” “What?
You mean I should say the rosary during meditation?” I was a little shocked and
showed it. What I did not show were the thoughts that went through my head;
they were something like this: Does this man, this reputed master in the art of
prayer, seriously expect me to say the rosary during meditation? I had come to associate
the rosary with very simple, ignorant people – the prayer for farmers and fisherfolk,
and the sort of thing you fell back upon if you were particularly disturbed in
prayer and could do nothing else. A sort of second best. But I was perfectly
capable of meditating – I had just completed my studies in philosophy!<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Father Calveras in his quiet way went on, “Say a decade,
praying to our Lady to obtain for you the grace of prayer, the grace to overcome
your distractions. Then come back to your meditation if you wish. And if you are
still distracted, say another decade and another. And, possibly, give up your meditation
altogether and just pray for all the graces you need. Pray for your fellow retreatants.
Pray for those you love. Pray for the world. The fruit of a retreat is not obtained
through meditation and deep reflection. It is a pure gift of God and while a certain
amount of reflection is helpful, even necessary, this gift is obtained through asking,
through begging. So beg for it and the Lord will give it to you. Ask for the grace
to pray. Ask for the grace to be generous with Christ. Ask for the grace of experiencing
his love.”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Father Calveras clearly took the gospel teaching on
prayer quite literally. My later experience was to show me that this was the main
reason why he was indeed a master in the art of prayer. He seriously believed, and
taught us to believe, and all we had to do was to ask the Lord for what we needed,
and the Lord would not let us down. He said to us, “The key to the art of prayer
is the prayer of petition. Many people never learn to pray because they have never
learned to make effective use of petitionary prayer. The hand outstretched to beg
obtains what the hand pressed against one’s head to think does not.”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">He said to me at that interview, “Do you like the Litany
of the Saints? Or the Litany of our Lady? Yes? Then pray like this, slowly, attentively,
‘Holy Mary, pray for me. Holy Mother of God, pray for me. Holy Virgin of Virgins,
pray for me ... ’ Can you pray like this?” Of course I could pray like that.
The only trouble was that it seemed to me too easy. Surely, prayer must be something
more complicated than this! I was later to read a book by Calveras in which he
explained that simple vocal prayer and the devotional use of ejaculatory prayer
is the antichamber to mysticism. I had been taught to look upon it as the prayer
for beginners and the ignorant! To him, and indeed to anyone with some experience
in the art of prayer, this was the prayer of the proficient</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark70"></a><a name="bookmark69"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark70;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Becoming
a Child in Prayer</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark70;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark69;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Father Calveras did indeed teach me to pray. From
that day I’ve never been able to say honestly that I don’t know how to pray. I’ve
had my difficulties in prayer and, I’m sorry to say, I have not always been faithful
to prayer. But I have never been able to say that I don’t know how to pray. That
simply wouldn’t be true. I certainly do know how to pray. All I have to do is fall
back on simple vocal prayer, on the prayer of petition. Any child can do this.
That’s the trouble with so many of us: we have ceased to be children, so we have
forgotten how to pray.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Again and again, I have met priests and relig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">us who prayed much better before they entered the novitiate
or seminary than after. Does this surprise you? Many of you are probably in this
category. Before we entered the novitiate, we prayed with such simplicity of heart.
We had recourse to God, to the Blessed Virgin, in all our needs – for grace to
pass our examinations, for health, for success in our work. Then we grew up and
learned many clever arguments about God not being interested in these mundane trifles.
God helps those who help themselves, we cannot change the will of God, etc. So we
stopped expecting miracles; we stopped praying for miracles; and God’s interventions
in our lives became fewer and fewer. In addition to this, we picked up complicated
methods of prayer. We were taught how to reflect deeply; in other words, all
the emphasis was given to reading and meditation and discursive prayer. We gradually
became convinced that what we needed to become saints was deep convictions; and
the way to deepen our convictions was to reflect, reflect, reflect; meditate, meditate,
meditate. Whereas the truth of the matter is that what we need more than conviction,
a thousand times more, if we are to be saints, is strength, spiritual power, courage,
perseverance – and for this, we must ask, ask, ask; pray, pray, pray.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">I
shall deal with all these objections to petitionary prayer in another conference
[conference 6 – ed.]. For the time being it is sufficient that you expose yourselves
to Christ’s words on prayer in the Gospels. They will cause a wild hope to arise
within your heart, even a certainty: if I pray earnestly for the Holy Spirit, I
shall receive him – even today, this very day. Why not? You are very lucky indeed
if God gives you this kind of faith, for then you will ask and you will surely receive.
Mind you, I am </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">not</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
advising you to abandon meditation altogether. The very fact that I suggest you
read those gospel passages, means I am inviting you to some form of meditation and
reflection. What I am suggesting is that you stop placing your trust in meditation
and start relying on the power of simple petitionary prayer and that you give
this prayer much more importance than meditation. If you do this, you will discover
the power that prayer brings, and the confidence and peace. You will realize
the truth of Paul’s words to the Philippians:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">The Lord is near: have no anxiety, but
in everything make your requests known to God in prayer and petition with thanksgiving.
Then the peace of God, which is beyond our utmost understanding, will keep guard
over your h</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">earts and your thoughts, in Christ
Jesus.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Philippians 4:6-7<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">And, having experienced the truth of these words
for yourself, you will never abandon prayer for the rest of your life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"><br clear="all" style="break-before: page; page-break-before: always;" />
</span></span>
<p align="center" class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><a name="bookmark72"></a><a name="bookmark71"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark72;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">The Laws of Prayer</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark72;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark71;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Anyone who reads the words of Jesus on petitionary
prayer with a fresh, unprejudiced mind is bound to be impressed. Just ask, says
Jesus, and you are bound to receive. A wild hope arises in our hearts. Can it really
be true? Let me take him on faith and launch out, and I shall receive all I need
and desire. But our experience frequently kills the hope. I have prayed so often
in the past, and I have been disppointed so often. The words of Jesus couldn’t
possibly mean what they say. If they did, how can my frequent failure in prayer
be explained?</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The answer to that is simple enough. If you have not
succeeded in prayer it is not because prayer does not work. It is because you have
not learned to pray well. An engineer may complain that engineering doesn’t
work because every time he builds a bridge it collapses. The truth is that engineering
works very well, but he is a bad engineer. If we fail in our prayer it is because
we are bad prayers. We have failed to master the laws of prayer that Jesus clearly
enunciated, for prayer has its own laws just as much as engineering.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark74"></a><a name="bookmark73"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark74;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The First
Law of Prayer: Faith</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark74;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark73;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Have you noticed the habit Jesus had of saying to anyone
who came to him for a favor: Do you believe I can do this? In other words, he always
insisted on faith in his power to heal, cure, and work miracles. We are told that
in his hometown, </span></span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Nazareth</span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">, he could not work many miracles because of the lack
of faith of the people there. It was almost a rigorous law with him: if you believe,
all things are possible. If you do not believe, I can do nothing for you. You
yourself need not have the faith: it is enough that someone else has it for
you. (I shall later point this out as one of the advantages of shared prayer:
you may ask the Lord for something, and your faith may be too weak for you to receive
it; but the Lord will give you what you are asking for.) The daughter of Jairus
had no faith; neither, as far as we know, did the servant of the centurion mentioned
in Matthew 8:5, nor the paralytic of Matthew 9:2-8. It was enough that the petitioner,
not necessarily the beneficiary, have faith. But faith there had to be. There was
no substitute for it</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Jesus made a law out of this. In Matthew 21:18ff. we
read:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Next morning on his way to the city he
felt hungry, and seeing a figtree at the roadside he went up to it, but found nothing
on it but leaves. He said to the tree, “You shall never bear fruit any</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> more;" and the tree withered away at once.
The disciples were amazed at the sight “How is it,” they asked, “that the tree withered
so suddenly?” Jesus answered them, “I tell you this: if only you have faith and
have no doubts, you will do what has been done to the fig-tree; and more than
that, you need only say to this mountain, “Be lifted from your place and hurled
into the sea,” and what you say will be done. And whatever you pray for in faith
you will receive.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Mark ll:20ff. says the same thing, more emphatically.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Early next morning, as they passed
by, they saw that the fig-tree had withered from the roots up; and Peter, recalling
what had happened, said to him, “Rabbi, look, the fig-tree which you cursed has
withered.” Jesus answered them</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">, “Have faith
in God. I tell you this: if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted from your
place and hurled into the sea,’ and has no inward doubt but believes that what
he says is happening, it will be done for him. I tell you, then, whatever you ask
for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This law of faith was well understood by the apostles,
who handed it on to the early Christians. James puts it this way in his letter
(1:5-8):</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">If any of you falls short of wisdom,
he sho</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">uld ask God for it and it will be given
him, for God is a generous giver who neither refuses nor reproaches anyone. But
he must ask in faith, without a doubt in his mind; for the doubter is like a heaving
sea ruffled by the wind. A man of that kind must not expect the Lord to give him
anything; he is double-minded, and never can keep a steady course.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Jesus continues to work miracles in response to faith
in our day too, I have been particularly impressed by the faith of some people
who are in the healing ministry. They seem to perform again the type of miracles
that we read Jesus performed in the Gospels and the apostles in Acts. Has it ever
struck you that every time Jesus sent his apostles out to preach he gave them
the power to heal and to work miracles – as if he linked the two ministries inextricably
together, the ministry of healing and the ministry of preaching? In a sense, every
preacher of the gospel has to be something of a miracle worker. And so it is significant
that the only grace the apostles asked for, for themselves, besides the grace
of boldness and courage in proclaiming the gospel was the grace of working miracles.
After they are discharged from the court, they make this prayer:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">And now, O Lord, mark their threats, and
enable thy servants to </span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">speak thy
word with all boldness. Stretch out thy hand to heal and cause signs and wonders
to be done through the name of thy holy servant Jesus.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Their prayer seems to have been generously answered:</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">When they had ended their prayer, the
building where they</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> were assembled rocked, and
all were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Acts 4:31<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">And many remarkable and wonderful things
took place among the people at the hands of the apostles. In the end the sick were
actually carried</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> out into the streets and laid
there on beds and stretchers, so that even the shadow of Peter might fall on one
or another as he passed by; and the people from the towns round Jerusalem flocked
in, bringing those who were ill or harassed by unclean spirits, and all of them
were cured.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Acts 5:12,15-16<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">St Paul, who stands out as a wonder worker in Acts,
will appeal to his power to perform miracles when he strives to establish his credentials
as apostle in the early Church.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
am being very foolish, but it was you who drove me to it; my credentials should
have come from you. In no respect did I fall short of these superlative apostles,
even if I am a nobody. The marks of a true apostle were there, in the work I did
among you, which called for such constant fortitude, and was attended by signs,
marvels, and miracles.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">2 Corinthians 12:11-12<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Why do we not witness today the kinds of miracles
that the early Church witnessed? Why are there such few miraculous healings, even
raisings from the dead? Some say it is because there is no need for miracles today.
My own feeling is that we have never needed miracles so badly; and the reason
why we don’t have more is that we just don’t expect miracles to happen; our faith
is very low. I recollect speaking with a Jesuit confrere who is doing excellent
work among Hindus, by whom he is revered as a holy man and guru. He felt the call
to launch out and proclaim the faith and explicit allegiance to the Risen Lord
to his Hindu “disciples.” But how to do this to a group of people who see all relig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">ns as equally good and who will wholeheartedly accept
Jesus – but on their terms, as just another manifestation of the divinity, like
Buddha or Krishna? I said to him, “Do you know when things will start to happen?
When a daughter of one of your disciples dies, and you walk into the house and
say to everyone, ‘Do not weep; the girl will live. In the name of Jesus Christ,
the Risen Lord, I shall bring her back to life,’ and then proceed to make good
your bold claim as the apostles did in Acts. That is when things will begin to
happen, I assure you. There will be conversions to Jesus</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Christ and there will be hostility and persecution.”
Today we have very litde of either in India.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I told you before that Jesus somehow linked the charism
of healing and working miracles with the ministry of preaching. He, himself, joined
the two things in his own life and apostolate, and he joined the two whenever
he commissioned his Apostles to go out and preach. This is probably because for
most of us nothing is so real as our bodies, and when we see God operating in our
bodies then he becomes more real to us than ever.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The modern world,
fortunately, has its share too of the mighty works of the Risen Lord still living
in our midst I know of missionaries who have performed miracles for their people.
I am much impressed by the faith of a man like David Wilkerson who in his admirable
book </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Cross and
the Switchblade</span></i></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> tells us
how he cures drug addicts whom modern medicine and modern psychiatry have given
up as incurable. You can apparently do nothing for the addict who has begun to inject
the drug into his bloodstream. Wilkerson claims he cures them by merely laying
hands on them and communicating to them the power of the Holy Spirit. Here is
faith in action for you!</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If you want to learn of some other instances of outstanding
faith, read the book <i>Realities</i></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
by Basilea Schlink and </span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">God’s
Smuggler</span></i></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> by Brother
Andrew, particularly the part about his seminary training where people are sent
out on preaching expeditions with no more than a pound sterling in their pockets
to put the gospel literally to the test before going out to preach it themselves.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If in our own lives we never or hardly ever experience
God’s miraculous interventions, it is either because we are not living dangerously
enough or because our faith has grown dim and we hardly expect any miracles to
occur. How important it is that there be miracles in our lives if we are to preserve
a keen consciousness of God’s presence and power. A miracle, in the religious sense,
is not necessarily an event that contravenes the laws of nature – this would be
a physical phenomenon that need not have any religious significance. For a miracle
to occur in my life it is enough for me to have the deep conviction that what occurred
was produced by God, that it was a direct intervention of God on my behalf. Any
religion that postulates a personal God must of necessity give great importance
to two things: petitionary prayer and miracles. God becomes personal to me when
I cry out to him, when I see no hope in any human being, and when he personally
intervenes to deliver me or to give me strength or to enlighten and guide me.
If he did not do this he would not be personal to <i>me</i></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> because he would not be an active factor in my life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Today we seem to be losing this sense of God’s constant
intervention in our lives. The Jews of the Bible had a tremendous sense for this.
That is why they were a people of great faith. Did it rain? Then it was God who
made it rain; they very conveniently overlooked the atmospheric changes that brought
them the rain. Did they win or lose in battle? It was God who made them win or lose.
It hardly occurred to them to credit the results of battle to the skill or the negligence
of their generals. Even if their troops displayed cowardice on the battlefield and
were therefore routed, it was God who weakened the hearts of the soldiers by taking
away their courage. All their attention was focused on the Primary Cause, on God.
They seem to have just overlooked secondary causes. And so, in everything, it was
natural for them to have recourse to God.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">With us it is just the opposite. Do you have a headache?
There is no point in getting down on your knees and praying. Take an aspirin. Humankind
has come of age. Instead of spending our time in Church praying, let us build laboratories,
rely on our own ingenuity, and invent the medicines and other things we need. All
of this has a point; but it is not the full truth. We have become so conscious
of secondary causes that God no longer features in our life and our thinking. It
is perfectly true that aspirin needs inventing, but it is God who gives us the
motivation to invent it. It is also true that the aspirin rids you of your headache,
but the full truth is that it is God who cures you through that aspirin tablet,
his almighty power at work within the healing or soothing forces of aspirin. God
is as much a need in every event and action of our modern lives and our modern
cities as he was to the Jews in the desert. We have just lost the faith-sense
that enables us to see him operating behind every secondary cause, to see his hand
guiding events personally through the veil of human agencies.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I remember reading an article some years ago written
by two lay psychiatrists. It was a study on priests and religious whom they had
treated. They remarked that out of the dozens of priests and brothers who came
to them for help in their personal problems, only two ever even so much as mentioned
the name of God in all their interviews, and only one of these, a lay brother,
mentioned him as an important factor in his life and his cure. To all the rest it
seemed as though God had no part in their lives. He was never referred to when
they were talking about problems that were most intimate to them. Isn’t this a sign
of how much God has receded into the background of our lives? How weak our sense
of faith has become! We just don’t expect God to intervene powerfully and directly
in our lives. Do we have a psychological problem? Then a psychiatrist is needed.
A physical illness? Call a doctor. Jesus seemed to think quite otherw</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">is</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">e. The baker was surely an important factor to him in
the obtaining of our daily bread, but the most important factor was our heavenly
Father, and it was to him we had to turn to ask for our daily bread.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If we do not have faith, we shall not even think of
turning to God in all our needs. If we do not have faith, our prayers will be ineffective
even if we turn to God. Tell me, supposing you were to make a long list of petitions
and place them before your Father in heaven, would you be surprised if they were
all granted? Why? Were you not just taking for granted that you would get all
you asked for? Doesn’t your surprise show a deficiency in your faith?</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Faith is not something
you can produce. Don’t </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">force</span></i></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> yourself to have faith – it wouldn’t be faith at all
but a strained effort to make yourself believe. Faith comes as a gift from just
exposing yourself to God’s company. The more you deal with God the more you begin
to realize that nothing is impossible to him. You will begin to have the faith
that makes you convinced that he can change stones into children of Abraham. Then
you will be convinced that he can easily change your stony heart too, and the moment
that conviction sets in, the change in your heart will begin.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This then is the first law of petitionary prayer. Prayer
must be accompanied by an unshakable faith. Remember, “You need only say to this
mountain, ‘Be lifted from your place and hurled into the sea,’ and what you say
will be done. And whatever you pray for in faith, you will receive.” Those problems
of yours that seem like enormous mountains will yield before the power of your
faith. Jesus adds a very interesting detail in Mark 11:24: “I tell you, then,
whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you <i>have</i></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> received it, and it </span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">will</span></i></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
be yours.” How strange. Believe that you have received it and it </span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">will</span></i></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
be yours. It is not yet yours, but you must pray as if it is yours already. That
is the reason why some people blend their petition with thanksgiving. They will
pray for something; then they begin to thank God for having granted them what
they were asking for. What is the proper time to begin thanksgiving? Obviously,
you will say, when you have received what you are asking for. But no! The proper
time to begin thanksgiving is when God has given you the conviction that he has
heard your prayer – even before you actually receive the gift you were asking
for. When friends give you a check, do you first wait to have it cashed in the
bank before you thank them? When you realize that God is going to give you what
you are asking for, that is the moment to begin to thank him. I read of a woman
who prayed to be cured of arthritis. She began her thanksgiving three whole years
before the cure came, because she was convinced that the cure was on its way.
So when we pray, we must be attuned to what God is saying to us and receive the
promise of the gift before the gift comes. Could this be what St. Paul meant when
he told the Philippians to blend their petitions with thanksgiving?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">The Lord is near; have no anxiety, but
in everything make your requests known to God in prayer and petition with thanksgiving.
Then the peace of God, which is beyond our utmost understanding, will</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> keep guard over your hearts and your thoughts, in
Christ Jesus.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Philippians 4:6-7<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">That, incidentally, is a beautiful formula for always
living in the peace of God!</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark76"></a><a name="bookmark75"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark76;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Second
Law of Prayer: Forgiveness</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark76;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark75;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In Mark 11, Jesus tells us of the need for faith if
our prayers are to be effective. In that same passage, he insists on the need
of something else: forgiveness.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">And when you stand praying, if you have
a grievance against anyone, forgive him, so that your </span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Father in heaven may forgive you the wrongs you have
done.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mark 11:25<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is a fundamental law of all prayer, something
Jesus insists on again and again. If you do not forgive, you will not be forgiven;
it is impossible for you to be united with God.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">If,</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> when you are bringing your gift to the altar, you
suddenly remember that your brother has a grievance against you, leave your gift
where it is before the altar. First go and make your peace with your brother, and
only then come back and offer your gift</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 0cm;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">M</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">atthew 5:23-24</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Here is the principal reason why the prayer of so many
people is lacking in power: they nurse resentments within their hearts. I have
frequently been amazed to see the weight of resentment that people, even priests
and relig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">us, carry with them through life: resentments against
superiors, particularly for injustices, real or imaginary. They are not aware
of the harm that this does to their prayer life, to their apostolic effectiveness
and, in many instances, even to their physical health.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">These sentiments of bitterness, hatred, and rancor
poison our system and cause us suffering. And yet it is amazing to see how we cling
to them. Sometimes we would rather part with any possession, no matter how precious,
than with a grudge we are nursing against someone. We simply refuse to forgive!
Jesus will have none of this. His teaching is unambiguous: If you do not forgive,
I shall have nothing to do with you!</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">I
therefore suggest that right from the start of this retreat you spend time ferreting
out any resentments you have and getting rid of them. If you don’t, your prayer
during this retreat is bound to suffer. Don’t hesitate to give it all the time
you need, even if you spend two or three whole days just on this. I advise you
to make a list of all the people whom you hate or hold a grudge against or refuse
to love and forgive. Making this list may not be as easy as it sounds for some
of you. If there is one sentiment that we priests are in the habit of repressing,
after sexual feelings, it is hate feelings. And so we sometimes meet priests
who will tell you in all sincerity that they hate no one and love everyone, but
who, unconsciously, betray their resentments and bitterness in their way of speaking
and acting. One simple way of unearthing repressed resentments that you might have
is to make a list of people you are negatively inclined to. If that doesn’t yield
results, make a list of the people you have a poor opinion of, or even those
whom you like less than others, or, finally, those who dislike </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">you.</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
The list may yield some surprises in the way of ill feelings or resentments you
may be harboring.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark78"></a><a name="bookmark77"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark78;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Getting Anger
out of Your System</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark78;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark77;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">What are you to do with that list? I wouldn’t have
you jump to forgiveness too soon. This might lead only to further repression of
your resentful feelings. It is frequently a help to deal with resentments by “getting
them out of your system.” The ideal would be to talk things over with the person
you resent and express your resentments to him or her quite frankly. This ideal,
unfortunately, is not always attainable, either because the persons in question
are not around or because, even though they are around, they just wouldn’t be able
to respond to your expression of resentment in a constructive way.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The next best thing then is to express your resentment
in fantasy. Imagine you see this person you resent in front of you and really “tell
him off.” Forgiveness is not weakness or cowardice. I know a priest who just couldn’t
bring himself to forgive and to trust a cplleague whom he resented. For months
on end he had prayed for the grace of forgiveness, to no apparent effect. When
I finally got him to “have it out,” to confront this person in the presence of
a third party who served as a skilled catalyst, forgiveness came so easily that
he even wondered if there was anything to forgive. Another priest was having trouble
forgiving a subordinate who had caused him much suffering by calumniating him.
The feeling of resentment rankled him for months and would almost invariably crop
up in prayer, however much he tried to push it out of his mind. I got him to confront
this person in imagination through a roleplaying session, even to express his hurt
and anger by pounding a pillow. After the session he realized what a coward he
had been, how weak he had been in dealing with this subordinate of his. The situation
did not change. The calumniating continued. But this priest was now emotionally
able to understand and forgive this person. He had got the anger out of his system
and it troubled him no longer.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I can see how, in both these instances, a too hasty
recourse to prayer might have aggravated rather than alleviated the problem. And
so, while I earnesdy recommend the forms of prayer I am about to outline here as
a means to forgiving others, I must warn you that they may not always be a substitute
for the deep-rooted emotional (sometimes even physical) need we have for getting
the hostility out of our system.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark80"></a><a name="bookmark79"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark80;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">How to
Forgive through Prayer</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark80;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark79;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">That clear, here are some effective ways of obtaining
the grace to forgive and to get rid of resentments:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 18pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Pray for the welfare of the people you dislike. This
is what Jesus recommended in the sermon on the Mount. As you keep praying for
them, your attitude toward them undergoes a mysterious change. You begin to care,
to be positively inclined, even to love them. It is easier to forgive people we
love and pray for.</span></span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 18pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: 14.35pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">See every injustice done to you as planned and controlled
by God for some mysterious purpose. It is not enough to say, “God permitted it.”
God does not just “permit” things; he plans them, he controls them. The passion
of Christ, that enormous act of human injustice, was not just permitted by God.
It was planned and willed and foreordained. And so Jesus will be constantly talking
about having to go through his passion so that “the Scriptures may be fulfilled.”
And St. Peter says in Acts 2:22-23,</span></span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">I speak of Jesus of Nazareth, a man singled
out by God... When he had been given up to you, by the deliberate will and plan
of God, you used heathen men to crucify and kill</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> him.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If we look upon all the “passions” in our own lives
– that is, all the injustices, real or imaginary, done to us – as Jesus looked
upon his as controlled and foreordained by God, as his deliberate will and plan,
we will not dwell long or deeply on secondary causes, on the people who caused
us hurt and pain, on the Herods and Pilates in our lives. We will look beyond
them at the Father who holds all the strings of our lives in his hands and who
has ordained this suffering for our good and the good of the world, and we will
find it easier to forgive our persecutors and our enemies.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">However, this may lead to a further problem. Our resentments
may get displaced onto God! Because of our habit of repressing sentiments of hatred
and rage, we priests sometimes find it hard to understand how people can develop
very deep- seated resentments against God when a calamity occurs in their lives:
the death of a loved person, the loss of health, financial misfortune, etc. These
people understand rightly that in some mysterious fashion the Lord “is to blame,”
that he is behind all of these events. And even though their faith and understanding
will tell them that the Lord has planned all of this for their good, their heart
and their emotions cannot help resenting the person who has ordained these calamities
when he could have prevented them. My mind may tell me that the surgeon’s knife
is for my good, but that doesn’t prevent my body from resisting it and hating it
as an evil – so it is with the heart that cannot always be ruled by the head in
what it feels.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">When resentments against God come to the surface, it
is good to give expression to them in his presence – to give expression to all
the anger and hatred you feel. And don’t be bothered about the language you use.
I remember doing this once: I was deeply disappointed at not getting something
I very much wanted, and I resented God for not giving it to me. I resented him
to the point of refusing to talk to him, refusing to pray, for two whole days.
Childish, if you will, but effective. I knew deep down that I could trust God enough
to express my resentments to him, just as I am in the habit of doing with my friends.
I have no fear to express all my negative feelings to them because I am so sure
that they love me enough to understand, and that as a result of this “encounter,”
the love between us will grow. If I withheld my negative feelings from them, I
would be treating them politely, as acquaintances rather than intimate friends,
and I would expose myself to the danger of cooling off in my relationships with
them, for resentments cannot always be “willed” away; they have a habit of rankling
under the surface and undermining our love in the long run.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">You need not be afraid to say angry, even bitter words
to God. As holy a person as Job did this. This did not indicate at all that he
was lacking in respect for the Lord. On the contrary, it was a sign of his intimacy
with God. And it is significant that in the end the Lord praises and commends him
while he rebukes Job’s friends who were so scandalized by Job’s bitter words and
who were urging him to blame himself rather than the Lord for all his misfortunes.
As we vent all our negative feelings against the Lord, they will gradually be drained
off. Our love will come to the surface and we will be happy to find that this
“quarrel” we had with him has not only not undermined our relationship with him,
it has deepened it. After all, even in expressing anger to people, I am contacting
them and showing them I care enough to be angry. If my relationship with you is
fragile and I am unsure of it, I shall be very reluctant to show you my anger
for fear of losing you. I need to be sure enough of you and intimate enough with
you to trust you with an expression of my anger against you. Anger is very frequently
the obverse side of love, frequently love itself in other form. The opposite of
love is not anger or even hate. It is coldness and indifference.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 18pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: 14.55pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Here is something else you can do to rid yourself
of grievances and resentments. Stand in spirit before the Crucified Christ and
keep your eyes fixed on this great Victim of injustice. It won’t be long before
you feel ashamed that you are making such a fuss about the little injustices
you have been subjected to – you who call yourself his disciple and who agreed
to follow him, precisely on the understanding that you too would take up your cross
as he did.</span></span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I have known people who practiced this exercise to
feel not only shame at their harboring resentments, but even joy and gladness
that they were accounted worthy to suffer something of the fate of their Master.
It would be wonderful if you were to reach that stage yourself. Then you will understand
something of what he said in his sermon on the Mount,</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">How blest are those who have suffered
persec</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">ution for the cause of right...
how blest you are, when you suffer insults and persecution and every kind of calumny
for my sake. Accept it with gladness and exultation.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Matthew 5:10-12<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">You will also understand the secret of the saints
who felt such joy when they were humiliated without giving any cause for the humiliation,
and such gratitude toward their “persecutors” whom they looked upon as benefactors!
Now make sure you do not force these feelings upon yourself. If you do, they
won’t last and will only leave you discouraged and resentful again. Enough for
you to stay close to your Crucified Master and to understand that the injustices
you have been subjected to are part of the price you pay for following him closely.
Someday, as you come closer to him, he will give you the grace to find joy in crucifixion
and to break out in praise and song, rather than in bitter angry words.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In all of these exercises, for attaining the ability
to forgive, I have assumed that you are the innocent victim of injustice. In most
cases, however, this is too much to assume. We are very frequently responsible,
at least in some degree, for the injustices that come our way. Only we find it very
hard to accept, or even see, that responsibility. I am hopeful that once we have
got our resentments and negative feelings out and had recourse to prayer, it will
be easier to forgive if forgiveness is called for.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I have shared with you thus far two of the laws that
govern the art of prayer. There are yet other laws, but I shall leave them for another
conference for fear that this conference be drawn out too long. It seems to me
that none of the other laws have the immense value that these two have, for nothing
is so important to prayer as faith and forgiveness. I offered you some exercises
in forgiveness and have explained to you the importance of faith, so you have enough
“employment” for the hours of prayer that you have ahead of you. I exhort you
to accept Jesus’ words on the power and effectiveness of prayer with the simplicity
of a little child – and then the kingdom of heaven will open to you. I wish to end
this conference on a moving story that Ramakrishna would tell his disciples to illustrate
this simple childlike faith that the Lord expects of us when we approach him in
prayer.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In a village in Bengal there lived a poor widow whose
only son had to go to school to a neighboring village each day. The boy had to
traverse a jungle each day to go to school; so he said, “Mother, I’m afraid to
go through that jungle alone. Send someone with me.” The mother replied, “We are
too poor, son, to afford a servant who could accompany you to and from school. Ask
your brother Krishna to accompany you to school. He is the Lord of the jungle and
he will listen to your prayer.” That is just what the little fellow proceeded
to do. He walked up to the jungle next day and called out to his brother Krishna.
And the Lord replied, “What do you want, son?” Said the boy, “Will you come with
me to school each day and accompany me back home through this jungle? I’m afraid
to go alone.” “Yes,“ said the Lord Krishna, “it will give me much pleasure to
do that for you.” And so Krishna would wait for his little protege each morning
and evening and walk with him through the jungle.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Now when the schoolmaster’s birthday came, all the
children were expected to bring him a birthday present. The widow said to her
son, “We are too poor to afford a birthday present for your master, son. Ask your
brother Krishna to give you a present for him.” Krishna gave the boy a jug full
of milk and the boy marched proudly to the schoolmaster’s house and placed the
jug at his feet together with the many other presents that were laid out there.
But the master paid no attention to this humble offering, and after a while the
child began to whimper with the spontaneity of children, “Nobody is paying any attention
to my present. Nobody is noticing my present” Until the master said to his servant,
“For heavens’ sake take that jug into the kitchen or we shall never hear the end
of this complaining.” The servant emptied the contents of the jug into a bowl and
was going to return the jug to the boy when, to his amazement, he noticed the
jug was filled with milk again. He emptied it again into the large bowl, and it
filled up again under his astonished eyes – just like that phial of oil that
the widow used for the prophet Elisha.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">When the master heard of this miracle, he called
the boy and said, “Where did you get this jug from?” “Brother Krishna gave it
to me,” said the lad. “Brother Krishna? Who is this brother Krishna of yours?”
“He is the Lord of the Jungle. He accompanies me to and from school each day.”
The master was incredulous. “We’re all coming to see this brother Krishna of yours,”
he said, and he and the servants and the other students all marched our little
boy to the edge of the jungle and said, “Call your brother Krishna. We want to see
him.”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">So the boy began to call to Krishna, “Brother Krishna
... Brother Krishna ...” But the Lord who had always come so promptly in the past
at the sound of his little friend, was silent today. The jungle was silent. All
that could be heard was the echo of the boy calling out to his brother </span></span><st1:place><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Krishna</span></span></st1:place><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> in vain. At last the poor fellow was reduced to tears,
“Brother Krishna, please come,” he said. “If you don’t come they will not believe
me. They’re saying I’m a liar. Do come, brother Krishna.” Then, at last, he heard
the voice of the Lord who said, “Son, I cannot come. The day your master has your
childlike faith and your simple, pure heart, I shall come.”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I was much moved when I first read this story, because
it reminded me of Jesus’ dealings with his disciples. Only those who had faith were
to see him risen. We way, let him first appear to me and then I shall believe.
Or else how will I know if this is real or just the effect of autosuggestion?
The Lord doesn’t seem interested in helping us with that problem. He says, “First
believe and then you will see. Only believe and nothing will be impossible to
you.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"><br clear="all" style="break-before: page; page-break-before: always;" />
</span></span>
<p align="center" class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><a name="bookmark82"></a><a name="bookmark81"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark82;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Petitionary Prayer and Its
Laws</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark82;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark81;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Among the writings of the Desert Fathers there is a
set of homilies attributed to Macarius of Egypt. There is a very delightful homily
among these, one in which Macarius claims that even the greatest sinner can aspire
to become a mystic provided he turns away from his sin and trusts in the Lord.
Here is an encouraging paragraph from that sermon:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">For even a baby, too weak for anything
and unable to walk to his mother on his own little feet, can yet roll about and
scream and cry because he wants her. Then the mother is sorry for him, and at
the same time pleased that the little one desires h</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">er so much. Therefore, as he cannot come to her,
she, moved by his longings and by her own love of her child, takes him up and sweetly
fondles and feeds him. Thus also deals the loving God with the soul who comes
to him and longs for him.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">By that comparison of the little child Macarius captures
admirably Jesus’ doctrine on prayer. There is hope for all of us. God isn’t asking
questions about our worthiness or unworthiness. He isn’t looking into our past life
with its failures and infidelities. It is enough that (a) we are crying out for
him and we want him very much, (b) we are helpless to attain what we want, and
(c) we believe he will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark84"></a><a name="bookmark83"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark84;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Power
of Prayer: Narada</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark84;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark83;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Hindu literature contains some fine stories that could
serve as illustrations ofjesus’ doctrine. One of them tells of the sage Narada
who was on his way to the temple of the Lord Vishnu. At night he stopped at a certain
village where a poor villager and his wife made him welcome. When the villager learned
that Narada was on a pilgrimage to the temple of Vishnu, he said to him, “Will
you pray to the Lord that we be given children? My wife and I greatly desire children
but the Lord has not yet given them to us.” Narada promised he would intercede
for them, set out again, reached the temple and placed the petition of that villager
before the Lord Vishnu. The Lord was abrupt. He said, “It is not in the destiny
of that man to have children.” Narada bowed to this statement of the Lord and returned
home. Five years later he set out again on pilgrimage to that temple. Once again
he sought and was gladly given hospitality in the house of that simple villager.
This time, however, he was surprised to see three little children playing in
the courtyard. ‘Whose children are those?” asked Narada. “Mine,” said the villager.
Said Narada, “So the Lord did give you children after all?” “Yes,” said the villager,
“a little after you left us, five years ago, a saint passed by this village. He
gave his blessing to me and my wife and prayed over us. The Lord heard his prayer
and gave us these three lovely children you see here.” Narada was dumbfounded and
couldn’t wait to get to the Lord’s temple the next day. When he got there the
first thing he said to the Lord was, “Didn’t you tell me it was not in the destiny
of that man to have children? How is it then that he has three children now?”
When the Lord Vishnu heard that he laughed aloud and said, “That must be the doing
of a saint. Saints have the power to change destiny!”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">A quaint story, isn’t it? I thought so too, until I
suddenly remembered a similar story. “Woman, my hour has not yet come.” Then,
mysteriously, his hour did come and he worked the miracle of changing water into
wine. Didn’t Mary show there the power of petitionary prayer to change destiny?
In James 5:16-18 we read,</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">A good man’s prayer is powerful and effective.
Elijah was a man with human frailties like our own; and when he prayed earnestly
that there should be no rain, no</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">t a drop fell
in the land for three years and a half; then he prayed again, and down came the
rain and the land bore crops once more.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There’s a story very similar to the story of Narada
in the Second Book of Kings, Chapter 20: Hezekiah fell sick, and was at death’s
door; indeed, the prophet Isaiah visited him with this message from the Lord:
“Put thy affairs in order; it is death that awaits thee, not recovery.” At this
Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord thus: “Remember,
Lord, I entreat thee, a life that has kept true to thee, an innocent heart; how
I did ever what was thy will.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Whereupon, before ever
Isaiah reached the middle of the courtyard, the word of the Lord came to him:
“Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, here is a message to thee from
the Lord, the God of thy father David. I have listened to thy prayer, and marked
thy tears; be it so, I have granted thee recovery. Within three days thou shalt
be on thy way to the Lord’s temple, and I will add fifteen years to thy life.”
Here is another instance of the power of prayer to change destiny. What could
be more definitive than a word of the Lord sent through his prophet? How does one
appeal against that? How can one make the Lord change his mind? And yet prayer
does the impossible. Nothing is impossible to God; so nothing is impossible to petitionary
prayer made to God as Jesus taught us to make it</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I frequently come up against this objection raised
by my retreatants: How is it possible to make God change his mind? The will of
God is unchangeable. That is a philosophical objection to which I have no solution.
I can no more explain how prayer can change the mind of God than I can explain
how God became human or how Christ is present in the Blessed Sacrament. These are
mysteries that our human mind will never be able to grasp satisfactorily. It is
enough for us to know that Jesus told us clearly that what we ask for will be given
us. He did not expect us to acquiesce fatalistically to what we consider to be
“destiny” or “the mind of God”; he wanted us to ask and receive, to seek and find,
to knock and have the door opened to us. So it is enough for us to launch out and
discover to our wonder and delight that, philosophical objections notwithstanding,
the doctrine ofjesus on prayer is true and that prayer works, as it did for
Mary in </span></span><st1:place><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Cana</span></span></st1:place><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> and for Ezechias when confronted with Isaias’ prophecy.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Again and again the Bible gives us examples of this
great mystery that God delights to have his mind changed by the prayers of his
friends. Listen to what the prophet Amos says.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">This was a vision the Lord God showed
me; here were locusts a-making, just at the time when the aftergrowth was coming
up, after the king’s crop ha</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">d been carried.
Short work had these made of all the land yielded; Ah, Lord God, said I, be mercifull
How should Jacob survive, the puny creature he is? </span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">And with that, the Lord relented: Happen
it shall not, said he. And a second vision the Lord God showed</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> me, how he would summon them to ordeal by fire; fire
should devour the waters below the earth, and devoured some part of them were.
Ah, Lord God, said I, for pity I How should Jacob survive, the puny creature he
is? </span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">And with that,
the Lord relented again</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">:</span></i></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"> Happen it shall not, said he.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Amos 7:1-6<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Moses has a lengthy argument with God in Exodus 32 and
finally succeeds in making God change his mind.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">The Lord said to Moses, I know them now
for a stiff-necked race; spare me thy importunacy, let me vent my anger and destroy
them; I will make thy posterity into a great nation instead. But Moses would still
plead with the Lord his God... So the Lord relented, and spared his people</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> the punishment he had threatened.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Genesis 18:16-32 shows us Abraham attempting to do
the same thing with God by interceding for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="background: yellow; font-size: 12pt; mso-highlight: yellow;">And
the Ix>rd said</span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">, should
I hide my purpose from Abraham, this man who is destined to give </span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">birth to a people so great and so powerful?... So
the Lord told him, The ill repute of Sodom and Gomorrha goes from bad to worse,
their sin is grievous out of all measure... Abraham drew close to him, and asked,
Wilt thou, then sweep away the innocent with the guilty? Suppose there are fifty
innocent men in the city, must they too perish? Wilt thou not spare the place
to save fifty such innocent men that dwell there? ... And the Lord told him, if
I find fifty innocent citizens in Sodom, I will spare the whole place to save
them... Then he said, Lord, do not be angry with me for pleading thus; what if
thirty are found there? If I find thirty, he said, I will not do it I have taken
it upon me, said he, to speak to my Lord, and speak I will; what if twenty are
found there? If I find twenty, I will grant it life, he said, to save twenty. And
he said, do not be angry with me, Lord, I entreat thee, for making one more plea
still; what if ten are found there? I will spare it from destruction, he said,
to save ten.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">All our philosophical objections notwithstanding,
the Bible shows us a God who leaves himself wide open to being influenced by
the prayers of those he loves; a God who will reveal his plans to his prophets
precisely so that they will make him change his mind and his plans through the
power of their prayers; a God who has, by his own decree, subjected himself to
the mighty force of persistent prayer.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark86"></a><a name="bookmark85"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark86;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The “Theology”
of Petitionary Prayer</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark86;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark85;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Petition was the only form of prayer that Jesus taught
his disciples; it is, in fact, almost the only form of prayer that is taught explicitly
in the entire Bible. This will sound strange to those of us who have been brought
up on the notion that prayer is of different types and that adoration takes first
place; petition, being a “selfish” form of prayer, takes last place. We have almost
felt, haven’t we, that sooner or later we must “outgrow” this inferior form of
prayer and ascend to contemplation and love and adoration.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">And
yet, if we will reflect, we will find that there is barely any form of prayer, adoration
and love very much included, that is not contained in petitionary prayer that is
properly made. Petition teaches us our total dependence on God. It teaches us
to trust in him totally. Some people say. “Our heavenly Father knows everything
that I need. And if he looks after the birds of the air and the lilies of the field,
he will surely look after me. Jesus told us this quite explicitly. So I don’t spend
my time asking the Father for what he already knows I need and wants to give me
anyway.” The doctrine in that statement is correct; the conclusion is inaccurate.
Jesus does tell us that his Father looks after the birds of the air and the lilies
of the field. But the conclusion he draws is not, Don’t ask, (for he himself is
constantly urging us to ask) but, Don’t worry! Can there be anything more absurd
(following the logic given above) than that we should pray for laborers to be sent
into the harvest of the Lord? It is the Lord’s harvest He knows that laborers are
needed. And he surely wants to send them to his harvest field. And yet he insists
that we pray that those laborers be sent. Once again we come up against this attitude
of God who has willed to be subjected to the power of prayer, even to the extent
of seeming to </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">need</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
the prayers of people for his power to be unleashed. So, once again, trust in
the Lord does not mean abandoning petitionary prayer. It means making your petition
known to God; make sure you do that! And then leaving everything to him, confident
that he will take charge of everything and will make everything come out right.
So no need to worry any more. St. Paul puts it admirably:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">The Lord is near; have no anxiety, but
in everything make your request</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">s known to
God in prayer and petition with thanksgiving. Then the peace of God, which is
beyond our utmost understanding, will keep guard over your hearts and your thoughts
in Christ Jesus.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Philippians 4:6-7<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I have already explained to you something of the theology
of petitionary prayer in the previous conference, something of the reason why petition
and miracles are necessary. They make God real in our lives. He is an active, intervening,
caring God, not a distant deity with whom we could not interact in the practical
destiny of our lives. There is yet another reason for the importance Jesus gave
to petitionary prayer. It is summed up in this sentence: “Without me you can do
nothing.” Through the ceaseless use of petitionary prayer and through constantly
experiencing its effect in our lives we come to realize our dependence on God,
our need for him, experientially. We are forced to “live” this need for God.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Council of Trent
expressed this theology well when it said, “God does not command us to do what is
impossible, but to do what is possible to us and ask for what is impossible.”
The Council of Orange was more detailed and explicit: “If our thoughts are righteous
and our steps avoid sin, it is by the gift of God; for every time an action of
ours is good, it is God who acts in us and with us, causing us to act” (Canon
9). “Even those who have been born to a new life, even those who are made whole,
must </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">always implore
the divine assistance</span></i></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> to be able
to attain their final perfection, or simply to persevere in good” (Canon 10). “Everything
that man has of truth and goodness comes from this divine spring; we must always
thirst after it in this desert so that, refreshed as by a gentle rain, we may have
strength not to fail on the way” (Canon 22).</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Christian must be deeply convinced that religion
is not something we <i>do,</i> not even something we do for God. Religion is what
God does for us and in us and through us, so that even our efforts and desires and
“cooperation with grace” is a gift of God. Simone Weil was so wise when she said
that the trouble with the Marxists (and, for that matter, with all humanists
who limit themselves to human beings and their potential and have no place for
God) is that they expect to mount up in the air by dint of marching inexorably
forward. Marching forward will sooner or later bring you back to the point from
where you started. All your marching, no matter how vigorous, will not succeed in
raising you even one foot up into the air. For that, God’s intervention is needed.
And Jesus made sure we always kept an awareness of this by insisting that we ceaselessly
ask God for everything, just everything, even for the coming of his kingdom,
for laborers in his harvest field, yes, even for our simple material needs and
our daily bread. If we did this of- tener, we would taste that “peace of God that
is beyond our utmost understanding” of which Paul speaks.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I earnestly recommend that you read Paul’s letters
to the Romans and the Galatians these days; you will find there the whole theology
of petitionary prayer admirably exposed, because he develops there, in masterful
fashion, the theology of our total dependence on God. We must become little children
in God’s presence. A little boy does not “earn” his keep; his parents love him and
he merits their love and care and their concern for providing all his needs, not
because of what he <i>does</i></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> but
because of what he </span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">is</span></i></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> – their child. He has only to manifest his needs to have
them met by his loving parents. There is nothing more pathetic than to have a
child worried and anxious about his growth and development and survival – a child
who attempts to grow by stretching himself rather than by trustingly leaning on
his parents.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Now I wouldn’t have you go away with the notion that
this is a lazy theology, that prayer dispenses us from effort, even strenuous effort.
Pray to God and quit worrying does not mean don’t work hard to obtain what you
expect God to give you. The Lord feeds the birds of the air, no doubt, but he
doesn’t drop food into upturned beaks. He expects the birds to search for it,
to make every effort to get what he is giving them. The secret here is to work as
though everything depended on us and to trust in God as though everything depended
on him. This is a difficult combination to achieve. Those who work hard are
soon tempted to rely on their own efforts rather than on God’s blessing and grace.
Let builders of houses toil ceaselessly, let them see to every single detail, leaving
nothing to chance; and let them be keenly aware, all along, that unless the Lord
builds they will build in vain. Let the city authorities use all the means in
their power to protect and guard their city. But let them have a keen sense of
the fact that it is the Lord who guards them, not all the technological devices
they have invented. We use these devices, these human means, all of them, but we
do not trust in them; we do not lean on them. Our trust is only in the Lord. Human
means are necessary, but they are also inadequate. We must develop the ability
to sense the Lord’s power operating behind them.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark88"></a><a name="bookmark87"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark88;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">More Laws of Prayer</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark88;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark87;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In the previous conference I started to give you what
I called the “laws of prayer“ and broke off after I gave you the first two, faith
and forgiveness. Here are four more.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; tab-stops: 16.15pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark90"></a><a name="bookmark89"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark90;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Unworldliness</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark90;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark89;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">James 4:2ff. says,</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">You do not get what you want, because
you do not pray for it Or, if you do, your requests are not granted because you
pray from wrong motives, to</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> spend what
you get on your pleasures. You false, unfaithful creatures! Have you never learned
that love of the world is enmity to God? Whoever chooses to be the world’s friend
makes himself God’s enemy.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Pleasure seekers cannot expect God to become a partner
to their lust for pleasure. The desire for pleasure, even for sense pleasure, is
a good thing. Life would be colorless and drab without it. What is reprehensible
is the inordinate craving for pleasure, the hankering after luxuries and superfluities,
the cult of money, which can bring us these things.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Jesus advocates a life that is simple, uncluttered
by luxuries and wealth. He bids us ask for our daily bread, our daily sustenance,
not for the superfluities that glut our consumer-society markets. He is very conscious
of the dangers of riches and even goes to the extent of saying that a man who love
money has thereby automatically ceased to love God; the two loves just cannot
coexist in a human heart.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">So if these are the things we are asking God for, we
need not be surprised that he doesn’t answer our prayers. Even more, if these are
the things we are living for (even though we keep them out of our prayer) our prayers
before the Lord are not likely to be powerfill. Jesus would have us seek God’s kingdom
and his justice primarily, not the comforts and good things of this world.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; tab-stops: 16.7pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark92"></a><a name="bookmark91"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark92;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Generosity</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark92;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark91;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Those who expect God to be generous with them must
be generous with their fellows. “Give,” says Jesus, “and gifts will be given
you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured
into your lap; for whatever measure you deal out to others will be dealt to you
in return” (Luke 6:38).</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If you are tight-fisted and calculating with the
poor, the needy, with those who ask you for help and service, how can you expect
God to be generous with you?</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; tab-stops: 17.05pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark94"></a><a name="bookmark93"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark94;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Pray in Jesus’ Name</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark94;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark93;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is a practice that Jesus enjoins on his apostles
when he encourages them to ask his Father for the things they need.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">In truth, in very truth I tell you,
he who has faith in me will do what I am doing; and he will do greater things still
because I am going to the Father. Indeed anything you ask in my name I will do,
so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name
I will do it ... I appointed you to go on and bear fruit, fruit that shall last;
so that the Father may give you all that you ask in my name... When that day
com</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">es you will ask nothing of me. In very
truth I tell you, if you ask the Father for anything </span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">in my name, he will give it you. So
far you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive, that your joy
may be complete.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">John 14:12-14,</span><st1:time hour="15" minute="16"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">15:16</span></st1:time><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">,</span><st1:time hour="16" minute="23"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">16:23</span></st1:time><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">-24<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It is from these words, no doubt, that the Church developed
its practice of addressing prayers to the Father “through Jesus Christ Our Lord”
and “in the name ofjesus Christ your Son.” He would do well to imitate the Church
here if we wish our prayers to be powerful before the Father. Praying in Jesus’
name means relying on his influence with the Father, on his intercession, on
the Father’s love for him and eagerness to please him and give him all he asks
for. It means having a great trust that whatever Jesus asks of the Father, the
Father will surely give. It also means asking for things according to the mentality
and the spirit ofjesus. To pray in Jesus’ name then, would mean that we do not ask
for things that he would not ask the Father for. He himself eschewed riches, honors,
pomp, dignity. It is hard to see how we can ask for these things or for a surfeit
of worldly pleasures if we are praying in his name.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; tab-stops: 17.25pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark96"></a><a name="bookmark95"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark96;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Persistence</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark96;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark95;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Of all the laws I have been enumerating here perhaps
this one is, after faith and forgiveness, the most important and one that Jesus
insisted on repeatedly. He tells us quite explicitly that it is not enough to ask
for something once. We must persist in prayer; ask again and again, ceaselessly,
tirelessly, until the Father listens to us and grants our petition. Listen to
the two examples he gives us of persistent prayer.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The first is from Luke 11.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Suppose one of you has a friend who
comes to him in the middle of the night and says, “My friend, lend me </span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">three loaves, for a friend of mine on a journey has
turned up at my house, and I have nothing to offer him”; and he replies from inside,
“Do not bother me. The door is shut for the night; my children and I have gone
to bed; and I cannot get up and give you what you want” I tell you that even if
he will not provide for him out of friendship, the very shamelessness of the request
will make him get up and give him all he needs. And so I say to you, ask, and
you will receive.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The refusal to take no for an answer; the shamelessness
of his persistent asking. Jesus is positively urging us to pray like this man!
He is saying, in effect, “even though God seems to be turning a deaf ear to your
prayer, don’t give up. Be shameless. Be persistent. Keep knocldng. Put pressure
on him!”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">We find the second example in Luke 18. This one was
explicitly given by Jesus to inculcate perseverance and persistence in prayer.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">He spoke to them in a parable to show
that they should keep on praying and never lose heart "There was once</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> a judge who cared nothing for God or man, and in
the same town there was a widow who con- sun tly came before him demanding justice
against her opponent For a long time he refused; but in the end he said to himself,
‘True, I care nothing for God or man; but this widow is so great a nuisance that
I will see her righted before she wears me out with her persistence.’ The Lord
said, “You hear what the unjust judge says; and will not God vindicate his chosen,
who cry out to him day and night, while he listens patiently to them?”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The message is clear enough. Can there be a more desperate
situation than that of a poor widow with no influence, no strings to pull, confronted
with a judge who is downright callous? Yet, even in a desperate situation like
this one, persistent prayer triumphs. If it triumphs with a hard-hearted judge,
how much more will it triumph with my tender-hearted Father? The reason why we
frequently do not get what we are asking for is that we ask for a while and then
tire of asking when we do not get what we are asking for right away. We must take
the lesson that Jesus gives us to heart; become like the widow who was “so great
a nuisance” and “wore the judge out with her persistence.”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">We have an admirable example of this doctrine in
the Canaanite woman of Matthew 15, who persisted in spite of all rebuffs she got
from Jesus.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">A Canaanite woman from those parts came
crying out: “Sir! have pity on me, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a
devil.” But he said not</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> a word in
reply. His disciples came and urged him: “Send her away; see how she comes shouting
after us.” Jesus replied, “I was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,
and to them alone.” But the woman came and fell at his feet and cried, “Help me
Sir.” To this Jesus replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and
throw it to the dogs.” *True, sir,” she answered; “and yet the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from their masters’ table.” Hearing this Jesus replied, “Woman, what
faith you have! Be it as you wish!” And from that moment her daughter was restored
to health.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The dialogue is too eloquent to need any comment.
This is more like a stubborn struggle than prayer as we generally think of it. It
reminds me of a story I once read of St. Anthony’s successor, the abbot Sisoes,
who, in his old age learned that one of his disciples, Abraham, had fallen into
sin. He stood before God in prayer and said, “God, whether you like it or not,
I shall not leave you alone unless you heal him.” And his prayer was granted immediately!
Shocking, until you realize that this is just what the Canaanite woman did, and
Jesus actually admired her for it</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark98"></a><a name="bookmark97"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark98;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Petition:
A Way of Life</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark98;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark97;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The words of Jesus on prayer sound so simple: “Ask and
you shall receive.” Disarmingly simple. But behind that simple formula lies a
whole way of life: a life of faith, of forgiveness of our brothers and sisters,
of generosity with those in need, of unworldliness, of total trusting in and dependence
on God. Petition is not just a form of prayer; it is a whole way of life. When we
understand this, Jesus’ words about the tremendous efficacy of prayer take on great
credibility.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">How much petition should we make? What place should
we give to petitionary prayer in our prayer life? That is difficult to say. Each
one must follow the promptings of the Spirit here. We must have a balanced diet
in our prayer life with room for adoration, contemplation, various forms of prayer,
meditation in its different forms, the sacraments, scripture reading, intercession
and, of course, petition. The Spirit will lead us sometimes to emphasize one,
sometimes another. Let us follow his lead and our own needs. One thing, however,
is clear: we never “outgrow” the need for making simple petitionary prayer. No matter
how much we progress in prayer and contemplation, no matter how holy we become,
petitionary prayer will always be a duty incumbent upon us, one from which we
may never dispense ourselves, for we shall always have to say, “Father in heaven,
holy be your name, your kingdom come ... give us today our daily bread, forgive
us our sins, lead us not to the test.” This is, indeed, the scandal of Christian
prayer, the type of prayer Christ taught us: it is about the only form of prayer
that makes no sense from a merely human-cenetred point of view. Meditation and reflection
make sense. Contemplation, with its benefits of union with the divine and psychological
growth, makes good sense. So does even adoration: the sense of awe and wonder and
reverence before the Divine. But petition seems so senseless, so wasteful: puny
human beings with their petitions standing before the unalterable plans of the Infinite!
Human beings standing before God to ask for things like bread that they are perfectly
capable of producing themselves – and that God himself expects them to produce
by dint of their own efforts!</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">But no matter how meaningless petitionary prayer
may seem to the philosopher, it begins to take on meaning to those who practice
it assiduously, with child-like faith. Once you have discovered the power there
is in prayer, you are not likely to be disturbed by philosophical difficulties
connected with the why and wherefore. You have tried it out and it works. It brings
you that “peace beyond understanding” that Paul speaks of, that “fullness of
joy” that Jesus promised to those who exercised the prayer of petition. Having
experienced this, you are quite content to continue asking for all you need,
trusting that your heavenly Father loves you far more than any earthly father has
ever loved his child.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Many priests today are said to be abandoning prayer.
One simple reason for this is that they have never experienced the power that prayer
brings. Those who have once experienced that prayer is power will never again
abandon prayer for the rest of their lives. Mahatma Gandhi put it well: “I am telling
you my own experience,” he said, “and that of my colleagues: we could go for
days on end without food; we could not live a single minute without prayer.”
Or, as he said another time, “Given the type of life I am leading, if I ceased
to pray I should go mad!” If we ask God for so little it may well be because we
feel the need for him so little. We are leading complacent, secure, well-protected,
mediocre lives. We aren’t living dangerously enough; we aren’t living the way Jesus
wanted us to live when he proclaimed the good news. The less we pray the less we
are likely to live the risky, challenging life that the Gospels urge us to; the
less of a challenge there is in our life, and the less we are likely to pray.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
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<p align="center" class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><a name="bookmark99"></a><a name="bookmark100"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark99;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">The Jesus Prayer</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark99;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark100;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In this conference I wish to talk to you about a form
of prayer that some of you may find somewhat bizarre. I confess I found it bizarre
myself when I first got acquainted with it. I have since had plenty of time to discover
its immense value in my life and in the lives of many people I have directed.
Again and again I meet former retreatants who say to me, “The two things that have
stayed with me after the retreat I made with you are the prayer of petition and
the Jesus prayer.” I know people who have discovered the continuous presence of
God in their lives through the use of this prayer, and two persons whose spiritual
director I am used this form of prayer and no other and experienced enormous changes
in their lives only through the force of this prayer. I therefore share it with
you with a feeling of confidence that it is bound to do an immense amount of good
for at least some of you who are reading this – maybe most, or even all of you.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Let
me begin by telling you how I first came in touch with this prayer. I was giving
a conference to a group of sisters one evening and telling them how few are the
books that really teach us to pray. Much of our classical literature on prayer
(and I am afraid this applies to much of our modern literature as well – modern
Catholic literature, that is. I have found Protestant literature in general to
be more practical and unctional) deals with the nobility of prayer, the necessity
of prayer, the theology of prayer, etc. Comparatively little of practical value
is said on exactly how to go about the art of praying. That evening one of those
sisters said to me, “I’ve discovered a book that deals exactly with the problem
you mentioned this morning. It teaches you in a practical way how to pray. Would
you care to read it?” I began reading the book after supper that evening and found
it so fascinating that I stayed up late into the night in an attempt to finish it
The book was called </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Way of
a Pilgrim,</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"> written by an anonymous Russian pilgrim.
The manuscript of this book was found in the cell of a monk of Mount Athos after
his death, toward the beginning of this century. He might have been the author.
The book soon became a spiritual classic and was translated into most modern languages.
We have at least four Indian translations already, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, and
Marathi.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The story of the pilgrim of this book is a simple one.
He meets with all sorts of calamities, his wife and only child die. His house is
burned down. Then he decides to give up the world and spend the rest of his life
going on pilgrimages to various holy places. He sets out on his wanderings with
a knapsack and a Bible and some bread in the knapsack. In his Bible reading he
frequently finds exhortations to pray constantly, pray ceaselessly, pray day and
night. This idea catches his fancy, and he starts to search for someone who will
teach him to pray ceaselessly.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">He runs into all sorts of persons, priests particularly.
To his question, “How can I pray continuously, without interruption?” He gets all
sorts of unsatisfactory answers. Says one, “Brother, only God can teach you to
pray ceaselessly.” Says another, “Do the will of God always. A man who always
does God’s will is thereby always praying.” None of these answers satisfies the
pilgrim, who takes the injunction to pray always quite literally. How, he wonders,
can I pray at each moment whether awake or asleep when there are so many other
things to occupy my mind? That’s his problem: he thinks prayer is a matter of
the mind; he has still to learn that prayer is done with the heart.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">One day he runs into a monk who asks him where he is
going and what he is seeking. He replies, “I am going on a pilgrimage from one
shrine to another. I am seeking someone who will teach me to pray ceaselessly.”
The monk, with the great assurance possessed by one who knows, says to him, “Brother,
give great thanks to God, for at last he has sent you someone who will teach
you to pray continuously. Come with me to my monastery!”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">At the monastery the monk makes him sit in a little
hut in the compound; he places a rosary in his hands, and says to him, “Say the
following prayer five hundred times: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy
on me, a miserable sinner.’” (I am not quite sure now about the number of times
he was supposed to say that prayer. It was five hundred or one thousand – I
don’t remember, as it is years since I read that story.) The pilgrim soon said
his prayer the appointed number of times, and he had time left over; but he did
not dare disobey his spiritual father by saying the prayer more often than he
had been commanded. The next day his spiritual father increased the number: one
thousand. And it kept increasing each day: two thousand, three thousand, four thousand
and so on. I remember having a group of sisters read this book in their refectory
at meals during their retreat. Within a couple of days a number of them were quite
tense and disturbed. “What’s making you tense?” I said, during my private interviews
with them. “That book,” was the reply. “He’s counting that prayer of his and
he’s got to four thousand. I can’t stand the counting part!” That amused me.
“If four thousand make you tense, just you wait till you have him saying it twenty
thousand times. That will make you climb the walls!” It didn’t! After the retreat
those good sisters bought every copy of that book in the English language on
the face of the earth! They had fallen in love with it and wanted to share it with
their friends. And I had to wait for months on end before it saw another reprinting
and I could get a copy for myself!</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">But
let’s get back to our pilgrim. He had barely got the habit of reciting this prayer
thousands of times all through the day when his spiritual father died. The poor
man accompanied the dead body to the grave and wept over his misfortune at losing
this man whom the Lord had sent him and who had promised to teach him to pray
continuously. There was no point in staying any further in the monastery. He picked
up his knapsack and set out on his travels again. This time, however, in addition
to his Bible, he had picked up a copy of the </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Philokalia,</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
a book that contained excerpts of the writings of the Greek Fathers and doctors
and theologians on this prayer that the Greeks call the Jesus Prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Each day he would read passages from this book and
follow its instructions relig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">usly. From the book he learns to join the prayer to
his breathing, so that when he breathes in he says, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of
God,” and when he breathes out he says, “have mercy on me, a miserable sinner.”
Then, gradually, through some mysterious technique not described in the book and
not to be applied to oneself without the explicit help of an experienced master,
he “puts the prayer into his heart.” Then one day, lo and behold, the heart takes
over the prayer, and he is saying it continuously whether awake or asleep, whether
eating or talking or walking. The heart just keeps reciting the prayer over and
over again, as independent of the mind as it is in its beating all day long. So
at last the pilgrim has learned the secret of continuous prayer. The rest of
the book is dedicated to the adventures he meets with in his journeys, the miraculous
effects of the prayer, and a good amount of doctrine, both on the prayer and on
the spiritual life in general.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I must say that when I first read this book I found
it charming as a piece of literature. It appealed to me for its sheer simplicity.
But I was not so sure about the validity of its doctrine on prayer. I found the
whole thing too mechanical, too much like autosuggestion. And I was initially inclined
to forget all about it. However, I was also urged to give it a try for some
days. So I began repeating a phrase, but not the one suggested by the book. You
don’t have to stick to “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a miserable
sinner.” Any formula that appeals to you will do. Within less than a month I noticed
there was a marked change in my prayer. All I did was repeat this aspiration of
mine as often during the day as I remembered to, not only during the time of prayer
but also at periods when I happened to be free: when I waited for a bus or train
or was walking from one place to another. The change I experienced is hard to describe.
It was nothing sensational. I began to feel more peaceful, more recollected, and
more integrated, and, if it makes any sense, I began to feel a certain depth within
me. I also noticed that the prayer had the habit of springing to my lips almost
automatically any time I was not occupied with some mental activity. Then I would
become aware of it and consciously repeat it, sometimes just mechanically, sometimes
meaningfully.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I took this matter up with a sister I knew well,
who had a good deal of experience in prayer and in spiritual direction. She had
never read the book, but she told me of an interesting experience she herself
had had. When she was a novice her novice mistress had told the novices to choose
an aspiration that fitted into the rhythm of their walk. With the simple- heartedness
characteristic of a novice, she took up this practice and kept repeating this formula
mentally to the rhythm of her walk. Some time after the novitiate, she gave up
the practice. However, the effects had lasted all her life. She said to me, “I
don’t know why it is, but each time I walk I am conscious that prayer is going
on within me. I may be working at my desk when someone calls me to the parlor.
The moment I stand up and begin to walk I become prayerful!” She attributed this
to the practice of her Jesus Prayer when she was a novice. She also told me of
a retreat master who said to a group of workers, “Set a prayer to the rhythm of
the machines in your factory. Any prayer, like ‘Sacred Heart ofjesus, I trust in
Thee.’ And keep repeating that prayer mentally all day in tune with the rhythm
of the machines. It won’t be long before you notice many spiritual benefits coming
to you from this practice.” The retreat master was right. The whole thing seems
so mechanical, but it certainly seems to work. So I set out to do as much research
as possible into the practice of this Jesus Prayer. There is much that I discovered,
and I certainly don’t plan to share with you here all I learned, only what might
help you to practice it effectively yourselves.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I had initially
been inclined to put down this practice to a species of autosuggestion. I’m not
saying now that there aren’t elements of autosuggestion here; there probably are.
However, I was impressed by the vast number of theologians and saints who practiced
and recommended this prayer in the past. These men and women may not have had all
the refinement of psychological knowledge that we have today, but they were certainly
not so naive as to be unable to distinguish a purely psychological phenomenon from
a spiritual one. They frequently posed such problems to themselves and, it seems
to me, answered them satisfactorily. I found that this practice was not limited
only to the Eastern Churches. Many mystics of the Western Church practiced this
prayer. The western formula was generally, “MyJesus, mercy.” But there was a rich
variety of formulas. We read of St. Francis of Assisi saying all night, </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Deus meus et omnia.</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> (My God and my all.)
St Bruno, the founder of the Carthusians, was always saying </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">0 bonitas!</span></i></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> (O goodness of God!) When St Francis Xavier was dying
off the coast of China, he was heard to be saying ceaselessly, “Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of David, have mercy on me.” St. Ignatius of Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises
has a mysterious form of prayer that he recommends to a retreatant: to recite a
prayer formula to the rhythm of one’s breathing. I wonder where he discovered
this equivalent of the Jesus Prayer.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It seems fairly certain that this practice in the
Church originated from the Hindus in </span></span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">India</span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> who have an experience of six thousand years and
more in the practice of the Prayer of the Name, as they call it. Incidentally,
the Desert Fathers almost certainly practiced this form of prayer. The formula
most commonly in use among them was the <i>Deus in adjutorium meum intends, Domine
ad adjuvandum mefestina.</i></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> (God
come to my help. Lord, hasten to help me.) They would recite this formula all
day during their hours of manual labor and most of the night when they kept their
vigil. The reason why we know so little about their practice of this “opus,” this
“work” as they called it, is that they strictly followed the injunction that is
common to a number of Hindu masters: Receive your formula from your guru or master
and work at it all your life – and never reveal your formula to anyone except
your master. To reveal the formula was to make it lose its power! So they were reticent
about their use of the prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark102"></a><a name="bookmark101"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark102;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">How to Practice
This Prayer</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark102;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark101;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If you are interested in drawing the benefits from
this form of prayer that the saints say it has, I advise you to choose some aspiration
that appeals to you and recite it all through the day. There is no better time
to get started on this prayer than the time of a retreat when you are not distracted
with other concerns and occupations and can give a lot of time to letting this
prayer “get into your blood,” so to speak, and become a mental habit for you.
That is the reason why I speak about it right at the start of the retreat Strive
to recite your formula mentally throughout the day – while eating, walking, bathing,
even while listening to these talks and while meditating – unless it clearly distracts
you. Let the words you have chosen (“Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” or
whatever your formula is) resound at the back of your mind while you listen to
this conference or are praying or reflecting during your hours of meditation.
Do not worry that the words seem to be repeated mechanically. I shall soon explain
to you the value of what seems to be the mechanical recitation of a meaningless
formula!</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Traditionally your
formula was supposed to be chosen for you by your spiritual guide, who was supposed
to be experienced in the use of this prayer. Since I am, unfortunately, not expert
enough in this prayer to be able to guide others, I suggest that you ask the Lord
himself to guide you in the selection of a suitable formula. Whatever the formula
you choose, nearly all the great masters, both Christian and non-Christian, insist
that it contain some name of God. The name of God is a sacramental and gives a special
power to the prayer. The Eastern Christian masters give a great value to their
own formula in its various forms, chiefly to the words </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Jesus</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> and </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">mercy. </span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Incidentally, mmy
does not mean just the pardon of sins, It stands for God’s graciousness and loving
kindness. However, as I said earlier, you may take any formula that appeals to
you. “Sacred Heart ofjesus, I trust in Thee,” is a favorite with many. Here are
some others: “Lord Jesus Christ, thy kingdom come”; “My Lord and my God”; “My God
and my all.” You may also just take the name ofjesus. Just one word, recited repeatedly
with different sentiments; love, adoration, praise, contrition. Other words for
God – “God” or “Heart” or *Tire” – are recommended by the author of </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Cloud of Unknowing,</span></i></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> or you may prefer that precious cry of the Spirit
within our hearts, that prayer that is most appropriate for a Christian,
“Abba.” I am told that the accent is on the second syllable in the Aramaic language;
that gives it a nice sound, I think.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Whatever the formula you choose, it is a great help
that it be three things: rhythmical, resonant, and uniform. (1) <i>Rhythmical.</i></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> I do not know why it is, but rhythm helps prayer to penetrate
deep, right to the center of our being. Recite your prayer slowly, unhurriedly,
and rhythmically, and it will be much more effective. (2) </span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Resonant.</span></i></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> This is not always possible, unfortunately, in English. Some of the Mediterranean
languages, Spanish, Italian, are better for this. Latin is even better. Sanskrit
is the very best I know of: it has formulas and names for God that have been developed
over centuries. What can beat the sacred sound “om” for resonance and solemnity
and depth? There are dozens of Sanskrit names for God and Sanskrit mantras. When
they are chanted, they have the quality of just drawing you deeper into yourself
and into God. Take the </span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Hari Om,</span></i></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> for instance or </span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Hare Ram, Ram Hare Hare.</span></i></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> If you find these formulas a help, I would have no hesitation
in your using them and applying them to Our Lord Jesus Christ. All these names
are his by right. He is the true Krishna, the true Vishnu, the true Rama. (3) </span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Uniform.</span></i></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> Once you have chosen a formula, don’t change it easily.
If you are constantly changing your formula it doesn’t have a chance to get into
your bloodstream, to become part of your unconscious self, as I shall explain later.
I am not against your changing your formula if, after a period of trial, you find
it doesn’t suit you or you come across another that suits you better. If you have
faith, sooner or later, through some trial and error, the Spirit will lead you
to the formula that suits you best The important thing is not to change it just
because you are passing through a period of dryness and desolation. This is one
of the common trials of the spiritual life and will occur no matter what form
of prayer you adopt. To change one’s style of prayer merely because one is attacked
by a bout of dryness is indicative of superficiality. The dryness must come if
the prayer is to sink deep into us. This is particularly true of the formulas we
use for prayer – very much including the eucharistic prayers and prayers of the
breviary. A time comes when the words become tasteless to our spiritual palate.
They become meaningless; they dry up and begin to rot and decay, and we are tempted
to reject them. However, if we patiently persevere in reciting our formulas, chiefly
our Jesus Prayer, with whatever little devotion we can muster, the formulas will
slowly spring to life again and take on an unsuspected depth and richness and give
us delightful spiritual nourishment.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">You can introduce a great deal of variety within
the same formula (and variety seems to be needed especially for the apprentice in
prayer) by giving different meanings to the same word. For instance, how many meanings
can be put into the word <i>mercy?</i></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> We think of love, graciousness, pardon, peace, joy, comfort, strength –
anything we desire from the Lord. You can recite the name of Jesus with different
dispositions, making it a prayer of love or of adoration or of gratitude or whatever.
Or you could introduce new words into the same formula, like this: *Jesus, I love
you. Jesus, have mercy. Jesus, have pity. Jesus, remember me.” Or, ‘Jesus, pity,
Jesus, pity ... Jesus, love,Jesus, love .. .Jesus, come,Jesus, come .. .Jesus,
my God, Jesus, my God ...” Your own inventiveness will suggest to you other ways
of keeping the same formula but with a certain amount of variety. However, I must
warn you that no matter how many efforts you may make at variety, you will have
to budget for attacks of dryness and disgust, and persevere through these moods
till the prayer finally triumphs and possesses your whole being.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Some masters recommend that in the early stages the
prayer be recited aloud. I know of one great Hindu master whose whole being was
possessed by the name of God, as he claims, as a result of his spending five hours
each day on the banks of the river shouting out the Name in a loud voice. He did
this when he was a young man; each day after he returned from work at his office,
he would go to the river bank to undertake his five hours of “spiritual work.”
There is no need really to recite your prayer aloud; mental recitation will do well
enough. However, it is a help sometimes to recite it in a loud or a low voice
when you are alone. This way your tongue, your mind, your heart, your whole being
will be disciplined and molded into the Divine Name and it will become indelibly
engraved in your being.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">One last word, this one of caution, with regard to
the practice of the Prayer of the Name. If you ever read any literature on this
subject, you may learn there of some psychophysiological techniques for “putting
the prayer into the heart” My advice to you is that you steer clear of all these
techniques. They may awaken within you forces from the unconscious that you are
not able to control. Go in for these techniques (if at all) only under the expert
guidance of an experienced and trustworthy master. This is especially true of techniques
that involve forms of forced concentration and of breath control.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark104"></a><a name="bookmark103"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark104;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Power
of the Prayer of the Name</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark104;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark103;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There is an endless amount of Hindu literature on
this subject that is very inspirational because it comes from people who have experienced
the marvelous effects of this prayer in their lives. Here are some samples of
what the Hindu masters write:</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">I
am particularly impressed by the words of Mahatma Gandhi, that spiritual giant
who lived out his life of prayer in the midst of the world of politics and reform
and revolution. He was in the habit of reciting the Hindu name of God, </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Rama. </span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">He
called it his </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Ramanama</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
(name of Rama).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; tab-stops: 134.7pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">As a child, there was in me a fear of
ghosts and spirits. Rambha, my nurs</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">e, suggested,
as a remedy for this fear, the repetition of Ramanama. I had more faith in her
than in her remedy, and so at a tender age I began repeating Ramanama to cure
my fear of ghosts and spirits... I think it is due to the seed sown by that good
woman Rambha that today Ramanama has become an infallible remedy for me. Our most
powerful ally in conquering animal passion is Ramanama or some similar mantra...
One must be completely absorbed in whatever mantra one selects... The mantra becomes
one’s staff of life and carries one through every ordeal. .. . Ramanama gives one
detachment and ballast, and never throws one off at critical moments. .. . The latter
part of the second fast went fairly hard with me. I had not then completely understood
the wonderful efficacy of Ramanama, and my capacity for suffering was to that extent
less... Ramanama is a sun that has brightened my darkest hour. A Christian may
find the same solace from the repetition of the name ofjesus and a Muslim from
the name of Allah. ... No matter what the ailment from which a man may be suffering,
recitation of Ramanama from the heart is the sure cure. God has many names. Each
person can choose the name that appeals most to him... Ramanama cannot perform
the miracle of restoring to you a lost limb. But it can perform the still greater
miracle of helping you to enjoy an ineffable peace in spite of the loss while
you live, and rob death of its sting and the grave of its victory at the journey’s
end... There is no doubt that Ramanama is the surest aid. If recited from the heart,
it charms away every evil thought, and evil thought gone, no corresponding action
is possible... I can say fearlessly that there is no connection between Ramanama
of my conception and jantar mantar (the repetition of superstitious and magical
formulas). I have said that to recite Ramanama from the heart means deriving help
from an incomparable power. The atom bomb is as nothing compared with it This
power is capable of removing all pain.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Gandhi
was a firm believer in the power of the Name even to the extent of believing that
it alone could cure one of physical illnesses. He called it “the poor man’s medicine”
and even went to the extent of saying that he would never die of any illness.
If he did, the world could write the word </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">hypocrite</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
as his epitaph. A few months before he died at the age of seventyeight, he was
making a vigorous pilgrimage through the riot- striken areas of Bengal, barefoot
Occasionally, he would have violent attacks of dysentery, but he always refused
to accept medicine for it, claiming that the recitation of God’s name would pull
him through. It always seemed to do so, and he enjoyed good health until the
day he was assassinated.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The use of the Prayer of the Name by an active politician
like Gandhi is particularly reassuring to those who would like to give this prayer
a try but are afraid that it is a form of prayer more suited to the monastic than
to the active life. I know many, many men and women who lead very active lives and
who have found, through the use of this prayer, a wonderful means of keeping united
with God constandy. I am reminded particularly of a sister who was a physician and
was having trouble keeping united with God throughout the day. She put the problem
to me well: “I give all my thoughts to my patients. Frequently, while walking
through the wards of the hospital I get a sudden insight into the nature and
the cure of someone’s illness. This would not happen if I were constantly thinking
of God. And yet, I would like to be aware of God all through the day. I suppose
that that just isn’t my vocation.” She was confusing prayer with thought, as so
many people do. You don’t always need your mind to pray. In fact, the mind is frequently
a positive obstacle to prayer, as I shall show you some time later in this retreat.
You pray with your heart not with your mind, just as you listen to music with
your ear and smell a rose with your nose. This sister was obviously right in giving
all her thoughts to her patients. That is just what God wanted of her. I suggested
that she try the Jesus Prayer. She was considerably skeptical at first. Six months
later I happened to meet her and she told me she was having much less of a problem
(frequently no problem at all) with regard to being aware of God’s loving presence
and being united with him while simultaneously giving her thoughts to the problems
of her patients. The nearest comparison I can think of is that of listening to
background music, being dimly and pleasantly aware of it, while giving all my attention
to a conversation with a friend or to reading the newspaper.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark106"></a><a name="bookmark105"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark106;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Power
in Jesus’ Name</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark106;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark105;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The New Testament gives us clear indications of the
value and the power of Jesus’ name, a name, that is more potent than all the names
of God revealed to humankind.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Therefore God raised him to the heights
and bestowed on him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow – in heaven, on earth, and in the depths – and</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> every tongue confess, ’Jesus Christ is Lord’, to
the glory of God the Father.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Philippians 2:9-11<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">There
is no salvation in anyone else at all, for there is no other name under heaven
granted to men, by which we may receive salvation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Acts 4:12<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
very truth I tell you, if you ask the Father for anything in my name, he will give
it you. So far you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive, that
your joy may be complete.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">John 16:23-24<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">We read in Exodus 20:7, “You shall not take the name
of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes
his name in vain.” God protects his own name from being used unworthily just as
he protects life and honor and property. In nearly all ancient relig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">ns there is the belief that whoever had the Divine Name
had also the power contained in that name. For the name was not an empty sound.
It not merely signified the God whom it pointed to; it frequently carried with it
the power and the grace and the presence of this God. This is what dozens of Catholic
contemplatives have felt instinctively with regard to the mightiest name of God
known to humankind, the name of Jesus. Let us recite it frequently, with love and
devotion, with faith and tenderness, with adoration and reverence, and it will not
be long before we confirm with our own experience the wisdom of these great contemplatives.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark108"></a><a name="bookmark107"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark108;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The
“Psychological” Reasons behind This Prayer</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark108;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark107;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">By way of an appendix to the Prayer of the Name I
should like to add something about the psychology of this form of prayer. I do
this because I am frequently confronted with the difficulties of retreatants
who would like to use this form of prayer but draw back because they consider it
too mechanical, too parrot-like – an “act of man,” not a “human act” was the
way one priest put it to me, using terms that we were familiar with from our training
in moral theology. If you find what I am going to say now a distraction, forget
all about it and embark upon the practice of the prayer in faith and simplicity.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Some years ago I became familiar with the works of
a Frenchman named Emile Coue who reported extraordinary healings through his technique
of what he called autosuggestion. I am going to explain to you now how autosuggestion
is said to work and speak about the unconscious and its power over us. You will
have to be patient because I shall apply all this psychological theory to the Jesus
Prayer right at the end, and I trust that your patience will then be rewarded.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Let’s begin with the unconscious. This is a notion popularized
by Freud, who claimed that the unconscious is the major part of the human personality.
It is like the part of the iceberg that is submerged under the sea. The small
part of that mighty mountain of ice that juts out of the ocean is similar to
the conscious mind and will of human beings. The unconscious is a much more important
factor of our personality; it is the seat of all our hidden drives and urges and
passions and instincts.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">To prove the existence of the unconscious Freud had
recourse to dreams and hypnotism. Let’s limit ourselves to the phenomenon of
hypnotism. Let’s suppose I hypnotize John and while he is under the hypnotic trance
I make a suggestion to him. I say to him, *Tomorrow, at 10 a.m. you will take
this book from the library and give it to Henry.” I then bring John out of the
trance. He has no memory of what I said to him when he was in the trance. The next
day, a little after 10 o’clock, I find John moving away from the library in the
direction of Henry’s room. I stop him and ask where he is going. “To Henry,” he
says, “to give him this book.” “Why?” I ask. “Because,” says John, “there’s a
chapter on prayer in this book that I am sure will interest Henry.” “Are you sure
that is the reason why you want to give that book to Henry?” I ask, incredulously.
“Of course,” says John, “what other reason is there?” It is now his turn to be incredulous!
We know, of course that the “conscious” motive for John’s giving the book to Henry
is that chapter on prayer. That is the motive John is aware of. But we also know
that there is a deeper motive pushing John towards Henry’s room with that book in
his hand – an “unconscious” motive of which he is not aware. This is, of course,
a somewhat frightening matter. If John feels consciously free in this activity and
is, in reality, not quite as free as he thinks he is, how are we to know whether
he is really free in so much of his other activity? How much of it is really controlled
by motives and conditioning that he is simply not aware of? That is a problem
for theologians and psychologists to grapple with. While the discovery of the unconscious
brings its problems with it, it also reveals to us an immense reservoir of power
that is largely untapped.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I read of an incident that took place in the U.S.
some years ago. An elderly woman was caught under a huge truck and it was impossible
to move her without lifting the truck. The truck was too heavy for human hands
to lift; so while everyone was waiting for the arrival of a crane, a small man
passed by on the other side, saw the woman under the truck, and instinctively went
up to the truck, caught the fender with both hands, and lifted the truck effortlessly
while the bystanders extricated the woman! When the newspapers heard of this fact,
the man was besieged by reporters who wanted him to repeat the performance so
that they could photograph it. But, try as he might, he just couldn’t. What had
happened? In a crisis, he suddenly drew upon the tremendous resources of power
that were lying untapped within him. He was convinced he could move the truck –
so he moved it I have read of similar feats performed by Hindu saints who would
fast for days on end and then undertake difficult physical tasks like climbing
mountains or walking long distances. I tend to believe this and to believe also,
that there are immense reservoirs of power within us of which we know nothing;
that there is a whole universe waiting to be explored within us, inner space,
to which, unfortunately, we give little attention, while we direct all our efforts
to the conquest of the outer world and outer space.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">To return to hypnotism. It would seem that if you
could convince the unconscious of something, that something is likely to come
true in you. The unconscious seems to be wide open to suggestion while you are in
the hypnotic trance. Here’s another example: The hypnotist says to his subject,
“Would you like a cigarette?” Then instead of a cigarette, he offers him a stick
of chalk which the subject immediately proceeds to “smoke” and enjoy! Then, suddenly,
the hypnotist says, “Look, you’ve burned your finger!” The startled subject immediately
flings the “cigarette” away, and, right enough, a physical burn begins to form
on his finger, with the accompanying destruction of flesh tissue! What is this enormous
power of suggestion that we have within us? Is there some means of sanctifying
this unconscious? Most of our spirituality seems to be geared to the conscious
mind. What about the hidden part of the iceberg? To sanctify that would be to sanctify
our motivation and activity and the sources of much of our power at their roots.
Is there some way of getting in touch with this unconscious, of influencing it and
of using it to our benefit?</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Emile Coue claimed there was. He called it autosuggestion.
Briefly, this was his theory: Through autosuggestion it is possible to cure almost
any disease and to bring health and vigor to your body. All you need do is convince
your unconscious you are healthy. How? Let’s suppose you have an ulcer of the stomach.
Then, each night before you go to sleep (that seems to be the time when the unconscious
is wide open to suggestion) you must lie relaxedly in bed and say, slowly, about
twenty times, the following formula, “Every day, in every way, I am getting better
and better.” According to Coue, it won’t be long before the unconscious gets
the message and your ulcer disappears! If you are to influence the unconscious,
however, there are two important things you must avoid. The first is thinking
of your ulcer explicitly while you recite the formula. If you do this the unconscious
will somehow resist this direct attempt on your part to influence it. You must not
think of your ulcer. Think of health in general. The ulcer will go on its own.
The second thing to avoid is concentrating on the meaning of the words you are
saying. Once again this would be an attempt at direct influence. The unconscious
“knows” the meaning of those words; so don’t you emphasize it with your conscious
mind. Think, rather, of health in a general way.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Isn’t this exactly what happens in the Jesus Prayer?
We recite those words frequently during the day without adverting directly to
the meaning of the words. This, far from being a loss, may be an actual gain.
There is an awareness that the words are words of prayer, that prayer is going
on. Gradually, the unconscious catches on and becomes, for lack of a better word,
“prayerful.” You begin to notice, after a while, that all your life and activity
is being invaded by this prayerfulness. So even though, at first sight, this form
of prayer may seem to be what my priest called an “act of man” rather than a “human
act,” because the conscious mind and will is not directly engaged in it, it is as
human and effective an act as is the act of influencing the unconscious through
autosuggestion.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Some people find it repugnant to think that the laws
of autosuggestion may be operating in the Jesus Prayer. But why should they not?
Why may we not use the power of auto-suggestion to become more prayerful and
come nearer to God just as we use the force of our mind and imagination and emotion?</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark110"></a><a name="bookmark109"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark110;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Rosary</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark110;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark109;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Some of you may have noticed how everything I have
said about the Jesus Prayer applies perfectly to the recitation of the rosary. It
is fashionable nowadays to deride this practice of repetitious prayer. If you examine
the rosary with your “rational” mind, there is every reason to believe that it is
not a prayer, only a parody of prayer. The same formula, the Hail Mary, is repeated
again and again, monotonously, impersonally, without our adverting to the meaning
of the words – in fact, we are even encouraged not to think about the meaning, we
are encouraged not to indulge in a pious distraction, so to speak, by meditating
on the life of Christ with our minds while saying “Hail Mary, full of grace
...” with our mouths. “Prayer wheel” has been the reaction of some people. Would
it not be much better to make some spontaneous prayer to the Lord? I know of one
priest who, to show a group of women the ridiculousness of the rosary, began his
talk to them with “Good morning, ladies!” They replied, “Good morning, Father!”
“Good morning, ladies!” said the priest again, and again and again. Then he stopped
and said, “You probably think I’ve gone mad! That’s what Mary probably thinks
of us when we keep saying the Hail Mary again and again.” A good argument indeed.
But the trouble with the deep things of the spirit is that they are not quite subject
to human logic and human reason. There are deeper things in life than human reason
is able to grasp. The human mind can give us cleverness, not wisdom. For this,
one needs a sense, an instinct that is beyond the mind. This is the instinct
the saints had when they practiced and recommended this form of prayer. One reads
of great contempla- tives, like the Jesuit lay brother, St. Alphonsus Rodriguez,
who would recite dozens of rosaries each day. One meets some holy old women in
our Indian villages whose faces are lined with suffering and love and are radiant
with the quiet glow of the Spirit; their only prayer is the recitation of the rosary.
All the principles of the Jesus Prayer apply here. Here once again we have what
I like to call the sanctification of the unconscious through the seemingly mechanical
recitation of a prayer formula.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If the rosary has appealed to you in the past, make
that your Jesus Prayer. Or use your beads while reciting your own prayer formula.
I don’t know why it is, but the fingering of the beads brings to many people peace
and prayerfulness; it is probably because it brings rhythm into the prayer. I
sometimes pass my beads through my fingers without saying any prayer; and the gesture
alone is enough to put me into prayer. Do something like this at your prayer today.
Use your beads to recite your Jesus Prayer rhythmically. And with the blessing
of the Blessed Virgin, may you discover the wisdom that so many saints found in
prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
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<p align="center" class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><a name="bookmark112"></a><a name="bookmark111"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark112;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Shared Prayer</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark112;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark111;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I am going to talk to you about a form of prayer that,
on the face of it, would seem to have no place in the kind of retreat I am offering
you. At least, so I thought for many years. For years, I was much opposed to what
has now-a-days come to be known as shared prayer. Shared prayer might have a place
in “group” retreats where retreatants sought an experience of Christ in community.
This is a “desert” retreat, one where the retreatant seeks Christ in strict silence
and solitude and confrontation with him- or herself. All communication, group discussions,
sharing sessions, even communication in prayer, was, I felt, a distraction. I still
maintain most of this. A group retreat offers the retreatant what an individual
retreat does not, and vice versa. I strongly recommend that every priest have an
experience of both kinds of retreat; they complement each other. But I am opposed
to mixing the two. When this is done they get in each other’s way, and the effect
is watered down. If you are making a silent retreat, plunge as deeply as possible
into silence, avoid all talk and discussions like the plague, otherw</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">is</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">e you are constantly knocking down with one hand what
you are building up with the other. A group retreat has techniques and methods all
its own, and group interaction there, far from being an obstacle to meeting Christ,
is actually a means by which we encounter him.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I also had personal reasons against shared prayer. It
just didn’t fit into the religious culture in which I had grown, so I found excellent
reasons against it. It was like making love in public, I said. Moreover, after
a while a person is able to communicate with God beyond all words and concepts.
How does one share that kind of prayer with a group? All one would say is something
like “My God, I love you,” a very trite thing to say: full of meaning for me, but
hardly likely to thrill or inspire the other members of the group. These prejudices
of mine have ceased, I am happy to say. I have discovered that there is a form
of prayer one uses with God when one is alone with him, and a form of prayer that
one can share – to one’s own spiritual benefit and that of others. Let me tell
you how I discovered the value of shared prayer.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I was once giving a thirty-day retreat to a group
of Jesuits. Towards the middle of the retreat I thought of all I had been reading
at that time about the Catholic pentecostal movement (or charismatic renewal movement
as it is called now). How generous the Lord seemed to be in pouring the gifts
of his Spirit into these Catholics who sought him in fervor and simplicity. And
they weren’t making thirty-day retreats! So I said to the retreatants, If God is
being so generous with these people, he is surely going to be very generous with
you who are seeking him so earnestly over a period of a whole month in prayer and
silence. If we feel he is not being generous enough it is probably because we
don’t pray to him enough as a group. I therefore suggested that from that night
onward we have exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and adoration at night before
retiring to sleep. The retreatants were free to come or not; if they came, however,
they were to come to pray, not for themselves, but for the whole group, to pray
earnestly that the whole group would receive a fresh infusion of the Holy Spirit.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Everyone came. The atmosphere in the chapel was most
conducive to prayer, with the lights out and the host standing out in the darkness,
lit up by the candles in front of the monstrance. We prayed for each other in silence.
And it wasn’t long before I sensed a marked increase in the graces the retreatants
were receiving. They noticed it too. However, the skeptic in me hesitated to attribute
this to the night intercession. Could it not be that the previous two weeks of silence
had disposed the retreatants to receive these graces, so that they would have received
them whether we had had our group intercession or not? I continued to recommend
this practice to retreatants at eight-day retreats. This time I could not doubt
the effects. There was a marked difference between these retreats and the ones
I had given before. The conferences were the same, the techniques, the methods
of prayer, were all the same, but the graces that God was pouring out on these retreats
were definitely greater than the graces he seemed to be giving in former retreats.
It was hard to avoid the conclusion that it was the group prayer at night that
was making the difference.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Then a retreatant came to me and said, “Would it be
all right for us to pray aloud? It is easier to pray for people whose needs we
know than to just pray for the group in general.” I agreed reluctantly because
of the reservation I had with regard to shared prayer. I am very glad I agreed.
Some of the retreatants would ask for specific graces. They would either address
the Lord (“Lord, give me the grace to pray. I keep trying all day and don’t seem
to succeed. I’m just overwhelmed with distractions.”) or their fellow retreatants
(“Brothers, I ask you to pray that I will be given the grace of repentance. Somehow
I seem to have lost the sense of sin and the sense of my need of God.”). Again and
again these persons who had had the courage to ask for some grace aloud would report
that they were given these graces thanks to the prayers of the whole group. It
was a literal fulfillment of Jesus’ words,</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
tell you this: if two of you agree on earth about any request you have to make,
that request will be granted by my Heavenly Father. For where two or three have
met together in my name, I am there among them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Matthew 18:19-20<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">So in the beginning this was the simple form of shared
prayer we practiced. If you wanted some grace, you mentioned it at our group prayer,
and we would all pray for you, generally in silence. When God gave you the grace
you had asked for, you came to give thanks publicly at our prayer session, so
that we would all join in praising and thanking him and he would receive greater
glory and love for his goodness toward you. I now began to recommend this form
of shared prayer to all my retreatants right from the first day of the retreat and
saw again and again how quickly they attained the graces they were seeking, something
I was not accustomed to seeing in my retreats in the past.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Then I began to discover the value of shared prayer
in areas outside the retreat What a difference it would make to a group discussion,
to a consultation, to a decision-making session, if we would stop to pray, not
just at the beginning and the end of the session, but at times when we are stuck
or are making no headway or are in need of light and guidance or are all worked
up and angry and quarrelsome and defensive. I saw these prayer sessions do wonders
in bringing people together, in uniting communities, in bridging the generation
gap, where other methods (community dialogue, encounter groups, etc.) had failed.
I see now, sadly, that we priests rarely pray together in other than the somewhat
stylized forms prescribed by the liturgy. Our meetings and discussions, especially
the meetings of our decision-making bodies, are rarely different from a meeting
of executives of a secular firm: there’s a good deal of horse sense and human
prudence and, hopefully, good surveys and plenty of information relating to the
problems to be discussed, but little direct communication with God and reliance
on his inspiration and guidance.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This was well expressed by an American priest, Rev.
Joseph M. O’Meara, in an article entitled “Contrasting Conventions: Prayer Makes
a Difference.”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP">During this past month I attended
two conventions, one in Baltimore and one in Washington. Both were about religion.
But <span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">what</span></span> a difference!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The first was the annual convention of the National Federation of Priests’
Councils, the second the annual convention of the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship
International. The Fellowship is an organization of Christian, Protestant deno</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">minational, nondenominational, Catholic, even Jewish
people, who have reached out for a deep experience with the Lord Jesus and found
the conventional methods of evangelism wanting. It is basically Pentecostal or
charismatic in nature...</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Fellowship, </span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">which began
as recently as 1953 here in the U.S., has over five hundred chapters in this country
and many chapters in other countries. They have reached a point where they now
add a chapter a day to their fellowship. While we lose scores of priests almost
daily, they gain scores of ministers for the Lord daily. While our church members
are becoming rapidly disillusioned with the effectiveness of Christianity, their
members are enthusiastically speaking of the wondrous effectiveness of the Lord
within themselves and throughout the world. While our members grow even more reluctant
to speak of any personal relationship or experience with the Lord, their members
are eager to tell what the Lord has done for them and with their lives.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I heard a young man, twenty-</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">three years
old, tell how this personal experience of the Lord has reversed his drug-centered
and LSD centered life to a life of love and dedication for Jesus. There are many
such testimonies of young people under the influence of the Fellowship. How many
of us can go into our churches and find such fruit? I listened to a Jewish man tell
how he was about to become a eunuch for the Lord; a man, though married, living
as though unmarried because his apostolate was making such demands upon him. What
a stark contrast to the proceedings of the NFPC on a related point!</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why
is all this happening with them and not with us and other Christian churches? I
don’t know the whole answer, but I do know it in part Prayer! That’s the part I
know!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">These people at the Fello</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">wship convention didn’t discuss a person, place or
thing that they didn’t pray over it, under it, beside it, for it, with it and during
it. Prayer in song and word was on their lips constantly. At the NFPC convention
there was hardly a prayer uttered.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Betw</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">een sessions the Fellowship were gathered together in
rooms praying together and relating their personal experiences of the Lord and
how they were going to spread His wonderful Word. Between sessions at the NFPC we
were gathered together in rooms sipping cocktoils and discussing Church politics.
At the Fellowship nothing was undertaken without calling upon the Holy Spirit
to guide it At the NFPC convention we seemed to proceed all too much like natural
men.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I have learned that a shared prayer session is not
the distraction that a group discussion can be to a silent retreat; provided,
of course there isn’t more than one session a day, else there is the danger of
the retreatants taking refuge in this, relatively more comfortable, form of prayer
to escape the rigors of a personal encounter with God. The group discussion, unlike
the shared prayer, is likely to arouse emotions that need to be worked through
afterward and can be a real disturbance to the interior silence that the retreat
gives you. There was something else. I found that shared prayer gave some of
the retreatants the advantages of prophecy! More than once retreatants have told
me that a prayer they heard in the session, a reflection that was made there, an
insight that was shared made a tremendous difference to their retreat. It was as
if the Lord himself was speaking to them through the person who was sharing or praying
(and that is what the gift of prophecy is, the Lord speaking to me through my brother,
even though he is not aware of it). I found it interesting to see how often prophecy
was exercised in the form of prayers, rather than insights or sermons, frequently
prayers that, on the surface, seemed quite ordinary. Someone would say a simple
prayer and one or two or more of the others would be plunged into a mood of devotion
or given the light and inspiration they needed.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark114"></a><a name="bookmark113"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark114;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">How to
Go about It</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark114;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark113;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There are no rules for shared prayer. But I think it
will help if I list some of the difficulties that shared prayer runs into and
some of the things that help it to be fruitful. Here, are some of the difficulties:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: 26.75pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Going to a session to do your own
private prayer.</span></i></span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> If you do
this, you are likely to find the talking a distraction and you may be something
of a silent burden to the group. Not that silence is an obstacle to shared prayer,
quite the contrary, as I shall soon say. But you are just not with the others in
spirit, and so you will be something of a disturbance to them as they will be
to you. Retreatants have sometimes told me that they get nothing out of shared
prayer. This has sometimes happened because they went to the session to continue
with their personal form of prayer, the Jesus Prayer or the Prayer of Faith or
whatever. Shared prayer requires that you take up another form of praying, another
disposition. You go there to pray with others, to pray for them and to ask for
their prayers, to be open to what they are saying to you and to what the Spirit
may inspire you to say to them. When you take up this attitude shared prayer becomes
very profitable and fruitful, even when most of it is done in silence.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: 27.1pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Too much “cerebration</span></i></span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">.” It is important that the shared prayer be not glutted
with thoughts, reflections, and insights. There is a place for these, of course.
But most people find it easier to share their ideas than to share their prayer.
Ordinarily, when someone is praying to the Lord, our heart is more easily touched
by grace than when someone is talking to us about some insight received in prayer.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Beware of that form of sharing insights by which we
are really talking to the members of the group, but we add the word “Lord” to
what we are saying. It is more forthright, and less distracting, to say, “Friends,
here’s an insight or a reflection I want to share with you ...” than to say, “Lord
...” and then proceed to lecture us. Here iss a good example of what I mean: “Lord,
you know how much harm is being done to the Church by the so-called liberals and
scripture scholars. In my opinion, Lord, they are the cause of all the turmoil in
the Church today ...” This is an example of how, unfortunately, under cover of speaking
to the Lord, we can even have digs at one another!</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: 26.95pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">The third difficulty I would list here could be called “impersonality.”</span></i></span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
The use of the pronoun </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">we,</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
instead of </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I.</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
“Lord, we thank you for your goodness to us.” Don’t speak for the rest of us. Leave
that to the celebrant who presides over the liturgy. Don’t take it upon yourself
to interpret the sentiments and feelings of the rest of the group. Speak for yourself.
Your prayer will be much more personal. You are sharing nothing when you say “we”;
you have merely made yourself our spokesperson.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: 27.45pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">A more serious difficulty is not listening
to one another.</span></i></span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> For example,
Jim makes an anguished prayer to the Lord, calling out to him for help in despair,
and then, barely a second after the prayer has ended, Tom pipes in on a cheerful
note to thank the Lord for some favor or other. Wasn’t Tom listening to Jim? It
seems almost indecent to rush in with a joyful prayer without giving the rest
of us at least a little while to be with Jim in his anguish and to pray for him.
This is one of the reasons why it is a great help for the group to have a leader
– one who doesn’t stand out in the group, precisely, but who is attuned to what
is going on within the group, listening both to the group members and to the Lord.
In a situation like the one I have described, Jim may get the feeling that no one
cares; if no one refers to his prayer explicitly, the leader may make a brief prayer
for him aloud. This will be supportive and reassuring to those who have asked
for help; their prayers have not been heard by the others with cold indifference.
It is significant that when Jesus was in agony he shared his prayer of anguish
with his disciples. He allowed them to listen to what he was saying to his Father
and looked for some support and comfort from them. If we do not listen to one another,
then we are just not sharing in the prayer of one another.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Listening to the other’s prayer implies that the other
prays in an audible voice. It is very distracting, sometimes even irritating,
when someone mumbles something that we have to strain our ears to catch. Speak
up, or do not speak at all.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: 26.95pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The next difficulty is not listening
to the Lord</span></i></span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> who is speaking
within our hearts. We can sometimes get so carried away by the prayers and problems
of one another that the Lord is pushed into the background. We give him little scope
for inspiring us, for speaking within our hearts, because we are too full of what
we and others are saying to him.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">And the Lord does speak to us very frequently. If we
create an inner silence within ourselves we might sense him impelling us to utter
a prayer or share some insight he is giving us. Through this prayer or insight
of ours the Lord frequently activates the charism of prophecy within the group.
Prophecy means speaking to someone on behalf of the Lord, giving someone a message
from the Lord. This was a gift that was frequently exercised in the early Church.
Paul valued it highly and urged his Christians to positively seek it because it
helps so much for the spiritual growth of our neighbor (1 Corinthians 14). We find
an outstanding example ofprophecy in Acts 21.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">When we had been in Caesarea several
days, a prophet named Agabus arrived from Judaea. He came to us, took Paul’s belt,
bound his own feet and hands with it, and said, "Th</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">ese are the words of the Holy Spirit</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">- Thus will the Jews in Jerusalem bind
the man to whom this belt belongs, and hand him over to the Gentiles.” When we
heard this, we and the local people begged and implored Paul to abandon his visit
to Jerusalem.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I have sometimes witnessed this gift of prophecy in
action. Nothing as sensational as the example of Agabus. Someone in the group
would share an insight, be moved to read a passage from Scripture chosen at random,
or would j’ust make a simple prayer to the Lord, and someone else would feel
the Lord speaking while the other was talking. So I urge people not to hold
back whatever the Lord seems to be urging them to say, because he frequently gives
to us what he means us to share with the others in the group. Hence it is important
to be attentive to the Lord who may be speaking either in the silence of our hearts
or in the words of others.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">For this purpose it will be a help if the group leader
suggests a period of silence prayer (a “listening session” some call it) whenever
he or she notices that there is too much talking that doesn’t seem charged with
the spirit and unction of prayer. There will be times when the group will spontaneously
lapse into silence. Silence is of two types. There is the dull, heavy silence in
which we get a sense that nothing is happening, and we’re grounded. When there is
too much of this, I suggest that the members stop the prayer for a while and search
for the cause of this deadness: are they being too sluggish or too inhibited? Are
they really comfortable with the silence? Generally this sluggishness and deadness
is dispelled through singing some hymns, chiefly hymns of praise and thanksgiving,
and the reading of a passage or two from Scripture.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There is another type of silence when the whole atmosphere
is obviously charged with prayerfulness. It is full of unction; everyone is clearly
steeped in prayer. This is beautiful, and it is a grave mistake to break in with
a prayer or a hymn just so that “things will start moving.” It requires some spiritual
sensitiveness to distinguish one silence from the other, and here, too, the leader
can be of help.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: 27.1pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Here’s another difficulty: <i>long-winded
prayers</i> and what I call “<i>praying to the gallery</i>.” It is important that
prayers be not too long. After a while, it becomes difficult to be attentive to
what the prayer is saying. Better to pray ten times in a prayer session for half
a minute or a minute each time than inflict a lengthy prayer of five or six minutes’
duration on us.</span></span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Praying to the gallery is an attempt to impress people
with our prayer. We sometimes carefully rehearse our prayers before we launch out,
either because we are nervous or because we want to impress. The ideal prayers
are those made with our eyes fixed on the Lord to whom we are praying without
too much care for grammar and sentence structure. These prayers are simple and spontaneous
and the bad grammar doesn’t disturb. We cannot, of course, be entirely unmindful
of the presence of others and pray to the Lord as though they were not there. Only
let’s make sure that it is to him that we are addressing our words, that it is
for his ears our prayers are composed, not for those of the group.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: 27.1pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The final difficulty I want to list
here is coming to the prayer meeting without having spent some time previously in
personal prayer</span></i></span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">. Shared prayer
seems to be most fruitful when everyone participating in it has spent a good deal
of time that day in private, personal prayer. I know of a charismatic renewal prayer
group where there is an understanding that on the day of the prayer meeting, which
is held at night, everyone pray for at least two whole hours. I was edified to learn
that these people, laypersons most of them, would wake early in the morning, before
setting out to work, to do scripture reading and to expose themselves to the presence
of the Lord for the required two hours. It is no wonder to me that those prayer
sessions were charged with the grace and unction of the Spirit. These people came
to the meeting already charged with the spirit of prayer, not seeking to have
their dead spiritual batteries recharged! This is probably the reason why shared
prayer seems so much more fruitful during a retreat when everyone is investing
much time in personal prayer.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark116"></a><a name="bookmark115"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark116;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Further Tips
on How to Go about It</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark116;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark115;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Ideally, shared prayer is unstructured, leaving the
maximum freedom to people to intervene as the Spirit moves them. Someone may read
a scripture passage, another sing a hymn (with the others joining in or not as
they feel moved to do so), and yet another share a reflection or make a prayer.
There is no fixed order.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">However, it helps to begin with a brief period of silence
during which participants can revive their faith in the presence of the Lord.
This makes him present. A couple of hymns at the beginning are also a great help.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">During the retreat the main emphasis in our shared
prayer is asking the Lord for personal favors connected with the retreat and thanking
him for giving them to us. Outside the retreat, we often practice the prayer of
intercession – praying for the needs of others. Above all it helps to spend
some time in the prayer of praise. When we praise God for his goodness and for
the good things he has given to us and to others, our hearts become lightsome and
joyous. It was only after I got acquainted with the charismatic renewal movement
that I, myself, discovered the prayer of praise and its value. There are few forms
of prayer so effective for giving you the sense that you are loved by God, or
for lifting depressed spirits and overcoming temptation. Psalm 8 says, “You have
established praise to destroy the enemy and avenger,” and it was the custom among
the Jews to march out into battle singing praises to the Lord. This was considered
a mighty weapon for defeating the foe. We read in 2 Chronicles 20:21-22:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Josaphat, as they set out, came forward
to speak. Listen to me, he said, men of Juda; Listen, citizens of Jerusalem.
Trust in the Lord</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> your God, and you have nothing
to fear; trust his prophets, and all shall go well with you. Thus he encouraged
them, and would have the Lord’s minstrels praise him in chorus, marching before
the army and singing: Praise the Lord, the Lord is gracious; his mercy endures
for ever. As the chant rose, the Lord turned the stealthy approach of Juda’s enemies,
Ammon and Moab and Edom, to their own discomfiture.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">In
the Old Testament, incidentally, the prayer of praise was said aloud – you either
shouted your praise or sang your praise. I have even had people tell me that
they feel physically revived through practicing the prayer of praise. One laborer
told me how, under cover of the din of his factory machines, he would spend a
good part of his day praising God aloud (though not </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">too</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
loud for fear of being overheard by his companions), and he said it gave him
the same invigorating effect after his night shift that he got from a cold shower
and a hot cup of coffee.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">When group prayer tends to grow heavy and to drag,
the leader may say a few words about the prayer of praise and encourage everyone
to fix their eyes on the Lord and praise him for everything, for things good and
bad and, above all, for his being the good God that he is. This may be done either
individually in the form of prayer or collectively with everyone singing a hymn
of praise and thanksgiving and adoration. A marked change will soon come over
the group.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">One last and important suggestion for your shared prayer
sessions, if you ever have them outside the retreat: fix the duration of the session
before hand and let everyone know clearly how long it is going to last – half an
hour, one hour, or two hours. Then when the time is up, even though most people
feel inspired to continue, call a halt to the prayer to allow those who wish to
leave to depart. The rest may then continue if you wish. This will spare many people
the distraction and strain of constantly wondering when it is going to end!</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark118"></a><a name="bookmark117"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark118;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Shared Prayer
for the Priest</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark118;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark117;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">A priest is a spiritual leader and he will find a rich
apostolate in the prayer group. I know a number of priests who, after experiencing
the benefits of shared prayer in a retreat like this one, have begun to pray together
with their lay collaborators, with their catechists and school staff – and gained
much fruit thereby. We frequently visit our people, we call on sick people in hospitals,
we offer counseling and spiritual direction to people in our offices. How rarely
do we think of praying with these people. It just isn’t in our tradition, as it
is in the tradition of some Protestant pastors. It is more within our tradition
to give the client or patient our blessing. I have sometimes ventured to pray with
a client after a counseling session; both of us pray to the Lord who is present
there with us, telling him of our hopes and disappointments and confusions and asking
for his help. I have often found this part of the interview to be the most effective
and healing for the client and for me!</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Once we summon up the courage to pray, either before
or after the interview (or even in the confessional) it becomes easier, and I haven’t
met one client who isn’t glad to have me say a prayer with and for him or her.
I am reminded here of what a woman, a former Catholic turned Pentecostal, said
while in the hospital. “When my minister comes to visit me, he spends nearly half
an hour praying and reading the Bible with me; that’s what I want a minister
for. When the Catholic priest visits me, he talks of politics and the weather,
then gives me his blessing and goes away.” It just isn’t in our tradition, is it,
to pray with a patient before we leave, or to say to a family we are visiting,
“Shall I pray with you now before I leave?”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I have had quite some success getting families to
join in shared prayer when I visit them. What I do is this: I begin to pray myself
and then ask the others present if there is anything they want to say to the Lord.
They always have a great deal to say to him. In the beginning they tell me, and
I say the prayer to the Lord for them. In the later stages I get them to tell him
themselves! Or I start with the rosary, a prayer that many families are already
familiar with. Between decades I say, “Whom shall we offer this decade for?” Then
I make a spontaneous prayer for all the people mentioned; gradually the others
have no difficulty making this kind of prayer themselves.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In some retreats, when the number of retreatants is
large, I invite the retreatants to split up into groups of ten to twelve for
shared prayer. Generally, as in this retreat, we have our shared prayer before
the Blessed Sacrament exposed, at night. I think for most of you who come to this
prayer, shared prayer will be an experience you will carry with you and treasure
long after your retreat is over.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<span class="Headingnumber2"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="break-before: page; page-break-before: always;" />
</span></span>
<p class="Headingnumber20" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid;"><a name="bookmark119"><span class="Headingnumber2"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">10</span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark119;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><a name="bookmark121"></a><a name="bookmark120"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark121;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Repentance</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark121;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark120;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It is customary, at the start of a retreat, to meditate
on one’s sinfulness, and to seek pardon of God through the grace of repentance.
I wish to speak on this today: the theme of repentance<a name="bookmark123"></a><a name="bookmark122"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark123;">.<o:p></o:p></span></a></span></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark122;"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark123;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Repentance: A Way to Experience Christ</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark123;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark122;"></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Even though the experience of Christ is a grace we
can never merit, I have already suggested two things we can do, two dispositions
we can cultivate to prepare ourselves to receive this grace. These two things are
the ardent desire to meet him and constant petitionary prayer. The third thing is
repentance. This is splendidly put in the Book of Revelation:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">To the angel of the church at Ephesus
write: “These are the words of the One who holds the seven stars in his right hand
and walks among the seven lamps of gold; I know all your ways, your toil and your
fortitu</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">de. I know you cannot endure evil
men; you have put to the proof those who claim to be apostles but are not, and
have found them false. Fortitude you have; you have borne up in my cause and never
flagged. But I have this against you: you have lost your early love. Think from
what a height you have fallen; repent and do as you once did. Otherwise, if you
do not repent, I shall come to you and remove your lamp from its place.”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Revelation 2:1-5</span></i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"> To the angel of the Church at Laodicea
write: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">“These are the words</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the prime
source of all God’s creation: I know all your ways; you are neither hot nor cold.
How I wish you were either hot or cold! But because you are lukewarm, neither hot
nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘How rich I am! And how well
I have donel I have everything I want in the world.’ In fact, though you do not
know it, you are the most pitiful wretch, poor, blind and naked. So I advise
you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, to make you truly rich, and white
clothes to put on to hide the shame of your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes
so that you may see. All whom I love I reprove and discipline. Be on your mettle
therefore and repent Here I stand knocking at the door; if anyone hears my voice
and opens the door, I will come in and sit down to supper with him and he with
me.”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Revelation 3:14-20<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark125"></a><a name="bookmark124"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark125;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Need
for Repentance</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark125;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark124;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">These words of Revelation are very typical of the attitude
Jesus shows in the Gospels. Repentance was the theme of his first sermons: “Repent,
and believe the gospel, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” Indeed, it was the
theme of the early sermons of the Apostles in Acts: “Repent,” says Peter, “repent
and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus the Messiah for the forgiveness
of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Repentance is, indeed, the fundamental disposition
of a Christian; and an abiding disposition. The first thing we must do is confess
our sinfulness. No excuses, no claims, no selfcomplacency. And we must confess
our inability to get out of our sinfulness and our absolute need for God’s saving
power in Jesus,</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">For though the will to do good is there,
the deed is not T</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">he good which I want to do,
I fail to do; but what I do is the wrong which is against my will; and if what
I do is against my will, clearly it is no longer I who am the agent, but sin that
has its lodging in me. I discover this principle, then: that when I want to do
the right, only the wrong is within my reach. In my inmost self I delight in
the law of God, but I perceive that there is in my bodily members a different law,
fighting against the law that my reason approves and making me a prisoner under
the law that is in my members, the law of sin. Miserable creature that I am,
who is there to rescue me out of this body doomed to death? God alone, through
Jesus Christ our Lord! Thanks be to God!</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Romans 7:18-25<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It is important that the Christian experience this
“miserable creature that I am, who will rescue me” of St. Paul. And which of us
has not experienced this persistently in our lives? Then we can approach Jesus
with no confidence in ourselves, trusting entirely in his power. He says explicitly
that it is for such persons, for “sinners” that he has come, not for the “jusL”
If we are just – self-righteous – then he hasn’t come for us, he has no interest
in us. We must constantly beware of this self- righteousness because it leads
to the kind of blindness and hardness of heart that afflicted the Pharisees. And
it is particularly difficult for us to attain this sense of our helplessness and
our need of Jesus today, it seems to me, because we have largely lost the sense
of sin.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark127"></a><a name="bookmark126"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark127;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Sense
of Sin</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark127;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark126;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Sin is something that we play down considerably today,
but it was something that Jesus seemed to give much importance to. “This is the
cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant... This blood is
to be shed for you and for all people that sins may be forgiven,” says the priest
at the most solemn moment of the Eucharist, echoing Jesus’ own words. “Receive
the Holy Spirit!” says Jesus to his aposdes after his resurrection, “If you forgive
any man’s sins, they stand forgiven; if you pronounce them unforgiven, unforgiven
they remain” (John 20:23). In the Lord’s Prayer he bids us ask for just three
things: our daily bread, moral strength to fight temptation, and forgiveness of
sin. He sends his Spirit so that the Spirit may convince the world of “sin and
of justice and of judgment”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There is no doubt that forgiveness of sin is something
that is of vital importance to Jesus. When I talk later of the social aspect of
sin, I hope to show you why. Right at the beginning of the Gospels, we are told
that this is the salvation that he brings us – not primarily salvation that is economic
or social or political, as it is fashionable to maintain these days, but salvation
from sin.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Joseph, son of David,” said the angel,
“do not be afraid to take Mary home with you as your wife. It is by the Holy Spirit
that she has conceived this child. She will bear a son; and you shall give him
the name Jesus (Savio</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">ur), for
he will save his people from their sins.”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Matthew 1:20-21<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There are many other New Testament texts that underline
this as the reason for God becoming human. Here are a few: “Here are words you
may trust, words that merit full acceptance, ‘Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners.’” (1 Timothy 1:15). We are told in Romans 5:8 that God shows his
love for us precisely in that though we were sinners, Christ died for us, and in
1 John 4-10 we are told that God sent his Son in order to be the expiation of our
sins.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The forgiveness of sins is a far more vital matter
to Jesus than bodily health, and material prosperity. He heals the paralytic of
Matthew 9 simply as a means to show his adversaries that he has given him a far
more precious grace, the forgiveness of his sins. To us, who are, perhaps, spiritually
less sensitive than people of former ages, forgiveness of sin doesn’t rank high
on the list of desirable commodities. That is why we are in greater need of the
gift of repentance.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark129"></a><a name="bookmark128"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark129;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Meaning
of Repentance</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark129;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark128;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">I
wouldn’t have you think, however, that repentance means the awareness of sin and
sorrow for sin. Sorrow for sin is just one aspect of repentance – and by no means
the most important one. Repentance is rendered in Greek by the word </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">meta- noia,</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
which indicates a total change of heart and mind, a turning of our heart and mind
away from selfishness and on to God. Perhaps the best formula for repentance is
the commandment enunciated by Jesus, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour
as yourself” (Luke </span></span><st1:time hour="10" minute="27"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">10:27</span></span></st1:time><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">).
I could weep bitter tears for my sins and tell God I am deeply sorry for them and
beg pardon for them. That still doesn’t put me in possession of the gift of repentance.
I may be far from willing to give up all my inordinate attachments and to love
God totally and to lead the radically new life with the radically new attitudes
that this implies. How well Jesus puts it in the passage of Revelation that I quoted
earlier: Here was a person and a Church that had actually worked hard for his
cause, and borne much suffering for his sake: “I know all your ways, your toil and
your fortitude! ... Fortitude you have; you have borne up in my cause and never
flagged.” There was also loyalty to his truth, discernment in rejecting false teachings
and false apostles. Yet, the Lord is not satisfied. This Church still needs repentance,
because it falls short in love. “I have this against you: You have lost your early
love. Think from what a height you have fallen; repent, and do as you once did.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There is another characteristic of the grace of repentance.
It is always accompanied with much joy and peace. When the theme of repentance and
sorrow for sin is touched on in retreats and sermons, people generally prepare themselves
for lots of “negative” feelings – feelings of guilt and self-hatred and even sadness
and gloom. But anyone who confuses sadness with sorrow for sin has not experienced
the sorrow for sin that comes from the Spirit. How frequently we hear people
say to us after a confession of sins that they felt lightsome and happy, as though
a weight had been lifted from them! Strange paradox: tears of sorrow that we have
offended God coexist with sentiments of joy that we have found him again, that
he loves us still, that all our sins are forgotten. And isn’t that just the way
it should be? When we are lost in a forest and find our way home again, when we
lose a precious treasure and then recover it, isn’t that cause for intense rejoicing?</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Jesus always links repentance with feelings of deep
joy. Very delicately he will tell us how it is the Father who rejoices when the
wayward child comes home, the shepherd who rejoices when the lost sheep is found,
the angels of God who rejoice at the repentance of one sinner. How much then will
be the joy of the child who is once again received into the home of his Father and
the sheep that finds its way into the fold and the sinners who see they have given
God so much delight by returning to him! So if you have been disposing yourself
to gloom and sadness when I suggested the theme of repentance for your meditation,
I want you to know that it is just the opposite sentiments that you must prepare
yourselves for: joy that you are going to be embraced once again by your loving
Father and love, very intense love, in fact, all the love of your heart for him
and for his son Jesus Christ. There is no better way I know for repenting than
to repeat again and again, “My God, I do indeed love you, I want very much to love
you with all my heart and mind and strength.”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark131"></a><a name="bookmark130"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark131;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Repentance
Follows</span></span></span></a><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> <a name="bookmark133"></a><a name="bookmark132"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark133;">the
Encounter with Christ</span></a></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark133;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark132;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">At the beginning of this conference I spoke of repentance
as a means for encountering Christ. That is only partially accurate. The encounter
with Christ generally precedes the grace of repentance. There is, no doubt,
some initial repentance that helps us to experience Christ more deeply, but it is
only after the experience that we receive the grace of repentance in all its fullness.
It is only after we have met him that we understand what sin is and what love is.
It is only after we have come out into the light from a dark dungeon that we understand
how dark it was down there and what a precious, lovely thing light is. While we
were there, our eyes had adjusted to the darkness and we might even have failed
to realize that we were in darkness and in need of the light. Saint, not sinners,
know what sin is, because they have come into the light of God. We know our sin
through a revelation of God, not through reason.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Scripture gives us many examples of this. Paul thought
he was rendering a service to God while he was persecuting the Church. It was only
after his encounter with Christ that he realized his sin; then he called himself
inferior to all apostles, not even worthy to be called an apostle because he persecuted
the Church of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:9). He even went to the extent of calling
himself the greatest of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). But to realize all of this he
had first to encounter the Lord. It was the same with Peter. He discovers who Jesus
really is and then exclaims, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” This
is also similar to the prophet Isaiah, who in his sixth chapter, describes the vision
he had of God, after which he becomes keenly conscious of his sin: “Woe is me,
for I am a man with polluted lips.” Zacchaeus repents and is converted after
the Lord comes to his house (Luke 19), and the woman (Luke 7) sheds tears of love
and repentance when she meets the Lord.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">And isn’t this just as it should be? For how can we
be sorry for offending the Lord unless we first love him? And how shall we love
him unless we first come into contact with him and have some experience of him?
This is why I feel that the meditation on sin and repentance is the meditation not
of beginners in the spiritual life, but of the great saints, the men and women
who have progressed a great deal in holiness. So it is not surprising to read
that the saintly Cure D’Ars was constantly desiring to run away from his parish
and become a hermit. And why? To weep for his sins, if you please! It is disconcerting
and unintelligible to those of us who have not yet realized what it means to love
God and be loved by him, those of us who have not yet “seen” the Lord.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There is, therefore, no need to get discouraged if
you do not immediately get this extraordinary grace. The Lord is probably keeping
it for you for the end, when your love for him will have deepened considerably.
Content yourself now with desiring him ardently and loving him as much as you can.
I once came across a prayer that is attributed to St. Anselm. I am going to give
it to you here because I think it sets forth admirably the stages through which
most people pass before they attain to realization of and sorrow for their sins,
and all these stages are a fairly adequate descript</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">n of the grace of repentance in its fullness. They
are: desire for God, love of God, and hatred for sin. Here is the prayer: “O Lord
our God, grant us grace to desire thee with our whole hearts; that so desiring,
we may seek and find thee, and so finding thee may love thee; and loving thee,
may hate those things from which thou hast redeemed us. Amen.”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark135"></a><a name="bookmark134"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark135;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Some Scripture
Texts</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark135;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark134;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In my next conference I shall speak to you of the dangers
involved in meditation on repentance and on our sinfulness. At the end of this conference
I should like to offer you some of the very many texts that Scripture gives us
for meditation on this subject First, some texts from the New Testament and then
some from the Old.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Luke 7: The woman of Magdala. Notice the emphasis
that Jesus places on love in the forgiveness of sin. Luke 15: The parables of
the loving Father, the lost coin and the lost sheep. Here the emphasis is on
joy and loving kindness. Acts 9: The conversion of St Paul. John 4: The conversion
of the Samaritan woman. Luke 19: The conversion of Zacchaeus. John 21: Peter’s
confession of love. 1 Timothy 1:15: A very consoling passage where Paul says, in
effect, if God could do such wonders in a person like me, what will he do in others
who trust in him! Revelation 2:1-7 and Revelation 3:14-22: The lover shamelessly
standing outside and knocking, as if he has more need of us than we of him; so similar
to the shepherd going in search of the lost sheep and the loving Father waiting
for his prodigal son.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Old Testament is rich in passages for meditation
on sin and repentance. I shall limit myself to some passages from the prophets:
Ezekiel 16, Jeremiah 2, and Hosea 2. Isaiah 63:7-64 contains a very moving prayer
that you may want to make your own.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Above all, do not try to produce the grace of repentance
and sorrow for sin. Ask for it. Ask for the gift of loving God. Ask for the gift
of meeting him in your prayer these days. Repentance will follow.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<span class="Headingnumber2"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="break-before: page; page-break-before: always;" />
</span></span>
<p class="Headingnumber20" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid;"><a name="bookmark136"><span class="Headingnumber2"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">11</span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark136;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><a name="bookmark138"></a><a name="bookmark137"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark138;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">The Dangers of Repentance</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark138;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark137;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">When repentance is wrongly understood, when there is
an overemphasis on guilt and fear of punishment and self-hatred, then repentance
becomes a very dangerous thing. All good things are dangerous and the grace of repentance
is no exception. I should like, in this conference, to list some of these dangers
for you.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark140"></a><a name="bookmark139"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark140;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Refusal
to Forgive Oneself</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark140;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark139;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">God is only too willing to forgive us. We do not even
have to say we are sorry. We have only to desire to come back to him. He will not
even let the prodigal son finish the little repentance speech he was making. Nothing
is easier in all the world than attaining forgiveness from God. He is more eager
to give forgiveness than we to receive it</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The problem is not with God but with us. For one thing,
many people refuse to believe that forgiveness is something they can get so easily.
And, worse still, they refuse to forgive themselves. They are constantly brooding
over how miserable and wretched they have been, wishing they had never sinned,
wishing they had always kept their slate clean.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">They then go on to develop a false sense of unworthiness.
They are totally unworthy of God’s graces. They must do penance; they must purify
themselves; they must atone thoroughly for the past before they can become worthy
again of God’s favors. I know of no greater obstacle to progress in the spiritual
life than this false sense of unworthiness. Even sin is not so great an obstacle.
Sin, far from being an obstacle, is a positive help, if there is repentance. But
this false sense of unworthiness (this refusal, on our part, to forget the past
and push on into the future) makes it just impossible for us to make any progress
at all. I knew a priest who had lapsed grievously after his ordination. I was
convinced that, in prayer, God was giving him extraordinary graces, that God was
inviting him to high contemplation. But it was impossible to convince this priest
of that. He was a despicable sinner in his own eyes; he was unworthy; anything
that seemed like a special grace from God was suspect and an illusion – just pride
appearing in a subtle form. The grace of God can triumph over sin easily; over
this form of resistance it can triumph only with the greatest difficulty!</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Let me give you another example, this one of a seminarian
who was plagued with a sexual difficulty that he was trying, with all good will
but little success, to overcome. While talking with him one day, I suddenly discovered
that his whole notion of God was entirely pagan. Here he was, a seminarian, with
some training in theology, and he hadn’t as yet heard the good news. The God he
was dealing with was the God of reason, or the God of any other relig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">n you please, not the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
He was obsessed with a sense of his unworthiness, with the need to purify himself
and do penance before he could approach this all-holy God of his and establish loving
relations with him. I had a fantasy of him while he was talking and I shared it
with him. I said to him, I see you as a woman who has been disloyal to her husband
and turned prostitute. She is now sorry for her sins and has returned home. But
she dare not enter the house. She stands outside, in the street, in sackcloth and
ashes, determined to do penance for her sins. And there she stands, day after
day, for weeks and months on end. Of what good is that penance of hers to her
husband? He wants her love again, he wants to feel the warmth of her body and enjoy
her caresses. But the woman is obstinate in first “purifying” herself – or, perhaps,
she is just too afraid to take the risk of walking right into the house, to embrace
her husband and tell him she loves him still. The seminarian listened to me attentively,
then he said slowly, “That’s just what I am. I don’t dare go in. I’m too scared
to take the risk. I might be rejected.” I said to him, “Would you be able to go
to the chapel now and, forgetting all your sins and sexual difficulties, just look
at the Lord and say, Lord I love you with all my heart?” “No, I wouldn’t dare
do that.” “Well, try doing it right here. We shall both pray silently for a while.
And let us both forget our sins and center our hearts on the Lord and tell him
that we love him.” That is what we did for about five minutes. It was a very moving
experience for him and for me.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Many
of us have yet to learn that repentance doesn’t mean saying, “Lord, I’m sorry”
(I was impressed by the sentence in that delightful novel </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Love Story,</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
“Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”), but, “Lord, I love you with all
my heart.” Have you noticed that nowhere in the New Testament does Jesus tell
us that in order to get forgiveness for our sins we must be sorry? He is not,
obviously, excluding sorrow for sin. He just doesn’t explicitly demand it. Whereas
we have made such a fuss about contrition, and how many penitents I have had
who were bothered to distraction about whether they had sufficient contrition,
whether their contrition was “perfect” or “imperfect” and such other largely irrelevant
questions as far as forgiveness is concerned. And while we got lost in what Jesus
did not explicitly demand of us, we conveniently overlooked the things that he
explicitly and insistently demanded. He said, “If you want forgiveness from my
heavenly Father, then you must forgive your brother.” That one condition was conspicuously
absent from the conditions for a “good confession” that were listed in our old
catechism books. We were quite meticulous about examining our consciences and telling
all our sins to the priest and making an act of contrition and a purpose of amendment
and fulfilling the penance enjoined us. We were not explicitly told that more important
by far than all of these, was that we forgive our brothers and sisters any wrong
they have done us. Indeed, we were not told that if this were missing, our sins
were simply not forgiven, no matter how perfect our contrition or how accurate
our recital of our sins to the priest in the confessional. There’s another thing
that Jesus demanded of us if we would have our sins forgiven: love. As simple as
that. Come to me and say you love me and your sins will be forgiven. We are accustomed
to think of those tears of the woman of Magdala as tears of sorrow for sin. I
wonder where we got that notion in the face of Jesus’ explicit statement that her
tears and all she was doing were expressions of her love. Many sins are forgiven
her </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">because</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
she has loved much. After Peter’s denial of Jesus, this is what Jesus demands
of him: an expression of love. “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than all
else?” This is precisely what repentance is all about, and if we would be keenly
aware of this we would be spared all the discouragement and sadness and even excessive
fear of God that many people feel when they dwell on their sinfulness and seek
the grace of repentance. I advise you to spend some time with Our Lord after this
conference, a time of repentance in which you just tell him again and again as
Peter did, “Lord, you know all things, you know I love you.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This brings me to another characteristic of the Christian
God I was speaking of earlier, as opposed to the God of reason and all other gods;
a characteristic of the good news that Jesus preached, as opposed to the tenets
of rational, sober relig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">n. The characteristic is this: for Jesus, even though
to sin is the greatest conceivable evil, to be a sinner is a value. Hate sin with
all your heart and avoid it. But if you have sinned and (this is important) repent,
then you have reason to rejoice, because there is greater joy in heaven over
the sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who have no need of repentance.
Who can understand this kind of madness? The kind of madness that seizes the Church
when, on the vigil of Easter, she speaks of the sin of Adam as a “necessary sin,”
as a “happy fault,” because it brought us our savior Jesus Christ. The Church is
only echoing what St. Paul says to the Romans.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Where sin abounded, grace superabounded. He obviously
sees the value of our having sinned. Then he draws the logical conclusion from
this idea. Why not sin deliberately so that we shall receive even more grace? And
he recoils from this conclusion in horror. God forbid, he says. We are dealing
here with a mystery that is beyond the comprehension of the human mind. It is important
to maintain the truth of both these opposites. Hate sin. And, if you have sinned
and repented, consider yourself very lucky indeed because grace is going to be
poured into you in superabundant measure. The repentant sinner (the sinner who returns
to God in love) draws God to himself with greater force than a magnet. God finds
him not loathsome, but irresistible. That is the good news. The other stuff about
being sorry and making atonement for our sins isn’t good news at all. It is stale
news. We knew it all along without the benefit of Jesus’ proclamation.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark142"></a><a name="bookmark141"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark142;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Excessive
Fear of God</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark142;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark141;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Excessive fear of God is another bad effect of meditation
on our sinfulness when it isn’t properly made: an excessive fear of God and of
his punishment. I am impressed by the vast number of Christians, even and especially
priests, who are full of fear of God. They are still trapped within a religion
of law, twenty centuries after Jesus preached a God who was love itself and a liberation
from the burden of the law. These are not necessarily scrupulous people, and often
they are not even conscious of this fear that rules their spiritual lives. But
their dealings with God are characterised by one big round of duties. If there is
ever any danger of death, the first thing they will want to do is rush to confession
– the sacrament of reconciliation is used by them for purposes that are totally
alien to the mentality ofjesus: to get a guarantee that will allow them to stand
before God blameless, to “protect” themselves from God and his judgment. It has
never occurred to them how repugnant is the very notion that Christians, no matter
how sinful, should seek to protect themselves from their heavenly Father. The underlying
fear that prompted so many priests to say their breviary in the old days is a
good example of this. (As is also the fear that brought and still brings many Catholics
to mass on Sunday – and then we violently reject any accusation that our relig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">n is a relig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">n of law, fully a match for the relig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">n of the Pharisees that Jesus attacked in his teachings).
It was believed in the old days that to omit even one of the small hours of the
breviary was a mortal sin (meaning, your heavenly Father would throw you into hell
for that offense – and don’t come to argue with me after this conference, because
I know all the arguments about the fruit being a small thing, but the disobedience
of Adam and Eve being the really criminal thing. I am perfectly aware how, in our
neurotic desire to control people by increasing the number of mortal sins, we allowed
our reason to draw the most absurd “logical” conclusions). One victim of this old
mentality was a priest who prayed faithfully for twenty years of his priestly life,
never omitting his breviary or his meditation or his examination of conscience.
But there was such a joylessness in his prayer and his dealings with God in general.
He once said to me sadly, “I sometimes get the irrational feeling that if there
were no commandments, I would be a saint. I’d feel so free and liberated – and
I know I would keep everyone of those commandments spontaneously.” I was reminded
of a Jesuit friend of mine who told me that he never realized how much he enjoyed
study until he entered the relig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">us life. At home he had a mother who nagged him so
much into study that he was “forced” to do under constraint and with distaste
what he would have done with real relish and enjoyment had he been left free. I
am also reminded of another Jesuit, a seminarian, who was a very fervent person,
a kind of model relig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">us, but who seemed perpetually sad, inspite of his,
to me, artifical attempts at jollity. One day, in a moment of deep insight, the
root of his sadness was unearthed. He found himself saying to this God whom he
was serving with all his heart and soul, “God, I really hate you. You are a kill-joy.
I just cannot enjoy life while you are around. You won’t allow me. You won’t leave
me free.” There is (or at least has been) something very, very, very wrong with
our understanding of Jesus and his message.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">To deal with this neurotic fear of God we need another
understanding of law and its place in our life. I am not advocating the abolition
of law, but another understanding of it. The problem is not the demands that
the law makes. (People who want to rid themselves of the demands of the law and
live under the Spirit in the hope that they will then be able to live comfortably
ever after, have no notion at all of the pains that freedom brings and of the loving
demands that the Spirit makes – far greater than anything that law would ever dream
of!) So the problem is not the demands that the law makes. It is law in as much
as it breeds fear and in as much as it binds and renders us incapable to serving
God freely. So a fresh understanding of the law is necessary if we are to respond
in love and freedom to the God whom Jesus proclaimed.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There’s something else that is necessary: a better understanding
of God’s love for us, a love that is unconditional. Have you observed the type
of love a good mother has for her children? She doesn’t love them because they
are good. She loves them because they are her children. She obviously wants them
to be good, she wants them to improve. A mother whose son is a criminal will want
him to give up his evil ways. But, being a mother, she doesn’t cease to love him.
She will not say, “First stop being a criminal and then I will love you.” She
says, “I hate your criminal ways, but I still love you very intensely because
you are my son.” If there is any hope of the boy changing, it is because of this
unconditional love of his mother for him. Do we dare to think that this is the
way God loves us?</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Scripture scholars tell us of the difference between
the messages of the Old Testament and the New. Put crudely, in the Old Testament
God said, if you are good and obedient, I shall be kind to you; if you are rebellious,
I shall be angry with you and destroy you. Jesus shows us a different God, so
to speak, one who is good to saints and sinners alike, who gives to both the benefits
of his rain and his sunshine and his love. God’s love is not limited to those people
who fulfil certain conditions, any more than a mother’s love is limited to those
children who keep all the rules she imposes. To preach this kind of God, as Jesus
did, is a very dangerous business. People will tend to take advantage of his goodness.
But that is the way with all love: it takes the risk, it leaves itself vulnerable
to being taken advantage of – how else will it win the love of the other? And
this is the risk that Jesus was ready to take and did indeed take when he showed
us the true nature of his Father.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">When
I was a novice, our novice master would say to us, “The red letter day in your spiritual
life will come, not when you believe that you love God, but when you realize that
he loves you!” Many years of experience (experience of others and my own) have
shown me how right he was. What a transformation occurs in our lives, how rapidly
we begin to change, when we realize how much and how unconditionally he loves and
accepts us! I read of a Protestant pastor who seemed to have the charism of mediating
an encounter with Christ precisely through mediating to the other person the experience
of Christ’s unconditional love. Someone would say to him, “I’d like to meet Christ.
How and where can I meet him?” This pastor would take this person to some quiet
place where they were not likely to be disturbed and say something like this to
him or her (I am giving you the details as nearly as I can remember them because
I am going to recommend that you do the same thing for yourselves later), “I want
you to close your eyes and listen carefully to what I say: Jesus Christ, the Risen
Lord, is present here with us. Do you believe this?” After a period of silence
the person would reply, “Yes, I believe this.” “Now listen to something that
may be harder for you to believe,” the pastor would continue. “Listen carefully:
Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord, loves and accepts you just as you are. You don’t
have to change. You don’t have to become better. You don’t even have to get out
of your sin. You don’t have to do this in order to get his love. You have it already,
right now, in whatever condition you are. In fact, we know how intense his love
is for us precisely because he loves us when we are sinners and is even ready
to die for us. Do you believe this?” A much longer pause occurs generally before
the person says, “Yes. I believe that Jesus who is here loves me just as I am.”
*Then,” says the pastor, “say something to Jesus. Say it aloud.” The person doesn’t
pray for long before grasping the pastor’s hand and saying, “You are right. He </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">is</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
here! I can sense his<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I am not recommending this as an infallible way for
mediating the experience of Christ’s presence to everyone. This may have been a
special charism possessed by this pastor. However, I have recommended this exercise
to people with very, very good results. I remember offering this exercise to a large
group of nearly two hundred seminarians and priests in retreat during a Holy Hour
service on the eve of the Feast of the Sacred Heart. I told them to take a few
minutes to remind themselves of the presence of the Risen Lord there in the
chapel, then to spend some time in letting the other truth sink in – that Jesus
loves and accepts all of us just as we are – and then to pour their hearts out
to the Lord in loving prayer. Many of them told me that it was certainly the most
effective prayer they made in that whole retreat One community of sisters practiced
this exercise as a group and told me that it brought them extraordinary spiritual
graces.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Inspite of a deep-rooted reluctance I have for giving
credence to visions and revelations, not excluding the revelations pertaining
to the devotion to the Heart of Christ made to Margaret Mary, I am a great believer
in the efficacy of this devotion and am willing to accept these revelations as an
instance of the gift of prophecy that Christ continues to exercise in order to
communicate with his Church down the centuries. He is reported to have said that
those who practice this devotion will experience untold benefits in their spiritual
lives – sinners will be given the grace of conversion, saints will make extraordinary
progress in holiness. Priests and others who propagate this devotion are told
that they will experience in their apostolate fruits beyond their wildest expectations.
All of this makes perfect sense to me. Please do not confuse devotion to the Heart
of Christ with the many devotions that have been inflicted upon us – tiresome and
sentimental as so many of them were. Do not even confuse it with the symbol of
the pierced heart, which appeals to some and disgusts others. The essence of this
devotion, as I see it, is to accept that love which the Father has for us in Christ,
to accept the fact that Jesus loves us unconditionally, that he is love itself.
If you accept this truth in your own life and help others to accept it, you cannot
but experience extraordinary results in your own spiritual life and in your apostolate.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">We often ask ourselves, “What have I done for Christ?
What shall I do for Christ?” Rarely do we realize that the finest thing we could
do for him is believe in his love for us. Have you ever had the experience of someone
you love very much saying to you, “I cannot quite believe that you really love
me?” If you have, then you will know that what we want most from those we love,
more than all the service they can offer us, is that they believe in our love,
that they love us in return and that they value this love that we are offering
them. This, to me, is what the devotion to the Sacred Heart is all about How
badly the world is in need of it today!</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark144"></a><a name="bookmark143"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark144;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Experiencing
Christ as a Demand</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark144;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark143;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is the final danger involved in the meditation
on repentance and on our sinfulness. Christ is frequently experienced by people
as a demand long before he is experienced as a gift And the call to repentance
frequently heightens this sense that Christ is a demand, the demanding God, always
asking for more and more and more, insatiable, never satisfied, no matter how
much one gives or does.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is best illustrated, I think, by the prayer someone
once made. It ran something like this, “Lord, I want to receive your Holy Spirit
But I am afraid to ask you for him, because I am afraid of the demands he will
make on me. Help me, Lord to overcome my fears.” I was more than a little scandalized
by this prayer. And the tragedy is that this prayer is one that many others share
in: the fear of coming too close to God, the fear of his demands on us. The Holy
Spirit is the Father’s gift to us – and we are afraid of this gift! We are afraid
of the strings that will be attached to this gift when it comesl.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Imagine a loving Father bringing toys home for his
children. He walks in eagerly, unwraps the toys and offers them to the kids – who
stand back, fearful to accept the toys. They know their father; this is a bribe;
he’s going to make demands on them afterwards; they will have to pay the price
for the joy these toys bring. They’d rather not have the toys. Isn’t this the
way we treat our heavenly Father? We can hardly bring ourselves to believe that
the offers he makes to us come without any strings attached, that all he wants is
our happiness and peace.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Perhaps we are not entirely to blame for this. We have
been brought up to believe that God is a demanding God rather than a loving Father
who loves us unconditionally. The best way to correct that notion is to stop measuring
up to the demands, real or imaginary, that we think God is making on us. Do not
give in to the demands of the beloved, give in only to the demands of the love in
your own heart If you ignore the love in your own heart and strive to give more
than you have the love for, you will end up by either feeling guilty or resentful.
Far from increasing your love, this will make it diminish.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This will become clear if I give you an example. Let
us imagine a boy, John, who is passionately in love with Mary. In an excess of
love he will sometimes forego lunch and, with his lunch money, buy flowers to present
to Mary in the evening. Love does crazy things like this. Love even grows on gestures
like these. Now imagine that Henry comes to me for help because he is finding it
hard to feel love for his wife, Jane. And I say to him, “Why don’t you imitate
John? Forego your lunch and with the money you save buy flowers for Jane.” Instead
of recapturing this love for Jane, he is only likely to build up a resentment
against her. Slavishly imitating the behavior of a lover without possessing those
inner dispositions is no formula for becoming a lover oneself. You can see the
danger involved in our telling our novices to imitate the behavior of the saints
when they do not as yet have in their hearts the love of God that inspired that
behavior. We sometimes urge them on in the fond hope that the behavior will automatically
produce the love. But there is no evidence for this at all; quite the contrary.
They are likely to end up discouraged and to give the whole thing up.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">God never demands of you more than what the love
you feel for him in you heart demands. If you want to do the great deeds that
the saints did for him, then ask him to pour into your heart the love that the
saints had for him. As your love for him grows, so will your ability to give yourself
to him cheerfully. God loves a cheerful giver. Constraint and force do not last
very long. A priest once said to me, “One morning at meditation, I realized as never
before that God loves me unconditionally. I think I made more progress in that
one day than I did in twenty years of living up to God’s demands, or what I thought
were God’s demands on me.” Very true. Ask Jesus to give you the experience of his
love for you. Your generosity in doing great things for him will then take care
of itself; it will follow automatically.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
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<p align="center" class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 18pt;"><a name="bookmark145"><span class="Headingnumber2"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">12</span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark145;"></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><a name="bookmark147"></a><a name="bookmark146"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark147;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">The Social Aspect of Sin</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark147;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark146;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In this brief conference I want to speak to you of an
aspect of sin that appeals to the modern mind. In former days saints were deeply
moved to contrition at the contemplation of Christ on the Cross and the thought
that it is sin, their sin, that had crucified him. Today I think people are more
moved at the crucifixion of Christ that goes on today as a result of sin.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark149"></a><a name="bookmark148"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark149;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Am I Responsible
for</span></span></span></a><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> <a name="bookmark151"></a><a name="bookmark150"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark151;">My
Brother’s and Sister’s Suffering?</span></a></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark151;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark150;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It is our belief that all suffering has come into
this world as a result of sin. And the more sin there is, the more suffering. Jesus
is on his cross today again in the person of his brothers and sisters: the victims
of injustice, the sick, the emotionally ill. Just as I could stand in front of
the crucified Christ and say, “My sin has done this,” so I can stand before anyone
who is suffering today and say, “My sin has done this.” That is the reason why we
confessed our sin not only to God but also to our brothers and sisters. It is not
God alone that we hurt by our sin, but the whole mystical body. Father Teilhard
puts it well. He says, “Strike the bronze gong in one place and the whole gong reverberates.”
For better or for worse, we are all part of one body; if one member of the body
is diseased the rest of the body suffers too.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Someone once told the Hindu saint, Swami Ramdas, that
an agnostic man in the West had said, “I do not believe in God. If I did, I would
seek him out and strangle him for all the suffering he has caused in the world.”
Ramdas replied, “If I were to meet this man, I would gently place his hands at
his throat and say, go ahead; here is the one who is causing the suffering; strangle
him.” It is customary for us today to blame the evils in the world and the Church
on others. It isn’t really the liberals or the conservatives who are to blame
for the turmoil and confusion in the Church. It isn’t the capitalists and the
communists who are responsible for the suffering and the injustice in the world.
It is sin. My sin. If we would eradicate sin, we would eradicate suffering.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If we accept this truth, we will see how important it
is to work for the eradication of sin in the world. We have plunged wholeheartedly
into the work of eradicating hunger and unemployment and disease and illiteracy.
Excellent! This is a work of compassion. This is what our Christian love demands
of us. If we are coldhearted towards our suffering and underprivileged brothers
and sisters, our preaching is meaningless, we do not have Christ’s love in our
hearts.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">But we may never forget that in doing this work it is
the symptoms that we are tackling; we have also to work on the root. An anaesthetic
will kill the pain that a cancer patient feels; it will not kill the cancer. No
more will the eradication of hunger and disease and illiteracy kill the cancer
of selfishness at the root of all these evils. Witness the nations of the West
where some of these symptoms have been successfully eradicated. Are they happier,
more selfless, more loving? In fact, is there less suffering there than in the underdeveloped
countries? We have achieved little if we have not come to grips with the problem
of selfishness and sin.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It is easier to understand now whyjesus seemed to
pay such little attention to the social and political problems of his time and
to give so much importance to sin and the forgiveness of sin. A very social-minded
seminarian who worked among the refugees of Bangladesh came back from those scenes
of misery and starvation and said to me, “I have realized that the greatest evil
in the world is not that a man should die of hunger. That is a painful death, no
doubt; but people die equally painful deaths, I imagine, in affluent societies
when they die of cancer, and modern medicine is unable to kill the pain. No,
the really horrible thing is not the pain of starvation; the horrible thing is
the callousness and indifference of the man who could help his starving brother
and will not” The horror of selfishness and of sin!</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The social apostolate is thought of today as being
work to uplift the poor, the eradication of social injustice. We rarely think
of the work a priest does in the confessional and in the proclamation of the Word
as being social apostolate. We are losing sight of the importance of reconciling
sinners to God. May not this be part of the identity crisis that so many priests
are undergoing today, the crisis I spoke of to you at the beginning of this conference?
It is frequently a crisis of superficiality. It springs from the belief that
the primary task of the priest in the modern world is involvement – involvement
in revolution, politics, and social uplift By these standards Jesus was very “uninvolved.”
He never gives the impression that he is primarily concerned with the social and
political issues of his times; quite to the contrary, he stubbornly refuses to allow
himself to be drawn into them.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The modern priest, like Jesus, must concern himself
primarily with preaching the good news. Let him work by all means, in education
and social uplift. But let him not fail to proclaim repentance to humankind, calling
on them to admit that they are sinners, and to accept God’s gracious love. I am
reminded here of a saying of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodists: “Give
me a hundred men,” he said, “who desire nothing but God and fear nothing but sin,
and I shall shake the gates of hell and establish the kingdom of God on earth.”
That sentence could lend itself to a very fruitful exercise of prayer. Make a list,
in God’s presence, of all the things you desire. Does God come first on the list?
Of all things you fear and hate, does sin come first? If they do, you certainly
have the grace of repentance in great abundance!</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark153"></a><a name="bookmark152"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark153;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Confession</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark153;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark152;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I would like to say a few words at the end of this conference
on what we have traditionally called the sacrament of confession. I prefer the
word used by modern authors, the sacrament of reconciliation, or the sacrament
of repentance. Many retreatants in the past have told me that receiving this sacrament
has been a great help, even a turning point, in their retreat. It might do for
you what it has done for them.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Priests have sometimes told me that they hardly ever
receive this sacrament because it brings no improvement in their lives. “What’s
the use of confessing the same old sins and defects time after time? There seems
to be no improvement, and I feel like a hypocrite. If I were sincere in my repentance,
those sins should disappear, shouldn’t they?”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The assumption here is that the primary aim of this
sacrament is the removal of sins and defects, an assumption I do not agree with.
The primary aim of this sacrament is reconciliation with God, a deeper union with
Christ, a fresh infusion of the power of the Holy Spirit. And so, the dispositions
with which we approach this sacrament are more important than that list of sins
we confess, and these graces I have just mentioned are more important than the removal
of defects. Christ may will us to have these defects all our lives so that his
power may shine out in our weakness. They will not prevent us from growing in holiness
or from getting the spiritual treasures this sacrament offers.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If we are to draw profit from this sacrament, we must
approach it with proper dispositions. So far there has been a concern, an over-concern,
to examine our consciences and make as accurate a list of our sins as possible.
This is of secondary importance compared with the dispositions I am going to enumerate
now.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The first thing we must do is forgive others all
the wrong others have done us. Jesus brings this out forcefully in the parable
of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18), and also in the Sermon on the Mount when
he says,</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">If, when you are bringing your gift
to the altar, you suddenly remember that your brother has a grievance against
you, leave your gift where it is before the altar. First go and make your peace
with your brother, and only then come back and offer your</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> gift... This is how you should pray: Our Father in
heaven ... forgive us the wrong we have done, as we have forgiven those who have
wronged us... For if you forgive others the wrongs they have done, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, then the wrongs
you have done will not be forgiven by your Father.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Matthew 5:23-24; 6:14-15<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Finally, in Mark 11:25 he says,</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
when you stand praying, if you have a grievance against anyone, forgive him, so
that your Father in heaven may forgive you the wrongs you have done.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In a previous conference I have dealt with this topic
of forgiving our brothers and sisters the wrongs they have done us and suggested
some exercises in prayer for this purpose. You may want to use one or other of
these exercises as a preparation for the sacrament of reconciliation.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Another disposition we must bring to this sacrament
is the acknowledgment of our sinfulness. This was Jesus’ complaint against the
Pharisees. They would not see their sinfulness and their need of him. The parable
of the pharisee and the publican (Luke 18) is a clear example of this. So are Jesus’
words to the Pharisees in Matthew 9:12-13: “It is not the healthy that need a
doctor, but the sick. ... I did not come to invite virtuous people, but sinners.”
See how Paul insists on this same disposition in Romans, Chapters 2 and 3. St.John
does the same:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">If we claim to be sinless, we are self-deceived
and st</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">rangers to the truth. If we confess
our sins, he is just, and may be trusted to forgive our sins and cleanse us from
every kind of wrong; but if we say we have committed no sin, we make him out to
be a liar, and then his word has no place in us.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">IJohn 1:8</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">-10 </span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">And
in the Book of Revelation, John puts these words into the mouth of Jesus,</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">You say, “How rich I am! And how well
I have done! I have everything I want in the world.” In fact, though you do not
know it, you are the most pitiful wretch, poor, blind, an</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">d naked. So I advise you to buy from me gold refined
in the fire, to make you truly rich, and white clothes to put on to hide the shame
of your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so that you may see... Be on your
mettle and repent</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Revelation 3:17-19<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Yet another disposition we must bring to this sacrament
is a great love for Jesus and a great desire to see him. I have dealt with this
theme when I spoke earlier about the meaning of repentance. Remember the demand
that Jesus makes of the Church of Ephesus that it come back to its early love (Revelation
2:1-5); the eager longing of Zacchaeus (Luke 19); the loving tears of the woman
of Magdala (Luke 7) and Peter’s confession of love for Jesus (John 21).</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">One final disposition to bring to this sacrament is
a belief in Jesus’ great desire to forgive us. He brings this out forcefully in
his parables of the loving father, the lost coin, the lost sheep (Luke 15) and in
his words in the book of Revelation: “Here I stand knocking at the door; if anyone
hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and sit down to supper with him
and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). Anyone! No matter how sinful you are. All
you need do is hear his voice and open the door to him!</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Having spoken of these dispositions, let me suggest
a way of receiving this sacrament during this retreat that others have found helpful
and that you may want to try. For one thing, you may wish to sit down rather than
kneel if you think this will help you to be more at ease and to speak at greater
leisure.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">You may begin by thanking God for some of the graces
he has given you. Doing this before the priest is a witness before the Church’s
representative of your gratitude to God who has been so good to you. Gratitude
will also dispose you to a greater realization of God’s love for you and to a
deeper experience of repentance.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">After you have mentioned your sins, I suggest you ask
for healing in some areas of your life. Mention any illness, physical, emotional,
or spiritual that you wish the Lord to cure you of. The forgiveness of sins was
linked by the Lord with healing and the sacrament of reconciliation is also a
sacrament of healing. The reason why we do not experience this more frequently is
that we do not expect it to occur. Together with healing you will frequently notice
a fresh upsurge of spiritual power in you as a result of receiving this sacrament
For, with the forgiveness of sins, we are also given a fresh infusion of the Holy
Spirit.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Then, if the priest agrees, you and he could spend
a brief while in prayer, silent or vocal, asking that through the power of the absolution
you are going to receive, the Lord may heal you and give you renewed strength in
his service.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I trust that when you receive the sacrament of reconciliation
during this retreat, the Lord will reveal to you the power that he has placed in
it and that he gives so generously to those who accept this sacrament with faith
and devotion.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
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<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><a name="bookmark154"><span class="Headingnumber2"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">13</span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark154;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><a name="bookmark156"></a><a name="bookmark155"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark156;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">The Benedictine Method
of Prayer</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark156;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark155;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In the previous conferences I have often given you
passages from Scripture for meditation and reflection. I should now like to offer
you a method of using Scripture in your prayer, a way of converting the scripture
passages into prayer. This is a method of prayer that has come to be known as
the Benedictine Method because it was popularized by St. Benedict; it has been in
use in the Church for centuries. You will probably find it extremely useful, particularly
if you tend to be distracted easily in prayer and don’t know what to do with yourself
when distractions come.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">There
are three stages in this method of prayer: Lectio, Meditatio, and Oratio. Lectio
is the </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">lectio divina,</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
the reading. You begin by reading a passage from Scripture or from some spiritual
book. I advise you not to take to prayer any book that you haven’t previously read.
There is the danger that you will be carried away by curiosity (which can sometimes
be a subtle form of laziness) and spend most of your time in reading rather than
in praying. Let’s suppose you have begun by reading a passage from Scripture or
from a book like </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Imitation
of Christ.</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"> You keep on reading until you come
to a sentence or phrase that appeals to you. You are reading, let us sayjohn 7:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">On the last and greatest day of the festival
Jesus sto</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">od and cried aloud, “If anyone is
thirsty let him come to me; whoever believes in me, let him drink. As Scripture
says, ‘Streams of living water shall flow out from within him.’”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Those words of Jesus appeal to you. Then this is the
place to stop your reading, to end the Lectio and move on to Meditatio, the meditation.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Meditation is done with one’s mouth, not with one’s
mind. This is not a matter of reflection and discursive thought but a repetition
of these words either vocally or mentally. When the psalmist says in Psalm 118
that he will constantly meditate on the law of God and that he finds this law sweet
to his tongue, sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, he isn’t just talking of reflection
on the law, but also of ceaseless repetition of the words of the law. So this is
what you must do with those words you have chosen. Recite them interiorly and relish
them while you recite them without stopping to make any deep reflection upon them.
You will do something like this: “If any are thirsty, let them come to me ...
If any are thirsty, let them come to me ... If any are thirsty let them come to
me ...” As you go along you will tend to emphasize some words over others and
your sentence will grow shorter: “Any. .. Any ... Any ...” or, “Come to me ...
Come to me ... Come to me ...” Keep on repeating these words as long as the repetition
brings you savor and relish. Then stop and enter the third phase, the ora- tio,
the phase of prayer.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">As
you keep on repeating those words a time will come when you will want to stop and
dwell on them silently or say something to the Lord. This is what the </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">oratio</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
is. You may say something like, “Lord, are you making this offer to anyone? Just
anyone, with no distinction between saints and sinners? Then I am coming to you
with great confidence.” Or, “How right you are, Lord, that the place to come to
when our heart is thirsty is you. I wish I had done it more frequently in my life.
I should have been a happier person. But I’m coming now.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Or, “This just doesn’t make sense to me Lord. How are
you going to slake our thirst? How often I have come to you in the past, and
I’m still thirsty. What do these words of yours mean? Tell me.” Or, as I said before,
you will not want to speak to the Lord but just be silent in his presence, letting
those words sink into you, letting yourself rest lovingly in the presence of
the Lord who has said those words.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is an ideal way of reciting the Psalms. There
are hundreds of sentences in the Psalms where we will want to rest and nourish
ourselves. I advise you to do this when you recite your breviary. So many priests
are more concerned with getting through their morning or evening prayer than with
really praying. Why not do this? If you normally take fifteen minutes for your
morning prayer, then don’t force yourself to finish the prayer within that time.
Dwell lovingly on any phrase that leads you to prayer in the Psalms or hymns or
scripture reading that you find in the breviary. And, having done this for fifteen
minutes, end your morning prayer. You will not have “finished” your morning prayer,
but you will have prayed. You will not have kept the letter of the law but you
will have observed the spirit. That is what the Church wants the priest to do:
to really pray, not just cover a certain number of pages each day.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">While I am on this subject, I want to say something
about another form of prayer that is attributed to St. John Commacus, the great
Greek master. He is reputed to have initiated dozens of monks into the art of prayer
by this simple method of his. He would get them to take a prayer formula, the Lord’s
Prayer, for instance, and to recite it with perfect attention, slowly, mindful
of what they were saying and to whom they were saying the words. Let’s suppose
you begin to say the Our Father and are attending to each word you are saying and
to the fact that it is the Father you are addressing. “Our. ” And let’s suppose
that at this point your mind begins to wander. Then, when you realize you are wandering,
bring your mind back to the words at which it began to wander. “Your kingdom
come ... Your kingdom come ...” And keep at it until you say these words too with
attention. Then move on, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” etc. It
doesn’t matter whether you feel devotion or not while you are reciting this prayer.
The important thing is that you say it attentively. The devotion will come of itself.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">St
Ignatius of Loyola recommends yet another method, which combines meditation with
vocal prayer. Here you dwell on each word you are saying, but take time out to reflect
on the meaning of each word. What does Father mean? Why do we call God, “Father”?
Why do we use the word “our” when we say “Our Father”? In the Hail Holy Queen,
I could ask myself, why do we call Mary “Queen”? Whose Queen is she? In what sense
is she a queen? We call her Holy Queen. In what sense is she Holy? What is the
meaning of holiness? And so with the other words, </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Our life, our sweetness, our hope,</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
etc. Once you have done this with a prayer, you will find that the whole prayer
comes alive when you recite it You may try this method with prayers that you frequently
say: the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory be, grace before and after meals,
the prayers of the Mass.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">These are simple ways of praying – too simple for
some of us, but very effective if we are to make progress in the art of prayer.
I have told you already how I learned from Father Calveras that vocal prayer properly
made can be the antechamber to mysticism. This was very much the teaching of St.
Teresa and the other saints who used very simple forms of prayer. In fact, it is
a sign of progress in prayer when our prayer moves from the realm of the mind and
comes to the heart, when it becomes more simple and more affective. St. Teresa
was a great advocate for praying with the heart rather than the mind. She says
she could never do much thinking in her prayer; she would be immediately distracted;
so much so that for years she never dared to go to prayer without having a book
with her, so that she could lean upon it whenever she need to, to deal with her
distractions. But she looks upon this proneness of her mind to wander as a real
blessing because she was forced to pray with her heart She would spend her time
loving God rather than thinking of him. It is to this that she attributes the great
progress she made in prayer.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is what she says in her Interior Castle of the
Soul: “I only want you to be warned that if you would make much progress in the
area and ascend to the mansions of your choice, the important thing is not to
think much but to love much.” And in her Way of Perfection she says: ‘There are
some who think that the whole thing lies in thought and if they cannot think
they feel they are wasting their time.”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Unfortunately, in our prayer lives, we cultivate our
minds far more diligently than our hearts. This is one of the chief reasons why
we draw such little benefit from prayer. The mind is obviously needed for prayer.
We need it to grasp God’s word, to listen to what God has to say to us. But merely
being occupied with some truth or reflection will not nourish and strengthen
us. If we are to come into contact with God we need the heart In fact we need
the heart even for understanding the wisdom regarding the truths of God that
the mind alone cannot give us. Let us think, by all means, but let us not give
most of our prayer time to thought; it shouldn’t be long before we quieten our
minds, cease from our thinking and awaken our hearts to love God, to rest in his
loving presence, to trust in him, worship him, unite ourselves with him. And
for this I trust you will find some of these simple methods of prayer I have suggested
in this conference very useful.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<span class="Headingnumber2"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="break-before: page; page-break-before: always;" />
</span></span>
<p class="Headingnumber20" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid;"><a name="bookmark157"><span class="Headingnumber2"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">14</span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark157;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><a name="bookmark159"></a><a name="bookmark158"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark159;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">The Kingdom of Christ</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark159;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark158;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In the last conference I offered you the theme of repentance
for your prayer and meditation. I should like to offer you another theme today,
once again developing an idea from Jesus’ first sermons: “Repent and believe
the gospel, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">After repenting and turning from ourselves to God,
after a change of heart and mind, we ask as St. Paul did, “Lord what do you want
me to do for you?” And the answer we receive from him is: “Believe the gospel.
Come follow me. Be my disciple. For the kingdom of God is at hand.” So there is
a kingdom. And there is a king! This is the theme I should like to offer you now.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Right at the beginning of the Gospels we find this
theme of the kingship of Christ The angel says to Mary, “He will be great; he will
bear the title ‘Son of the Most High’; the Lord God will give him the throne of
his ancestor David, and he will be king over Israel for ever; his reign shall never
end.” We are told here clearly that Jesus is king and that he will reign as king.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">So we search the Gospels to find this kingship of
Christ, and for a long time we search in vain. We discover the preacher, the wonder-worker,
the friend of sinners. But of the king there is no trace at all. In fact, he is
constantly avoiding the title when people want to give it to him, and he seems
to be frequently covering up the fact that he is the Messiah, whom the Jews looked
upon as a kind of relig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">us king. We finally stumble upon him in the pretorium
and hear him saying these words to Pilate: “Yes, I am a king. My kingdom is not
of this world” (John 18). Here he says it openly, “I am a king.” When he is a prisoner
and helpless, he chooses to openly proclaim his kingship. We find him hailed as
king again on the cross – Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews – and when he is
bullied and ridiculed by the soldiers who kneel before him mockingly and say,
“Hail, King” and slap him or spit upon him. “My kingdom is not of this world!”
What a perfect image of Christ’s kingship that is: him sitting there, a prisoner
being made fun of, a mock crown on his head, a mock scepter in his hands, a
mock robe of purple on his shoulders, and mock subjects kneeling before him in scorn
and ridicule!</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I suggest that you dwell on this scene in your prayer
today, It will tell you a great deal about the nature of this king and his kingdom.
And while you dwell on this scene, listen to those haunting words of his: “The
Messiah was bound to suffer thus before entering his glory” (Luke 24:25). Or take
Matthew 16:20ff., which eloquently tells the secret of Christ’s kingship. Peter
has just made his confession that Jesus is the Messiah. Once Jesus sees that his
heavenly Father has revealed to Peter that he is the Messiah, he begins to instruct
them on the meaning of his messiahship, his kingship, lest they think of this title
in a worldly way.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">From that time Jesus began to make it
clear to his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem, and there to suffer much
from the elders, chief priests, and lawyers; to be put to death and to be raised
again on the third day. At this</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> Peter
took him by the arm and began to rebuke him: “Heaven forbid!” he said. “No, Lord,
this shall never happen to you.” Then Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Away with
you, Satan; you are a stumbling block to me. You think as men think, not as God
thinks!”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Peter simply couldn’t make any sense of this kind
of kingship. And the violence of Jesus’ reaction seems to point to the fact that
he himself was tempted by Satan. It was probably hard for him too, to make sense
out of this kind of kingship, to think as God thinks, not as human beings think.
He too was human, after all, and must have rebelled against the thought that this
salvation he was going to offer the world would be offered in an obscure, underdeveloped
country where he wouldn’t even be recognized by his own and where he would die
on the cross unable to come down and make good the claim that he was the son of
God – in other words, that he would be a glorious failure and a laughing stock
to the people who really mattered. Wasn’t this what the devil was taunting him
about and tempting him with when he was in the desert? To save the world in a
somewhat more sensible way, a way that made better sense to those who think as
human beings think rather than as God thinks? But Jesus successfully overcame those
temptations. What he said does not apply only to himself, but to everyone who intends
to follow him.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Jesus then said to his disciples, “If
anyone wishes to be a follower of mine, he must leave self behind; he must take
up his cross and come with me. Who</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">ever cares
for his own safety is lost; but if a man will let himself be lost for my sake,
he will find his true self.”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Nobody is left in any doubt as to what following
the king means! In John 15:18-21 he says,</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">If the world hates you, it hated me
first, as </span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">you know well. If you belong to
the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the
world, because I have chosen you out of the world, for that reason the world hates
you. Remember what I said: “A servant is not greater than his master! As they persecuted
me, they will persecute you; they will follow your teaching as little as they have
followed mine. It is on my account that they will treat you thus, because they
do not know the One who sent me.”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">We ask the Lord why. “Why, Lord, must you and we save
the world in this way? Why is it necessary to be spat upon and ridiculed and to
suffer and to die before we can rise again with you?” Jesus always told his disciples
that to suffer and to die was necessary. He never said a single word to explain
why. So we look at him silently; we put aside the logic of reason and take on
the logic of faith, the logic of the heart. We accept him on his own terms and
say to him what Peter said, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">But, being weak like Peter, we will ask for three graces:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: 27.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><b><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The grace not to be deaf to his call.</span></i></b></span></span><b><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Jesus calls us today, too, to follow him in suffering
and death. It is very difficult to hear this call of his; we are past masters in
the art of selective hearing; we hear only what suits us. What suffering, what kind
of death is the Lord calling me to, today? Dietrich Bonhoeffer says somewhere
that when Christ calls people he bids them come and die. So we must not be fooled
when we hear Christ saying, “Come,” to us. What he really means is, “Come and die.”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: 28.7pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><b><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The grace of understanding.</span></i></b></span></span><b><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The grace of understanding it the grace of being able
to think as God thinks, not as human beings think. This is a pure grace. No amount
of intellectual effort on our part will give us the ability to think as God thinks.
There is a wisdom of God that appears folly to humankind. I advise you to read
the first three chapters of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. They are full
of this theme.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">This doctrine of the cross is s</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">heer folly to those on their way to ruin, but to us
who are on the way to salvation it is the power of God. Scripture says, “I will
destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the cleverness of the clever."
God had made the wisdom of this world look foolish. As God in his wisdom ordained,
the world failed to find him by its wisdom, and he chose to save those who have
faith by the folly of the Gospel. Jews call for miracles, Greeks look for wisdom;
but we proclaim Christ – yes, Christ nailed to the cross; and though this is a stumbling
block to Jews and folly to Greeks, yet to those who have heard his call, Jews and
Greeks alike, he is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Divine folly is wiser
than the wisdom of man and divine weakness stronger than man’s strength.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Even the apostles who lived so long with Christ did
not fully grasp this teaching regarding his kingdom. To the very end, before his
ascension, they ask him stupid questions that clearly show they have failed to
grasp what he was teaching them so painstakingly. “Lord, is this the time when
you are to establish once again the sovereignty of Israel?” they ask (Acts
1:6). To understand this they needed the Holy Spirit who came upon them at Pentecost
We, too, need the Spirit if we are to understand Christ’s teaching. No one else
can make us understand this, no retreat master, no book, not Christ himself,
for even he failed completely with the apostles. So if we are to understand, we
must ask for the gift of the Spirit.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">For the Spirit explores </span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">everything, even the depths of God’s own nature ..
. this is the Spirit that we have received from God, and not the spirit of the
world, so that we may know all that God of his own grace gives us. ... A man
who is unspiritual refuses what belongs to the Spirit of God; it is folly to him;
he cannot grasp it, because it needs to be judged in the light of the Spirit A
man gifted with the Spirit can judge the worth of everything, but is not himself
subject to judgement by his fellow-men. For (in the words of Scripture) “Who knows
the mind of the Lord? Who can advise him?” We however, possess the mind of Christ</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is the Spirit we must ask for if we, too, are
to have the mind of Christ and think the thoughts of God.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">One way to grasp this teaching of Christ is to become
a little child. When we become little children before God, he stoops down and
makes us his confidants and he gives us a wisdom that our own thinking would never
be able to produce.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, for hiding these </span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">things from
the learned and wise, and revealing them to the simple. Yes, Father, such was
thy choice.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Matthew 11:25<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: 27.7pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><b><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The grace to follow him all our lives.</span></i></b></span></span><b><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The third grace will mean much suffering, carrying
the cross with Christ – not just hard work, but sharing in a destiny like his
own. It is significant that when Paul is converted he says, “Lord, what do you
want me to do?” (Acts 22:10). The Lord replies to that question in the words he
says to Ananias: “This man is my chosen instrument, to carry my name among nations
and their kings and among the children of Israel as well. I myself will show him
how much he must suffer for my name.” The world is not redeemed by doing, but
by the cross. We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee, because by thy holy Cross
thou hast redeemed the world! And so Paul would say later to his Philippians, “All
I care for is to know Christ, to experience the power of his resurrection and
to share his sufferings, in growing conformity with his death” (Philippians
3:10).</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I shall point out to you in a later conference how
following Christ in all the radicalism of the Gospels is going to mean hardships
and poverty and being considered a fool. This is inevitable once you start thinking
and judging the way God thinks and judges, and start talking and acting accordingly.
I shall leave this for later. I only want to stress one point here, which I shall
also dwell on later, namely, that the following of Christ, the carrying of his cross,
leads not to sadness, but to joy and happiness. This is the Good News that Jesus
brings us: the secret of happiness that humankind has been longing for, for centuries.
This is not a gospel of gloom. It is only the superficial who think that happiness
is not compatible with suffering, even much suffering that is undertaken out of
love. Paul is a fine example of this. How much he suffered for Christ. He even speaks
of bearing the marks of the dying Jesus on his body and of making up what is still
wanting to the sufferings of Christ. And yet, what a joyous saint he was! A messenger
of peace and joy that he obviously possessed in overflowing measure as we can see
from his letters to his Christians. If we take a decision to follow Christ totally,
it is a hard life we are opting for, but it is important that we realize that it
is also a happy life. If we understand this, we shall follow him more readily and
wholeheartedly and more perseveringly, comforted by his loving presence and the
strength of his Holy Spirit.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<span class="Headingnumber2"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="break-before: page; page-break-before: always;" />
</span></span>
<p class="Headingnumber20" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid;"><a name="bookmark160"><span class="Headingnumber2"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">15</span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark160;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><a name="bookmark162"></a><a name="bookmark161"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark162;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">To Know, to Love, to Follow
Christ</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark162;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark161;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I have spoken to you about the kingship of Christ and
about his call to us to follow him in carrying his cross. I invite you for the next
few days to make this the theme of your prayer: discipleship, the following of
Christ, carrying his cross. To follow him is not possible without our first coming
to know and love him. And this is the grace I want you to ask God for these
days: the grace to know Christ, to love Christ, to follow Christ faithfully. In
this conference I should first like to say something about this knowing, loving,
and following. Then I want to propose to you a method for praying over the life
of Christ that might aid you in attaining the grace to know, to love, and to follow.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark164"></a><a name="bookmark163"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark164;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">To Know
Christ</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark164;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark163;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">To
know Christ means to meet him. This is how we know a person. There’s a difference
between </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">knowing
about</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"> a person and </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">knowing a.</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
person. The latter is only possible when we have met him or her personally. So ask
for the grace of knowing Christ personally.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is the kind of knowledge the good Samaritans
had of Jesus after he was introduced to them by the Samaritan woman, in John 4.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Many Samaritans of that town came to
believe in him because of the </span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">woman’s testimony:
“He told me everything I ever did.” So when these Samaritans had come to him
they pressed him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. Many more became
believers because of what they heard from his own lips. They told the woman, “It
is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard him ourselves;
and we know that this is in truth the Saviour of the World.”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is the aspiration of every priest, cathechist,
and teacher of the Gospels: that our audience should say to us, “It is no longer
because of what you have said that we believe, for we have seen and heard him ourselves.”
This is the kind of knowledge of Christ that I am speaking of. A knowledge that
is imparted by Christ himself, not by books or preachers.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">St Paul treasured this knowledge so much that he was
ready to exchange everything in the world for it Listen to his moving words:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">All such assets I have written off because
of Christ I would say more: I count everything sheer loss, because all is far </span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">outweighed by the gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,
for whose sake I did in fact lose everything. I count it so much garbage, for
the sake of gaining Christ and finding myself incorporate in him, with no righteousness
of my own, no legal rectitude. ... All I care for is to know Christ, to experience
the power of his resurrection, and to share his sufferings, in growing conformity
with his death.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Philippians 3:7-10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Is the knowledge of Christ for us what it was for St.
Paul? We are busy today picking up so many other types of knowledge for the
sake of the apostolate, we say, and we are probably wise to do so. However, if we
fail in attaining this knowledge, all the rest – all our degrees and studies – are
a total waste. I remember reading once the comparison of a watchmaker who entered
the army.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">When it was discovered that he was good at repairing
watches, he was given so much repair work that when the time came to fight he was
just too busy with repairing watches to have any time for fighting – or even
the knowledge or inclination to fight effectively. How many priests today have specialized
in all sorts of disciplines, but know so little about Christ. They just don’t have
the time for it (what on earth are they so very busy about, one wonders), and
they could hardly be expected to have a zest for giving to others what they themselves
have failed to learn.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">You must be quite convinced about one thing: this knowledge
of Christ is something that no amount of reflection or meditation on your part
will ever give you. This is a pure gift of God. All you can do is ask for it humbly
and persistently in prayer. I suggest that you ask Our Lady to intercede for
you and obtain this grace for you. It is the Father who must introduce you to
Christ and show you who he is:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Simon, son of Jonah, you are favoured
indeed! You did not learn that from mortal man; it was revealed to you by my heavenly
Father. ... I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> things from the learned and wise, and revealing them
to the simple. Yes, Father, such was thy choice. Everything is entrusted to me
by my Father; and no one knows the Son but the Father and no one knows the Father
but the Son and those to whom the Son may choose to reveal him.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Matthew 16:17; 11:25-27<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">To attain this knowledge a person must be “given”
to the Son by the Father.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is eternal life: to know thee who alone art truly God, and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent ... I have made thy name known to the men whom thou didst give me out
of the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">John 17:3.6<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">All that the Father gives me will
come to me, and the man who comes to me I will never turn </span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">away. ... It is his will that I should not lose even
one of all that he has given me... No man can come to me unless he is drawn by
the Father who sent me.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">John 6:37ff.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep and my sheep know me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">John 10:14<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">The
disciples attained this knowledge of Christ only gradually. In John 14:9 we read,
“Have I been all this time with you, Philip, and you still do not know me?” And
in Luke 9:</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><s><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">44 4</span></s></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">5,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Jesus said to his disciples, “What I now
say is for you: ponder my words. The </span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Son of Man
is going to be given up into the power of men.” But they did not understand what
he said; it had been hidden from them so that they should not perceive its drift;
and they were afraid to ask him what it meant</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This matter of the knowledge of Christ being a pure
gift of God is expressed admirably, by as unlikely a person as Mahatma Gandhi.
You know what a great admirer he was of Jesus and how heroically he put into practice
in his life the principles of the Sermon on the Mount Yet he never became a Christian,
and could not acceptjesus as the Son of God. The Protestant evangelist, Stanley
Jones, who was a great admirer of Gandhi, once wrote the following letter to him:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">You know my love for you and how I’ve
tried to interpret you and your non-violent </span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">movement to the West But I am rather disappointed in
one matter. I thought you had grasped the centre of the Christian faith, but
I’m afraid I must change my mind. I think you have grasped certain principles
of the Christian faith which have moulded you, and have helped make you great –
you have grasped the principles, but you have missed the Person. You said in Calcutta
to the missionaries that you did not turn to the Sermon on the Mount for consolation,
but to the Bhagavad Gita. Neither do I turn to the Sermon on the Mount for consolation,
but to this Person who embodies and illustrates the Sermon on the Mount; but he
is much more. Here is where I think you are weakest in your grasp. May I suggest
that you penetrate through the principles to the Person and then come back and tell
us what you have found. I don’t say this as a mere Christian propagandist I say
this because we need you and need the illustration you could give us if you really
grasped the centre, the Person.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Gandhi replied immediately:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">I appreciate the love underlying the letter
and kind thought for my welfare, but my difficulty is of long standing. Other friends
have pointed it out to me before now. I cannot grasp the position by the intellect;
the heart must be touched. Saul became Pa</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">ul not by an
intellectual effort but by something touching his heart All I can say is that
my heart is absolutely open; I have no axes to grind. I want to find the truth,
to see God face to face.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Let us then ask the Father to draw us to Christ and
to give us the knowledge of Christ, since no one knows Christ except the Father.
Let us ask the Holy Spirit for this grace, for </span></span>the Spirit explores
everything, even the depths of God’s own nature. Among men, who knows what a man
is but the man’s own spirit within<span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> him? In
the same way, only the Spirit of God knows what God is. This is the Spirit that
we have received from God, and not the spirit of the world, so that we may know
all that God of his own grace gives us.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">1 Corinthians 2:10-12<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark166"></a><a name="bookmark165"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark166;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">To Love
Christ</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark166;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark165;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It is not possible to know Christ in the way I have
described without falling in love with him and being captivated by his goodness
and loveliness. The deeper our knowledge of him, the greater our love will be. And
the more our love for him, the deeper will be our knowledge, for to really know
a person it is important to see him through the eyes of love.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Jesus
claimed this love for himself. Every religious reformer pointed to an ideal outside
himself. Only Christ points to himself and makes himself the center of his teaching.
Follow </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">me, </span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">not
just the doctrine or the ideal I propound. He who loves father or mother more
than me is not worthy of me. I am the way, the truth, the life. In as much as
you did it to the least of my brethren, you did it to me. When he goes to his
hometown of Nazareth, it is himself he proclaims, and then he commands their loyalty
and faith.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Unrolling the scroll he found the place
where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> he has anointed me... Then he began to speak to them,
‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Conversion
is not just conversion to an intellectual system or philosophy or even a message
from God; it is, ultimately, the turning of our heart totally to the Father. But
it is also essentially a conversion to Christ. It is a conversion of the heart
to Christ </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">(heart</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
in the biblical sense, meaning the center of one’s personality, the seat of one’s
spirit, one’s freedom, one’s attachments). It is a heart turned toward Christ:
the </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">metanoia;
a </span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">heart inhabited by Christ, filled with
him, (“May Christ find a dwelling place in your heart by faith” [Ephesians
3:17]); a heart assimilated to Christ, taking on his values and judgments and
point of view regarding God, the world, life, humanity (“Let this mind be in
you which was in Christ Jesus” [Philippians 2:5]; “Who knows the mind of the Lord?
Who can advise him? We, however, possess the mind of Christ” [1 Corinthians
2:16]).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">So let us not hesitate to give our whole heart to
Christ, to pour all the wealth of our love and affection onto him. Let us strive
to attain that fantastic love that Paul had, a love that was so strong that he
could make the boldest claims.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Then what can separate us from the love</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> of Christ? Can affliction or hardship? Can persecution,
hunger, nakedness, peril or the sword? I am convinced that there is nothing in
death or life, in the realm of spirits or superhuman powers, in the world as it
is or the world as it shall be, in the forces of the universe, in heights or depths
– nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus
our Lord.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Romans 8:35-39<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark168"></a><a name="bookmark167"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark168;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">To Follow
Christ</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark168;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark167;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">I
have spoken sufficiently of following Christ in the previous conference. All I
wish to do here is emphasize the fact that when we are called to follow Christ in
carrying our cross, we are</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><u><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">not Being</span> c</span></u></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">alled
to follow him in sadness and gloom. If it is true that no one on earth is so happy
as those who have found God and given their hearts entirely to God, there is no
doubt that Jesus Christ was the happiest person on earth. He told his disciples
that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and thus to enter into his glory.
And this is what he promises to us who follow him: if we follow him in suffering
we shall follow him in glory. It is </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><u><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">wro</span></u></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">ng
to think, however, that the glory will onl</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><u><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">y come after death</span></u></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">.
A large share of it</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><u><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> is given</span></u></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
to us right no</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><u><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">w on earth</span></u></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">.
Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount that tfiepoor, the meek, the peaceful,
are truly lucky, happy. He is not talking of the happiness of heaven primarily.
He is speaking of the happiness that we shall experience in the very living out
of the beatitudes. The happiness that comes from the fruits – joy, peace, and love
– of the Spirit, who is already given to us now (Galatians 5).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Isn’t it significant that in the very discourse in
which Jesus predicted that his apostles would be persecuted and would suffer,
he promises them joy and peace? “I have told you all this to guard you against
the breakdown of your faith. They will ban you from the synagogue: indeed, the time
is coming when anyone who kills you will suppose that he is performing a relig</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">io</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">us duty,” he says in John 16:1-2). But then he talks
to them, in the same breath, so to speak, of the peace and the joy he will give
them in the midst of their sufferings:</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Peace is my parting gift to you, my
own peace, such as the world cannot give. Set your troubled hearts at rest, and
banish your fears. ... I have spoken thus to you, so that my joy may be in you,
and your joy complete... Are you discussing what I said: “A little while, and
you will not see me, and again a little while,</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> and you will see me?” In very truth I tell you,
you will weep and mourn, but the world will be glad. But though you will be plunged
in grief, your grief will be turned to joy. A woman in labour is in pain because
her time has come; but when the child is bom she forgets the anguish in her joy
that a man has been bom into the world. So it is with you: for the moment you are
sad at heart; but I shall see you again, and then you will be joyful and no one
shall rob you of your joy. Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be complete...
I have told you all this so that in me you may find peace. In the world you will
have trouble. But courage! The victory is mine; I have conquered the world.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">John 14:27; 15:11;
16:19-24, 33<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This prophecy of Jesus was fulfilled immediately after
his death, both in the lives of the apostles and in those of the early Christians.
In Acts 5:40 we read,</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">They sent for the apostles and had them
flogged; then they ordered them to give up speaking in the name of Jesus, and discharged
them</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">. So the apostles went out from
the Council rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer indignity for
the sake of the Name.”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 0cm;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Acts 13:50-52 says,</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
persecution was started against Paul and Barnabas and they were expelled from
the district... and the converts were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">St Paul says to his Thessalonians,</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
welcome you gave the message meant grave suffering for you, yet you rejoiced in
the Holy Spirit<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">St Paul certainly experienced this mystery of joy and
peace in the cross in his own life and he gives witness to it eloquently. I
should like to share with you some passages from his letters where he describes
what the following of Christ meant to him. He speaks, also, of the consolation
that this brought •im. You may want to take these passages to prayer and find inspiration
in them:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Praise be to the God and Father of Our
Lord Jesus Christ, the allmerciful Father, the God whose consolation never fails
us! He comforts us in all our troubles so that we in turn may</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> be able to comfort others in any trouble of theirs
and share with them the consolation we ourselves receive from God. As Christ’s
cup of suffering overflows, and we suffer with him, so also through Christ our
consolation overflows.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">2
Corinthians 1:3-5 It makes me happy to suffer for you, as I am suffering now, and
in my own body to do what I can to make up all that has still to be undergone
by Christ for the sake of his body, the Church.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Colossians 1:25<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Jerusalem Bible’s comment on this is: Jesus suffered
in order to establish the reign of God and anyone who continues his work must
share this suffering.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">We prove we are servants of God by great
fortitude in times of suffering; in times of hardship and distress; when we are
flogged; or sent to priso</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">n, or mobbed;
labouring, sleepless, starving. We prove we are God’s servants by our purity, knowledge,
patience and kindness; by a spirit of holiness, by a love free from affectation;
by the world of truth and the power of God ... prepared for honour or disgrace,
for blame or praise; taken for imposters while we are genuine; obscure yet famous;
said to be dying and here we are alive; rumoured to be executed before we are sentenced;
thought most miserable and yet we are always rejoicing; taken for paupers though
we make others rich, for people having nothing though we have everything.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">2 Corinthians 6:3ff.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">But if anyone wants some brazen speaking
– I am still talking as a fool – then I can be as brazen as any of them, and
about the same things. Hebrews are they?</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> So am I. Israelites?
So am I. Descendants of Abraham? So am I. The servants of Christ? I must be mad
to say this, but so am I, and more than they; more because I have worked harder.
I have been sent to prison more often, and whipped so many times harder. Five times
I had the thirty-nine lashes from the Jews; three times I have been beaten with
sticks; once I was stoned; three times I have been shipwrecked and once adrift in
the open sea for a night and a day. Constantly travelling, I have been in danger
from rivers and in danger from brigands, in danger from my own people and in danger
from pagans; in danger in the towns, in danger in the open country, danger at sea
and danger from so-called brothers. I have worked and laboured often without sleep;
I have been hungry and thirsty and often starving; I have been in the cold without
clothes. And, to leave out much more, there is my daily preoccupation; my anxiety
for all the Churches... Must I go on boasting, though there is nothing to be gained
by it</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">5 But</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> I will move on to the visions and revelations I have
had from the Lord. I know a man in Christ, who, fourteen years ago, was caught
up – whether still in the body or out of the body, I do not know; God knows – right
into the third heaven. I do know, however, that this same person – whether in
the body or out of the body, I do not know; God knows – was caught up into paradise
and heard things which must not and cannot be put into human language. In view
of the extraordinary nature of these revelations, to stop me from getting too proud
I was given a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to beat me and stop me from
getting too proud! About this thing, I have pleaded with the Lord three times
for it to leave me but he has said, “My grace is enough for you; my power is at
its best in weakness.” So I shall be very happy to make my weaknesses my special
boast so that the power of Christ may stay over me, and that is why I am quite
content with my weaknesses, and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and the
agonies I go through for Christ’s sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">2 Corinthians 11:21ff.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Have you noticed the things that Paul the apostle
boasts of? He put up no buildings; he made no headlines; he had no worldly success.
He boasts of the hardships and sufferings he underwent for Christ and his mystical
experiences and of his weakness, which give him the opportunity to experience
Christ’s power!</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">I have been crucified with Christ, and
I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> in me. The life I now live in this body I live in
faith; faith in the Son of God who loved me and who sacrificed himself for my
sake.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Galatians 2:19<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">“I
want no more trouble from anybody after this; the marks on my body are those
ofjesus” (Galatians 6:17). The comment of the Jerusalem Bible on this passage is:
The marks of ill- treatment suffered for Christ Cf. 2 Corinthians 6:4-5, ll:23ff.
We are no better than pots of earthenware to contain this treasure, and this proves
that such transcendent power do</span></span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">es not
come from us, but is God’s alone. Hard-pressed on every side, we are never hemmed
in; bewildered, we are never at our wits’ end; hunted, we are never abandoned
to our fate; struck down, we are not left to die. Wherever we go we carry death
with us in our body, the death that Jesus died, that in this body also life may
reveal itself, the life that Jesus lives. For continually, while still alive, we
are being surrendered into the hands of death, for Jesus’ sake, so that the life
of Jesus also may be revealed in this mortal body of ours... Indeed, it is for
your sake that all things are ordered, so that, as the abounding grace of God is
shared by more and more, the greater may be the chorus of thanksgiving that ascends
to the glory of God. No wonder we do not lose heart! Though our outward humanity
is in decay, yet day by day, we are inwardly renewed.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">2 Corinthians 4:7ff.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">My one hope and trust is that I shall
never have to admit defeat, but that now as always I shall have the courage for
Christ to be glorified in my body, whether by my life or by my death. Life to
me, of course, is Christ, but then death would bring me something more; but then
again, if living in this body means doing work which is having good</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> results – I do not know what I should choose. I am
caught in this dilemma: I want to be gone and be with Christ, which would be very
much better; but for me to stay alive in this body is a more urgent need for your
sake. This weighs with me so much that I feel sure I shall survive and stay with
you all, and help you to progress in faith and even increase your joy in it; and
so you will have another reason to give praise to Christ Jesus on my account when
I am with you again.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Philippians l:20ff.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">To these passages you may add Philippians 3:7ff. and
Romans 8:35ff., which I have quoted to you in previous conferences and so will not
repeat here.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">And here are some texts from the Gospels connected
with the following of Christ:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">He who loves father or mother more </span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son
or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take up his cross
and follow me, is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he
who loses his life for my sake, will find it.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Matthew 10:37ff.; cf.
16:24-26<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">If anyone comes to me and does not hate
his father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, yes, and
even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. And he who does not carry his cross
and follow me cannot</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> be my disciple.
For which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not sit down first and calculate
the outlays that are necessary, whether he has the means to complete it? Lest,
after he has laid the foundation he is not able to finish all who behold begin
to mock him... So therefore, everyone of you who does not renounce all that he possesses,
cannot be my disciple.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Luke 14:26-29,33<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">If
anyone would serve me, let him follow me; and where I am there also shall my servant
be.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">John 12:26<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">To the request of the sons of Zebedee for the first
two places in the kingdom, Jesus replies: “You do not know what you are asking
for. Can you drink of the cup of which I drink, or be baptized with the baptism
with which I am to be baptized?” And they said to him, “We can.” And, giving this
instruction a more general hearing, he continues,</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">Whoever wishes to become great shall
be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be the slave of
all; for the Son of Man also has not come to be served but to serve, an</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">d to give his life as a ransom for many.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mark 10:3S-39; 43-45<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">The hour has come for the Son of Man
to be glorified. Amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat fall into the ground
and die it remains alone. But if it die it brings forth much fruit. He wh</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">o loves his life loses it; and he who hates his life
in this world keeps it unto life everlasting. If anyone would serve me, let him
follow me; and where I am there also shall my servant be. If anyone serves me,
my Father will honour him.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">John 12:23ff.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Remember
the word that I have spoken to you: No servant is greater than his master. If
they have persecuted me they will persecute you also; if they have kept my word
they will keep yours also.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">John 15:20<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">As they were going along the road a man
said to him</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">, “I will follow you wherever you
go.” Jesus answered, “Foxes have their holes, the birds their roosts; but the
Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me,” but
the man replied, “Let me go and bury my father first.” Jesus said, “Leave the dead
to bury their dead; you must go and announce the kingdom of God.” Yet another
said, “I will follow you, sir; but let me first say goodbye to my people at
home.” To him Jesus said, “No one who sets his hand to the plough and then keeps
looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.”</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Luke 9:57-62<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Take </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><u><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">one or other of these passages to pra</span></u></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">yer if you wish,
as </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><u><span color="windowtext" style="background: yellow; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-highlight: yellow;">means_for drawing inspiration to f</span></u></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span style="background: yellow; font-size: 12pt; mso-highlight: yellow;">oJlow_C</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><u><span color="windowtext" style="background: yellow; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-highlight: yellow;">hrist more
faithfully</span></u></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="background: yellow; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-highlight: yellow;">.</span></span><span style="background: yellow; font-size: 12pt; mso-highlight: yellow;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="background: yellow; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-highlight: yellow;">i_all<u> ask
persistently for this g</u></span></span><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">race. Persistenlprayer will, bring you </span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><u><span color="windowtext" style="background: yellow; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-highlight: yellow;">what much meditation
of reflection<o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; tab-stops: lined 169.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><u><span color="windowtext" style="background: yellow; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-highlight: yellow;">but above<o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><u><span color="windowtext" style="background: yellow; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-highlight: yellow;">and faith</span></u></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><u><span color="windowtext" style="mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></u></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">wUljopt. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I told you I would offer you
a method of contemplation on the life of Christ that may help you to come to know
and love Christ more deeply. But I shall leave this for the next conference.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<span class="Headingnumber2"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="break-before: page; page-break-before: always;" />
</span></span>
<p class="Headingnumber20" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid;"><a name="bookmark169"><span class="Headingnumber2"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">16</span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark169;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><a name="bookmark171"></a><a name="bookmark170"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark171;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Meditation on the Life
of Christ</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark171;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark170;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There is a form of meditation on the life of Christ
as it is given in the Gospels that is highly recommended by a number of saints as
being very helpful for achieving intimacy with Christ. It involves the use of fantasy.
Fantasy is a tool that many modern psychotherapists are using to very good effect.
They are beginning to realize that the world of fantasy is not quite as “unreal”
as it seems to be, that far from being a world of escape and unreality it reveals
realities as deep or even deeper than those grasped by our mind and so is a very
effective tool for healing and growth.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I shall first describe this form of prayer and then
comment on some of the difficulties that are brought against it. Take any scene
from the life of Christ. I shall choose John 5:1-9 as an example that you can
then apply to other scenes from the life of Christ</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Later
on Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now at the Sheep
Pool in Jerusalem there is a place with five colonnades. Its name in the language
of the Jews is Bethesda. In these colonnades there lay a crowd of sick people, blind,
lame and paralysed (waiting for the disturbance of the water; for from time to time
an angel came down into the pool and stirred up the water. The first to plunge in
after this disturbance recovered from whatever disease had afflicted him). Among
them was a man who had been crippled for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him
lying there and was aware that he had been ill a long time, he asked him, “Do
you want to recover?” “Sir,” he replied “I have no one to put me in the pool when
the water is disturbed, but while I am moving, someone else is in the pool before
me.” Jesus answered, “Rise to your feet, take up your bed and walk.” The man recovered
instantly, took up his stretcher, and began to walk<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I want you now to go in fantasy to this place with
five colonnades called Bethesda. See the sick people lying there. Move about among
them. What do you feel as you see them there? At some distance you notice the crippled
man. Walk up to him and speak with him. What do you think is the cause of his ailment?
What kind of an impression does he make upon you? Do you like him or dislike him?
While you are talking with him, you notice Jesus entering the place. He is looking
around at the sick people. What do you think he is thinking and feeling? Does
he stop to talk with any of them or does he come straight toward the crippled man?
Move aside to make way for Jesus as he comes up and listen to what he says to
the crippled man and to what the crippled man says to him. Don’t miss any detail
of Jesus’ attitude, his feelings, his words, his behavior. Listen especially to
those words of his, “Do you want to recover?” The Gospels give us only a fragment
of Jesus’s conversation. Fill it in with your imagination. Now listen to those
powerful words of his, “Rise to your feet, take up your bed and walk.” Notice
what happens. The feelings and reactions of the crippled man, the feelings and reactions
of Jesus.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Jesus now turns to you. Is there any illness that
you are suffering from, physical, emotional, or spiritual? Talk to him about it
and listen to what he has to say. What do you answer when he says to you, “Do
you want to recover? Do you really want to recover, with all the consequences
that recovery will bring? Many people do not want to recover because recovery brings
pain with it or responsibility, or the giving up of something we want to hold
on to.” If your answer is, “Yes, Lord, I want to recover,” then hear the Lord
say his powerful word to you too. This is a moment of grace. Jesus is as real and
as powerful and as present here and now as he was when he stood before that crippled
man twenty centuries ago. If you have faith in his power you will experience his
healing touch, less sensationally, perhaps, than the crippled man, but no less effectively.
After this, spend some time in loving converse with him.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Now come the objections to this form of meditation.
It doesn’t matter that it has been recommended by mystics like St Bonaventure and
St Ignatius of Loyola. The fact is that those scenes are simply not true. They
are all made up. The answer to this is quite simple. The scene is obviously not
true historically. It contains a truth, not of history, but of mystery. Let me
explain that a little. St. Ignatius of Loyola, who recommends this method as
the principle way of praying in his Spiritual Exercises, was a man who soon after
his conversion made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He had read in the book of
Ludolph of Saxony these words taken from Bonaventure:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">If you wish to</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> draw profit from these meditations, set aside all
cares and anxieties. Lovingly and contemplatively, with all the feelings of your
heart, make everything that the Lord Jesus said and did present to yourself, just
as though you were hearing it with your ears and seeing it with your eyes. And
then all that will become sweet to you, because you are reflecting upon it with
longing and savoring it yet more. And even when it is related in the past tense
you should contemplate it all as though present today. Go into the Holy Land, kiss
with fervent spirit the earth on which the good Jesus stood. Make present to yourself
how he spoke and went about with his disciples, with sinners; how he speaks and
preaches, how he walks and rests, sleeps and wakes, eats and performs miracles.
Write down in your heart his demeanor and his actions.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAuto" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">And, having read these words, he no doubt put them into
practice in his prayer. But his ardent heart would not rest until he had seen
the Holy Land for himself. Once there, he engraved every single detail in his memory,
the hills and valleys and countryside that Jesus saw, roads he traveled, and
houses he was reported to have lived in. On the Mount of Olives he piously venerated
the rock from which Jesus was supposed to have ascended into heaven and on which
his footprints were supposed to have been stamped. After leaving the mount, he
suddenly realized that he hadn’t noticed in what direction Jesus’ feet were pointing
when he ascended. So he went back on his own, a risky thing to do, and bribed
the moorish guard there with the last possession of value he had, a penknife,
for the privilege of noticing even this little detail. Now this same man, when
writing his Spiritual Exercises, tells retreatants to reconstruct for themselves
the scenes of the life of Christ. In his meditation on the Nativity he bids the
retreatant “see in imagination the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Consider its
length, its breadth; whether level, or through valleys and over hills. Observe also
the place or cave where Christ is born; whether big or little; whether high or low;
and how it is arranged.” Why does he leave all this to retreatants’ imaginations?
He himself had seen these places (or what he piously believed to be these places),
so could he not have given an accurate description of them? The fact of the matter
is that it had little importance to reconstruct the scene with historical accuracy;
in fact, it had no importance at all. Ignatius wants retreatants to go to their
own fantasy Nazareth and their own fantasy Bethlehem. The fantasy will <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">help bring out the truth of </span></span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="background: yellow; font-size: 12pt; mso-highlight: yellow;">mystery,</span></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
whic</span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><u><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">h is far
more</span></u></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"> important than the. truth of history.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Thefantasywill put us in touch with Jesus Christ. And
this is much more important than all the historical accuracy in the world. St.
Francis of Assisi, we are told, went to Mount Alvernia where he had a vision of
Jesus on the cross, and he lovingly took him down from the cross. Now St. Francis
of Assisi was no fool; he was quite aware, at least as aware as we are today,
that Jesus, having once died, dies no more. And yet, while he lovingly took him
down from the cross and stood by him in his suffering, a deep mystery of love was
being enacted, fantasy notwithstanding, before which the rational mind and rational
theology must stop in silent incomprehension. It is to Francis, in fact, that we
owe the beautiful custom of constructing cribs at Christmas time. Were he acquainted
with the findings of modern scripture scholarship regarding the infancy narratives,
I feel quite sure he would have gone right ahead and constructed his cribs all
the same. Where the event took place historically just as it is narrated in the
gospel text is simply beside the point. The point is that through these fantasy
symbols, we come in touch with reality. If we will allow ourselves to become children
again and plunge wholeheartedly into this world seemingly of make-believe, we might
be delightfully surprised to discover Christ there behind all the fantasy and discover
him in greater depth here than in all our theological reflection and speculation.
St Anthony of Padua is one of the many saints who are said to have held the Infant
Jesus in their arms and regaled themselves with his loving caresses. St. Anthony,
in addition to being no fool himself, was theologian enough to have been declared
a Doctor of the Church, and should have surely known that Jesus is no longer an
infant! He was also, fortunately, mystic enough to sense the deep mystical reality
behind that vision of his and to surrender completely to the “fantasy reality,”
if I may use that expression, of the vision. If you, too, can become a child and
enter this world of fantasy while you meditate on the Gospels you will probably
discover many lovely hidden treasures that you will not discover in any other
way. Spend a day with the Holy Family at Nazareth, for instance. Share their simple
life, help them in their work, speak to Jesus and Mary and Joseph about their lives
and their problems and about your own. Or join the disciples while the Lord instructs
them in private and ask him questions of your own. Go to the house of Martha and
Mary, and sit lovingly beside Mary while the Lord speaks or help poor distracted
Martha with her household chores. You won’t come away with any scriptural erudition.
But the Lord will give you the hidden wisdom he has reserved for little children!</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There is another objection to this method of prayer,
quite apart from the historical difficulties involved in imagining things that
took place long ago, and seeing them as if they were happening now. The objection
could be stated thus: When I imagine Christ with me or before me and I talk to
him, there’s no problem there; the problem arises when I hear Christ talking
back to me. That isn’t Christ at all who is talking to me. It is the effect of
my own imagination; it is I who am putting those words into his mouth. It is I,
in effect, who am talking to myself.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is true. Very often, chiefly when we first begin
to practice this form of dialoguing with Christ, there is no more there than our
own pious reflections that come to us in the form of Christ’s words. That is what
thinking or reflecting is: I talking to myself. Right now I am doing this through
the image of Christ whom I imagine is present in front of me. It won’t be long
however, before you will sometimes notice that those words you imagine you hear
as coming from Christ are no mere invention of your imagination. Sometimes the response
itself will startle you, and you will wonder from where it came. It brings a great
insight with it. At other times the words will seem very ordinary; no special light
or insight will come with them. But the effect of these ordinary words is quite
unusual: they bring a sudden and unexpected peace, great strength, intense consolation,
or intense joy in God’s service. Together with these feelings comes a conviction
that somehow the Lord has communicated with you and made a gift to you under
the cover of those words that you were “making” him say to you in your imagination.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Connected with this is a form of being aware of God’s
presence, of the presence of Christ with us throughout the day. It is much recommended
by St. Teresa of Avila among others. It consists in imagining that Christ is by
your side all day and they are in constant loving conversation with him. One author
calls this the exercise of imaginative faith. A good expression. Imagine that
Christ is sitting there on an empty chair in your room and speak with him just as
you would if you actually saw him. This is not pure fantasy because what you are
imagining is really there – Christ the Risen Lord – but he isn’t there in the
way you are imagining him, with the features and garments you are putting onto
him.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is more or less what St. Ignatius of Loyola recommends
in his Spiritual Exercises when he says that the colloquy,</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">is
made by speaking exactly as one friend speaks to another, or as a servant speaks
to a master, now asking him for a favour, now blaming himself for some misdeed,
now making known his affairs to him, and seeking advice in them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In another place Ignatius says,</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Imagine
Christ our Lord present before you upon the cross, and begin to speak with him,
asking how it is that though he is the Creator, he has stooped to become man, and
to pass from eternal life to death here in time, that thus he might die for our
sins.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Notice, incidentally, that he bids us ask Christ questions,
ask him for advice, both of which presuppose some sort of answer from the Lord.
Ignatius himself had no doubt about the fact that the Lord answers retreatants,
revealing his will to them and guiding them personally, whether it be under the
cover of imaginative faith or through a deep interior communication that is
beyond all words and concepts and images. These are his words:</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">The retreat master ought not to urge
the retreatant more to poverty or any promise than to the contrary, nor to one state
of life or way of living more than to another. Outside the Exercises, it is
true, we may lawfully and meritoriou</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">sly urge all
who probably have the required fitness to choose continence, virginity, the religious
life, and every form of religious perfections. But while one is engaged in the Spiritual
Exercises, it is more suitable and much better that </span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">the Creator and</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> Lord in person communicate himself to the devout
soul</span></i></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"> in quest
of the divine will, that he inflame it with his love and praise, and dispose it
for the way in which it could better serve God in future. Therefore, the retreat
director, as a balance at equilib</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">rium, without
leaning to one side or the other, should </span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">permit the Creator to deal directly with the creature,
and the creature directly with his Creator and Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I shall have occasion to speak later of this interior
communication between Creator and creature – what it means and how it takes place.
For the time being suffice it to know, chiefly for those of us who know of no other
way of “listening” to God and getting his guidance, that the Lord graciously speaks
to us under the species of what I have called above imaginative faith. It is very
hard to discern, with the mind, where imagination ends and reality begins. Become
a little child, deal with God in simplicity of heart, and you will develop an instinct
to discern the difference between pure imagination and reality, or rather, “Reality,”
with a capital “R,” communicating with us through these images and fantasies.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I want to end this section with the words of a famous
Hindu guru to whom a Catholic sister said, “You have said in the past that if any
Christians became your disciples you would not seek to make them Hindu but you
would try to make them better Christians. May I ask how you would go about doing
this?” The good Hindu guru gave the sister a reply worthy of an excellent Catholic
spiritual director. He suggested two of the first ways for coming to the experience
of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord. He said, “I would strive to put them in touch with
Jesus Christ. And I would get them to do this through keeping Christ constantly
at their sides all through the day and through an assiduous reading of the Scriptures.”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark173"></a><a name="bookmark172"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark173;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Healing
of Memories</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark173;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark172;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">As a kind of footnote to what I have said about meditating
on the life of Christ through fantasy I should like to speak of the use of this
method as a means of meditation on our own life with the purpose of experiencing
healing and growth. Let me explain.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">When I meditate on any scene in Christ’s life, I
make myself present to it. I imagine I am there, taking part in all the events,
speaking, listening, acting. When I return to some scene in my past life, I relive
it just as it happened with one difference: this time I get Christ to take an active
part in it. Let me give you an example.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Suppose I return to a scene that causes me much distress.
An event that brought me humiliation, like a public rebuke, or one that brought
me great pain, like the death of a friend. I relive the whole event, in all its
painful detail. I feel once more the pain, the loss, the humiliation, the bitterness.
This time, however, Jesus is there. What role is he playing? Is he a comforter and
strengthener? Is he the one who is causing me this pain and loss? I interact with
him, just as I did with the other persons in that event. I seek strength from him,
an explanation of what I don’t understand; I seek a meaning to the whole event.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">What is the purpose of this exercise? It is what
some people call the healing of memories. There are memories that keep rankling
within us – situations in our past life that have remained unresolved and continue
to stir within us. This constitutes a perpetual wound that in some ways hampers
us from plunging more fully into life, that sometimes seriously handicaps us in
our ability to cope with life. Children who lose their mothers at an early age
may decide, semiconsciously, never to love anyone again; all their lives they
keep hankering after this mother-love that they will never get. Children who have
lived in a situation of great fear or loneliness are constantly if unconsciously
affected by this situation in the way they cope with life. Those who have been
deeply humiliated by someone feel crippled in their self-respect or invest a considerable
amount of emotional energy in desires to avenge themselves.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It is important for our personal growth, both spiritual
and emotional, that we resolve these unresolved situations that keep rankling within
us. When we relive them in the company of Christ, again and again, if need be, we
will notice that a new meaning comes into them, that the sting goes out of them,
that we can now return to them without any emotional upset; in fact, that we can
even return to them now with a sense of gratitude to God, who planned these events
for some purpose that will rebound to our benefit and to his glory. This form
of prayer is good therapy and good spirituality.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">What sort of events should we return to in our meditation?
Events whose memory arouses within us “negative” emotions like the ones I mentioned
before: pain, humiliation, feelings of inadequacy, grief, inferiority feelings,
fear, etc. I recommend that you continue to return to these events as long as
the negative feelings persist. When they die out, and you can even come to a point
where you feel love and gratitude and a sense of praise for the event, there is
no longer any need to return. The unresolved situation has been resolved and healed
and even sanctified by the presence of Christ.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">For many people it is even more important to return
to another type of situation: events where they experienced intense joy or fulfillment
or love and intimacy. These are the events that nourish and strengthen us, give
us an infusion of fresh vitality and the desire to live life fully. Returning
to them periodically and reliving them in all their pleasant detail brings us
much psychological vigor and health. Reliving them in the presence of Christ brings
us a spirit of gratitude and praise and a sense of God’s goodness. It deepens our
love for him and helps us grow in the spirit. There are hundreds of such events
in our life that are rich in spiritual and emotional potential but that we discard
and waste because we are too busy with the humdrum and drab details of daily living.
A conversation with a friend, a picnic, an enjoyable party, a solitary walk by
a lake or the sea, the embrace of a loved person, the joy and relief of good news,
and scores of other situations.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If during this retreat there is some event in your
past life that keeps coming up to distract you, claiming your attention because
of the strong emotions involved – whether they be positive emotions like strong
attachment and deep joy, or negative emotions like jealousy, frustration, bitterness,
resentment – I recommend that you give some time each day to that situation, that
you make a “meditation” out of it in the way I have indicated to you, and that
you keep doing this until it gradually lapses into the background and ceases to
distract you.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<span class="Headingnumber2"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="break-before: page; page-break-before: always;" />
</span></span>
<p class="Headingnumber20" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid;"><a name="bookmark174"><span class="Headingnumber2"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Appendix</span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark174;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="Picturecaption0" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><a name="bookmark176"></a><a name="bookmark175"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark176;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Aids to Prayer</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark176;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark175;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I want to share with you in this conference some tips
on prayer that have proved very helfpul to many people and are likely to be of
help to a number of you too. It has often been said, and rightly, that prayer is
something that comes naturally to human beings. Deep down the human being is a praying
animal. But just because that is true, and it is, indeed, I would not have you
think that prayer is something that is easy or something that does not need to
be learned. It is natural for human beings to walk. But it takes a lot of learning
for children to stand on their two legs and move – a lot of painful learning. It
is also natural for human beings to love: yet how few are they who master the art
of loving. This too, takes a lot of learning. And so it is with prayer. If we can
accept the notion that prayer is an art and that, like most other arts, it calls
for painful learning and much, much practice if one is to become proficient in it,
then I think we will have taken a big step forward toward learning that art and,
eventually, excelling in it.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Now the tips I am going to share with you will not
be of equal value for each and every one of you. Some of you will find some of
them quite useless, indeed, even distracting and harmful. If this is so, then
do not scruple to discard them. They are meant to help you to pray, to make prayer
easier and simpler and more effective, not to complicate things for you or make
you more tense.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Having cleared the ground with those preliminary remarks
I shall begin with a general statement that runs something like this: The principal
reason why most people make little progress in the art of prayer is that they neglect
to give their prayer all the human dimensions it needs.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Let me explain that We are human beings, creatures
of time and space. Creatures that have bodies and use words and live in communities
and are swayed by emotions. Our prayer too must contain these elements. We need
words when we pray. We need to pray with our bodies. We need time for prayer and
a place that is appropriate. I am not offering this as a general rule, mind
you. What I am saying is that, ordinarily speaking, our prayer is in need of all
of the above, when it is at its early stages, when it is a tender growing plant
It will, in all likelihood, need them even when it has developed into a full- grown
tree. But by then it will have developed an identity of its own and will be able
to pick and choose from among these elements. In this conference I plan to speak
of each of these elements: place, time, the body, words, music, sound, rhythm,
community, and the emotions. Let us begin with the body.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark178"></a><a name="bookmark177"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark178;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Body
in Prayer</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark178;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark177;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There is an author who speaks of a man whom he found
sitting slouched in his armchair, smoking a cigarette. Said the author to the man,
“You seem to be immersed in thought.” The man replied, “I am praying.” Said the
author, “Praying? Tell me, if the Risen Lord were standing here in all his splendor
and radiance, would you be sitting like that?” “No,” said the man, “I imagine I
wouldn’t” “Then,” said the author, “you do not at the moment have a consciousness
of his presence here with you. You are not praying.”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There is much truth in what that author said. Try it
for yourself. On a day when you feel spiritually dry or tepid try to evoke the image
ofjesus Christ standing before you in all the splendor of his resurrection. Then
stand or sit or kneel before him with your hands devoutly joined in prayer before
you. In other words, express, with your body, the sentiment of reverence and devotion
that you would like to feel in his presence but do not now feel. You will, in all
probability, notice that in a short while your heart and mind are also expressing
what your body is expressing. Your awareness of his presence will be heightened
and your sluggish heart will begin to warm. This is the great advantage of praying
with your body, of taking your body along with you to pray. Many modern people insist
that they are creatures of flesh and blood and body: they will say to you, “I
do not just have a body, I am my body.” They say that until they go to pray. Then
it is as if they are pure spirit or pure mind; the body is just left out.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark180"></a><a name="bookmark179"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark180;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Nonverbal
Communication</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark180;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark179;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Many psychologists are aware of the value of saying
things with one’s body rather than with words. Here is something that I have tried
in a therapy group. I will sometimes get members to communicate with others in
the group only with their eyes – “Say something to your neighbor with your eyes”
– or only with their hands. The force of communication achieved is nearly always
evident. Sometimes they will say, “I cannot do it.” They are afraid of looking ridiculous,
they will say. Often it is not the ridiculousness that holds them back, it is
the depth and genuineness of the communication involved – a depth and genuineness
that they are not accustomed to and cannot sustain. Words are a more comfortable
medium of expression – we can hide behind them, we can use them (as we generally
do) not to communicate but to prevent true communication.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Sometimes I say to a group, “We shall spend the first
ten minutes of this session communicating without words. Use any means you wish
to communicate with others except words.” Here again is an invitation to communicate
with one’s body, with eyes and hands and movements. Most people refuse to accept
the invitation. They find it too threatening. The force and the truth of the communication
is unbearable.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Try this when you next pray in your room. Stand before
an image of Jesus Christ. Or just imagine him standing before you. Now look at
him in a way that denotes supplication. Stay with that look for a while and notice
what you feel. Then change the look to one of love or trust or joyful praise or
sorrow and repentance or surrender. Try to express these dispositions or others
only with your eyes. It might do a world of good to the intimacy and the depth
of your communication with the Lord.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Or try expressing things to him with your body alone.
Make a whole rite out of it Stand alone in his presence for a while. Then slowly
raise your head till your eyes are looking up to the ceiling. Hold that position
for a while. Then gently raise both your hands, palms facing upwards, till they
are on a level with your chest. Stop them there for a moment. Then bring them
together smoothly and gently till both hands are touching each other and both palms
face upwards, as if supporting a plate. (Or they can be drawn in to form a cup
or chalice.) This posture is meant to express offering of oneself to God. Stay
with this posture for three or four minutes, then slowly lower your head and hands.
You may then either express this same disposition of offering again, going through
this same rite (or possibly inventing another) or move on to express another attitude
or disposition.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Here is one more: Stand erect in the middle of the room.
Let your eyes look straight ahead of you, as if they were looking into the horizon.
Then gently raise your hands till they come to the level of your chest and then
move them outwards, till your arms are stretched wide apart, your palms facing
outward. Hold this posture for three or four minutes. You may use it to express
a longing and desire for the coming of the Lord. Or to express an attitude of welcome
– to Him or to all people who are your brothers and sisters and whom you welcome
into your heart.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">One final example: stand for a moment in the presence
of the Lord. Then kneel. Then join your hands in prayer in front of your chest Stay
like this for a while. Then slowly, very slowly, go down on all fours. You are like
a beast of burden before the Lord. Go even further down now, till you are lying
flat on the floor and let your arms move out till your whole figure forms a cross.
Stay like this for a few minutes to express prostration or supplication or helplessness.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Do not limit yourselves to the examples I have given
you. Be creative and invent your own way of expressing adoration or tenderness
or sorrow or whatever, nonverbally, and you will discover the value of praying
with your body. Centuries ago St. Augustine remarked that for some mysterious reason,
he knew not which, every time he would lift his hands in prayer his heart would,
after a while, be lifted up too and move toward God. I am reminded now that is
exactly what the priest does at mass when he says, “Lift up your hearts”; he raises
his arms upwards. It is a pity that we do not have the custom of lifting our arms
too while we reply, “We have lifted them up to the Lord.”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark182"></a><a name="bookmark181"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark182;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">A Still
Body</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark182;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark181;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">What I have suggested till now will prove a help if
you wish to use your body actively in prayer; in other words, if you wish to actively
pray with your body. It will prove a help for the times when you are engaged in
what might be called devotional prayer.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There is, however, another form of prayer, many other
forms, in fact – the prayer of quiet and stillness, prayer of fantasy and mind
forms – in which movement of the body would impede rather than help. Then what is
needed is perfect stillness of the body, a stillness that will foster peace and
help dispel distractions. To achieve this stillness I suggest the following:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Sit down in a comfortable position, without slouching,
however, and place your hands on your lap. Then become aware of various sensations
that I am going to mention now, sensations that you have, but of which you are not
explicitly aware. Become aware of the feel of your clothes on your shoulders. After
three or four seconds move on to the awareness of the touch of your clothes on
your back, or of your back touching the chair. Then the feel of your hands resting
on your lap. Then the feel of your thighs pressing against the chair. Then the
feel of the soles of your feet touching your shoes. Then become aware of your sitting
posture. Then once again go the round of your shoulders, your back, your hands,
your thighs, your feet, your hands. Do not dwell for more than three or four seconds
on any one of these sensations.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">After
a while you may move to sensations in other parts of your body. The important
thing to keep in mind is that you </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">feel </span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">these
sensations, not </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">think</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
them. Avast number of people have no feeling whatsoever in various parts of their
body, or of any part of their body. All they have is a kind of mental map of their
body. In doing this exercise, then, they are likely to move from one picture or
image (of their hands, feet, back) to another rather than from one feeling to another
or one sensation to another.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If you keep up this exercise for a while you will notice
that your body is becoming relaxed. If you become tense, be aware of each of
the tensions you are feeling. Notice where you are feeling tense, what kind of tension
it is; in other words, how you are tensing yourself in that area. This too will
gradually bring about a greater physical relaxation. There is another thing that
will happen: your body will become perfectly still. Stay with that stillness
for some time. Savor it, rest in it. Do not move in the slightest degree no matter
how strong the urge to shift or fidget or scratch. If the urge to move becomes strong,
become aware of the urge, of the impulse itself, and after a while it will quieten
down and you will once again experience great bodily stillness. This stillness is
an excellent setting for prayer. Now move on to prayer.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Bodily stillness will not, of course, take care of all
the difficulties you are still going to have in prayer. Chief among these are distractions
of the mind. There is something, however, that your body can do to help you cope
with those distractions.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Those who are familiar with the practice of yoga tell
us that when they achieve the lotus posture they frequently experience a perfect
stillness, not only of body, but of mind as well. Some go so far as to say that
in that posture it is impossible for them to think. The mind goes blank and
they can only contemplate, not think. That is how influential the body can be
on the state of our mind. The lotus posture, however, is not something that can
be acquired without much pain and months of discipline, something that is ruled
out for most of us. But even without the lotus posture there is much that your
body can do for helping you cope with distractions.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">One of the things you can do, if it helps you, is
keep your eyes slightly open and fixed on a spot about three or four feet away
from you. Many people find this a great help. When they close their eyes they
somehow seem to set up a blank screen on which their mind then cheerfully proceeds
to project all sorts of thoughts and images. Keeping their eyes half opened helps
them to concentrate. It is important, of course, that their eyes not wander or
that they not settle on a moving object, else this will be a new source of distraction.
If you find that keeping your eyes open is a help to prayer, then fix them on an
object or on some spot a little distance away from you and plunge into prayer.
One last precaution: make sure you do not rest your eyes on any luminous object
This is likely to produce a mild form of hypnosis.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Another thing you can do is keep your back straight.
It is a mysterious thing that a curved spine seems to foster distractions while
a spine that is erect seems to keep them away. I am told that some Zen masters
are able to tell whether students of theirs is distracted or not by merely looking
at the straightness or curvature of their backs. Now I am not sure that a curved
back necessarily indicates a distracted mind. I have sometimes prayed without distractions
even when my back was not erect. But I do believe that a straight back is a great
help for quietening the mind. In fact, there are some Tibetan monks who give so
much importance to a straight back as an aid to meditation that they recommend meditators
lie flat on their backs while meditating. A good enough recommendation, except
for the fact that most people I know tend to fall asleep a few minutes after
they have straightened their backs in this way!</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark184"></a><a name="bookmark183"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark184;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Problem
of Tension and Restlessness</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark184;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark183;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Many modern people are, unfortunately, quite incapable
of sitting still. They are so restless and tense that even a minute or two of sitting
still tends to increase their tension. And yet, it is important for prayer that
we be able to be physically still. There is no doubt, of course, that prayer can
go on while one is moving, and it frequently does. Ordinarily, however, it is not
deep prayer. As soon as a moment of deep prayer descends upon those who are pacing
up and down, they tend to stand still, as if caught up in something, immersed in
something. There are deep mystical experiences that come upon people that make
them want to jump and dance and move about, true; but these are the exception rather
than the rule. Ordinarily deep prayer requires a still body – or it produces one.
And so I do not recommend that you pace up and down while you are praying. Try
the following if the urge to move is very great:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Become aware of the urge, the impulse that you experience.
Notice the physical effects of this in your body, the tension, the area where
you feel the tension, your resistance to the urge, the impulse. If after a few
minutes you have still not quietened down, then pace up and down in your room very
slowly, in the following fashion: move your right leg forward and be fully aware
of the sensation of movement in your right foot being lifted, then of its being
thrust forward, then of its resting on the ground, then of the weight of the body
leaning on it Then do the same with your left foot It might help you to concentrate
if you interiorly verbalize what is happening, thus: “Right foot lifting. Right
foot moving. Right foot rest. Right foot firm. Left foot lifting. Left foot moving.
Left foot resting. Left foot firm ...” This will help enormously to quiet your
bodily tensions and your compulsion to move. Then stay in one posture for a while
and see if you can hold it long enough to pray.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If you happen to be so tense and restless that even
this does not help, then I suggest that you pace up and down in your room or in
a quiet corner of a garden. This may alleviate your tension. Make sure that while
you pace up and down your eyes do not take a stroll too, or that will be the ruin
of your concentration and your prayer. Keep in mind, however, that this is only
a temporary concession to your restlessness and continue every now and then to return
to a stationary posture and to accustom your body to being still.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There is something else you might do if you simply
have to move. Pray with your body as I suggested before, moving it in slow, peaceful
gestures. Or change your posture every three or four minutes – very slowly, however,
without jerks. Remember the petals of the flower opening. It may well happen that
after a while you will rest in one of these postures and there will be no need
for change.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark186"></a><a name="bookmark185"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark186;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Your Favorite
Posture</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark186;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark185;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If you develop some experience in prayer it will not
be long before you find one posture that suits you best at prayer, and you will
almost invariably assume this posture each time you pray. Experience will also teach
you the wisdom of holding on to this posture and not changing it too easily. It
seems strange that one would be able to love God better or get in touch with God
more easily by means of one posture rather than another, but this is precisely
what a famous English mystic, Richard Rolle, tells us.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Whatever the posture you find best suited to your
own prayer, whether it be kneeling or standing or sitting or lying prostrate, I
recommend that you not change it too easily – even if it seems at first slightly
painful. Bear with the pain; the fruit you derive from prayer will be well worth
it Only if the pain becomes so strong as to be distracting should you change your
posture. And then do so gently, very slowly, “like the petals of a flower gradually
opening up or closing,” to quote an Indian spiritual writer.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The ideal posture will be one that combines respect
for the presence of God with repose and peace of the body. Much practice will give
you this peace and stillness and respect, and then you will find in your body a
valuable ally to your prayer and, on occasion, even a positive stimulus to prayer.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark188"></a><a name="bookmark187"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark188;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Fragility
of Our Prayer Life</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark188;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark187;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Some people become disturbed at so much talk about
“aids” to our prayer life. Is our prayer life something that needs to be tended
and protected and cared for and fussed over? Isn’t it overdoing it considerably
to be so turned in on ourselves, to watch over our prayer life and hem it in with
all sorts of protective devices?</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It is. But the fact of the matter is that our prayer
life, like all life on this planet, is very fragile, and the sooner we come to
the realization of this truth the better. How carefully Nature has surrounded
us with all sorts of helps to life without which we would not survive. Let the
pressure of the atmosphere increase or decrease beyond a certain point, let the
temperature become exceedingly hot or cold, and life – animal, plant, and human
– is instantly snuffed out. We need to eat and drink daily and to draw air into
our lungs each minute if we are to survive. And what great pains medical science
takes to protect our health and physical well-being. Thanks to all these precautions,
human beings can live longer nowadays, and more healthily.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It isn’t as if our prayer life is always going to need
all these aids and props. A time will come when the tender sapling will grow into
a robust oak tree and will be able to withstand the buffeting of the winds of life,
even to thrive on them. But till that growth occurs we would do well to protect
it, shelter it, and nourish it constantly. Perhaps our own experience will have
shown us how easily our prayer life suffers or even perishes when we omit to surround
it with recollection, with silence, spiritual reading, and a host of other helps
that seem cumbersome after a while to those who are impatient for results and seek
fruit from trees they haven’t painstakingly cultivated.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark190"></a><a name="bookmark189"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark190;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Choosing
a Place for Prayer</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark190;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark189;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">One frequently ignored aid to prayer is place. The
place you choose to pray in can affect your prayer very considerably for good
or evil. Has it ever struck you that Jesus would choose his places for prayer?
If there was anyone who did not need to do this it would have been he, for he was
the Master of Prayer, constantly in touch with his Heavenly Father. And yet he
will take all the trouble to climb a mountain when he decides to spend a longer
time in prayer. That seems to have been his favorite place for prayer, the mountaintop;
he goes to a mountaintop to pray before the Sermon on the Mount, when the crowd
seeks to make him king, on the day of his transfiguration. Or he goes to the garden
of Gethsemane, which also seems to have been a praying place of his. Or he goes
to what the Gospels call a desert place. He withdraws and chooses a place that is
conducive to prayer.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There are some places that seem to foster prayer.
The quiet of a garden, the shady bank of a flowing river, the peace of a mountain,
the infinite expanse of the sea, the terrace exposed to the stars in the night
or to the loveliness of dawn, the morning star, the rising sun; the sacred darkness
of a dimly lit church – all of these seem almost to produce prayer within us when
we put ourselves into them.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">We shall not always have the luxury of living in places
like these, of course – chiefly those of us who are condemned to live in gigantic
modern cities – but once we have exposed ourselves to them we can carry them around
with us in our hearts. Then it is enough for us to go back to them even in imagination
in order to derive all the prayer benefits that we got from actually being in
them. Even pictures of these places can be a help to prayer. There is a very prayerful
and holy Jesuit I know who has a small collection of the lovely scenes of nature
that one finds in modern calendars. He told me that when he is tired he just
gazes for a while at one of those pictures and finds he is immersed in prayer.
Father Teilhard speaks somewhere of the “spiritual potential of matter.” Matter
is indeed charged with spirit and this is rarely more evident than in these “prayerful
places,” if we will only learn to draw on all the prayer potential with which
they are charged.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">We must beware of a kind of “angelism” that leads
us to think that we are above all these helps that “holy” places or beautiful places
can offer us for prayer. It takes humility to accept our own immersion in matter
and our dependence on matter even for our spiritual needs. I remember a Jesuit
priest saying to us, when I was a seminarian, “The mistake we Jesuits make in helping
lay people to pray is to imagine that because we need no helps to pray, they
don’t either. Lay people need the help that a prayerful atmosphere offers to prayer
– the atmosphere of a church with statues and pictures that remind one of God. Now
with us Jesuits it is different because of our intellectual formation. We can stop
work at our desk and plunge into prayer right there, surrounded by our books and
papers and our workaday atmosphere.” Now that I have some considerable experience
in directing Jesuits in prayer and the spiritual life, I am pretty much convinced
that this good priest was right in what he said about our lay people and wrong in
what he said about his fellow Jesuits who, being human beings after all, are just
as much in need of a prayerful place and prayerful atmosphere when they go to pray
as are laypersons – more so, in fact, because of their sometimes overly intellectual
formation.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In his Spiritual Exercises St. Ignatius recommends
that to better obtain the spiritual fruit that the retreatants are seeking during
the first week of the exercises, in other words, to better obtain the grace of
contrition, of repentance, the sense of their sinfulness, they close the shutters
of their rooms and create an atmosphere of darkness all around them. Try this
for yourself. Or go a step further and light a candle in a very dark room. Then
set yourself to pray and see if it makes a difference to your prayer. (Only
make sure you do not stare fixedly at the candle lest you go into a mild hypnotic
trance.) This, I imagine, is the idea behind candlelight dinner at Christmas;
the candlelight affects our mood, it creates an atmosphere, just as does the silver
light of fluorescent tubelights. Notice the effect that a cloudy day has on
you, and a bright day after the rains when all is fresh and alive, and you will
understand that all these “material” things affect us very profoundly indeed;
they affect our emotional states. Many of the saints drew rich spiritual benefit
from them.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark192"></a><a name="bookmark191"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark192;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Praying in
the Same Place: “Holy” Places</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark192;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark191;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I am now going to suggest something that will seem strange
to those of you who have not experienced it. I suggest that, as far as possible,
you pray either in a place like the ones I have indicated above (exposed to the
beauties of nature) or in some “holy” place. What do I mean by a “holy” place?
I mean a place reserved for prayer, a church or chapel or prayer room. If this is
not possible, then keep some corner in your room or your house for prayer and pray
every day there. The place will develop a sacred character and, after a while,
you will notice that it is easier to pray there than in another place.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Gradually you will develop what I might call a sense
for holy places. You will notice how easy it is to pray in places that have been
sanctified by the presence and the prayers of holy people, and you will understand
the reason behind pilgrimages to holy places. I know people who are able to walk
into a house and tell with fair accuracy the spiritual state of the community living
in the house. They can “feel it in the atmosphere.” I found this hard to believe
myself, but I have too much evidence of it to doubt it any longer now.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I once made a retreat under a Buddhist master who told
us that we would probably find it easier to meditate in the prayer hall than in
our rooms. I noticed, to my surprise, that this was true. He attributed it to
the “good vibrations” in the room, vibrations that had come there as a result
of so much prayer that had been offered in that room. I attributed it to autosuggestion,
to the fact that the master had suggested it When I myself conducted a similar retreat
for a large group of Jesuits, I was careful not to make any suggestion with regard
to the place of prayer. To my surprise, many of them began to tell me on their
own that they found it much easier to meditate, to find peace and tranquillity,
in the chapel than in their rooms! Eventually I was told by a Jesuit confrere
who happened to be giving a retreat in another place that a sannyasi (a Hindu holy
man) living nearby once said to him, after the retreat, “What were you doing in
your house between nine and ten each night? From my house I could sense a very
great increase of good vibrations.” The Jesuit retreat master was surprised: each
night between nine and ten all the retreatants gathered together in the chapel
for an hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. How had this sannyasi sensed
it across the street when no one had told him what was going on?</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This leads me to another point Many people have a
charism for praying before the Blessed Sacrament Somehow when they are in the presence
of the Eucharist their prayer comes alive. We hear of saints who had this charism
to such an intense degree that they were able to tell, as if by instinct, if
the Blessed Sacrament were preserved in a place or not, even though there were no
external signs by which they could tell; or they could even tell the difference
between a consecrated host and an unconsecrated one merely from this instinct
they had for the Blessed Sacrament. Your charism may not be as strong as theirs,
but it may be strong enough for you to have noticed that it does make a difference
to your prayer when you pray before the Blessed Sacrament. If this is so, then
I suggest that you “exploit” this charism, that you do not let it die, because it
will bring you many spiritual blessings. Pray before the Blessed Sacrament whenever
you can.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">One final remark on this subject of the place of prayer:
No matter where you pray, make sure the place is clean. I once read a Buddhist
book on meditation where concrete and detailed instructions were given on preparation
of the place of meditation: Sweep the place clean, the book said, then mop it;
place a spotlessly clean sheet on it; then take a bath to purify your body, wear
light clothing that is also spotlessly clean; light a pair of incense sticks to
give the place a fragrant atmosphere. Then begin your meditation. Very good advice,
indeed. Have you noticed what a difference it makes to your devotion to have
the Eucharist celebrated at an altar that is shabby, to have the priest wear shoddy
vestments and to notice that the altar linen is soiled? Change all of that (all
you need is a couple of assistants) and you will be surprised at the transformation!
Scrub everything clean: the altar, the floor, the sacred vessels, the candlesticks.
Use snow white linen on the altar and simple, but attractive vestments for the
priest – it is as if you have been interiorly renewed!</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I remember walking into a little Buddhist shrine
somewhere in the Himalayas. There were little silver bowls of varying size placed
before an image of the Buddha, all of them filled with water. The bowls were bright
and sparkling and the water crystal clear and the mere sight of them did something
to me and does something to me even today when I remember them. They somehow put
me into the presence of God.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Pay attention, then to the place where you worship.
It will not be long before you notice the beneficial results of this in your prayer.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark194"></a><a name="bookmark193"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark194;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Aids to
Prayer: Time</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark194;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark193;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I told you in a previous conference that it is only
with a good deal of reluctance that most of us accept the fact of our dependence
on matter and act accordingly. Matter seemingly puts limits to us; it seems to
curb our freedom, and so we do not find it pleasant to have to choose a place
for prayer that will be conducive to prayer. (Why can’t we be beings who can pray
just anywhere without having to bother about the place of prayer?) We do not find
it pleasant to seek help from our bodies, to search for postures conducive to prayer
(Why not any posture at all? Why do we have to depend on our bodies?).</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There is perhaps no dependence that we accept more reluctantly
than our dependence on time. How wonderful it would be if we did not need time
for prayer; if we could compress all our prayer into one compact minute and have
done with it. There are so many, many things to do – books to read, work to finish,
people to meet. For most of us the twenty-four hours of each day are just not enough
for all the things we have to do. And so it does seem a great pity that we have
to expend a great deal of this precious time in prayer. If only there were some
way of having Instant Prayer, the way we have Instant Coffee and Instant Tea!
Or suppose we just said that everything we do is a prayer? That might be an easier
way of getting around the difficulty.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">But
as the months and the years roll by we know that this formula simply doesn’t
work. There is no such thing as Instant Prayer any more than there is such a thing
as Instant Relationship. If you want to build a deep and lasting relationship with
someone, you have to be ready to invest lots and lots of time in it. That is
the way it is with prayer, which, after all, is a relationship with God. As the
years pass we also realize that we have fooled ourselves when we lulled ourselves
into believing that everything we do is a prayer. We would have been more accurate
if we had said that everything we do </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">ought</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
to be a prayer. But, alas, what ought to be, and what actually is a reality in
the lives of many saintly prayerful people, is not yet a reality for us. We had
just not reached that depth of intimate communion with God necessary for making
our every action a prayer, before we embarked upon this everything-is-a-prayer
program.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Perhaps it is safe to say that the two biggest obstacles
to prayer for modern human beings are (1) nervous tension, which makes it impossible
for them to be still and (2) lack of time. Too many pressing demands are made
on our time and we are, unfortunately, all too inclined to feel that prayer is
a waste of time, chiefly when it does not yield immediate results that are perceptible
to mind and heart and senses.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Heading30" style="background: transparent; break-after: avoid; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a name="bookmark196"></a><a name="bookmark195"><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark196;"><span class="Heading3"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Rhythm
of Prayer: Kairos Versus Chronos</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark196;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: bookmark195;"></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Unless you have a very special gift of prayer from
the Lord, a gift that, in my experience, is very rarely given to people, you are
going to have to invest a great deal of time in prayer if you desire to make progress
in it and to deepen your relationship with God. Learning to pray is just like learning
any other art or skill. It calls for much, much practice, and a great deal of time
and patience. Because you are up today and down tomorrow, you feel you have
made a great breakthrough today and tomorrow you wonder if you aren’t right
back in square one. Finally, learning to pray calls for regular, even daily, exercise.
If you are learning to play tennis or the violin it will never do to invest a lot
of time in it one day and then neglect it for the next; it will never do to “play
when you feel like it.” You have to play regularly, whether you feel like it or
not, if your hands and your whole body are going to get adjusted to the racquet
or the musical instrument and if you are to develop the sixth sense that makes
you a virtuoso. If you practice in fits and starts you might as well not set out
at all to master the art; you are just wasting all the time that you invest in it
so irregularly. Praying when you “feel like it” is just as bad as playing when
you feel like it – if your aim is to master the art, that is. The less you pray
the worse it gets.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There used to be a theory some ten years ago that was
marketed under the label of “Rhythm of prayer.” In my opinion it did a lot of
harm – it certainly did some harm to my own prayer life – and, even though it has
lost a considerable portion of the popularity it enjoyed among priests and religious
a decade ago, I feel it is sufficiently alive and flourishing to continue to do
much harm. I should therefore like to explain it and refute it Mind you, I am not
against every theory that goes under the rhythm-of-prayer title. It is just the
type that I am about to explain that I am against.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">According to this theory, different people are differently
constituted where prayer is concerned, just as different people are differently
constituted where physical exercises are concerned. There is no doubt that everybody,
to keep healthy, needs a certain amount of physical exercise. But some need more
and others need less. Some need to take their exercise daily. Others don’t.
They take it at irregular intervals when the body feels the need of it. Regular
exercise, doing exercise according to a timetable, seems as irrational (though
perhaps not so harmful) as eating according to a prefixed timetable. You eat when
you are hungry. To act otherwise is both irrational and harmful.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">And
so it is with prayer. There is no doubt that prayer needs time. The question is
how much time, and what time. Should it be a lengthy period each time, like a full
hour or more? Should it be regular, like once a day or even more than once a
day? This would be to pray according to the chronometer and not according to
the movement of grace and one’s own spiritual needs. There are two words to express
time in Greek: </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">chro- nos,</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
meaning the quantity of time – minutes, seconds, hours – and </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">kairos,</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
meaning the hour of grace, not the hour according to the clock. This is the sense
in which Jesus uses the word when he speaks of his “time” or his “hour.” He is talking
of his kairos, the divinely appointed time, the hour of grace. Well, says this
theory, let us pray, not according to a pre-fixed timetable but according to our
own personal kairos. Let us search for the time of grace, be alert to the call
of God to pray and to our own spiritual needs and, when the call comes, or the need
is felt, then let us pray and give all the time necessary to it until the need is
satisfied or the divine call has been answered.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The theory is, indeed, a very attractive one because
it seems so reasonable. I am sorry to say I was converted to it myself and lived
it out for a couple of years – with not a little harm to my prayer life. And there
is no one I know of, among the many, many priests and religious I have directed,
who has profited from living by this theory. Let me tell you why.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">First of all, as I said above, the less you pray
the worse it gets. You keep putting it off for some other time. There are dozens
of things that are clamoring for your time and attention, there are all sorts
of emergencies, urgent situations, crises, and it isn’t long before you realize
that it is ages since you have prayed for any length of time, except, perhaps,
for the Mass or some liturgical function. You gradually begin to lose your appetite
for prayer; your “prayer muscles” or your “prayer faculties” get atrophied, so
to speak, and except in moments of distress when you need God’s help desperately,
you begin to live pretty much without any prayer. I claim that the human being is
essentially a praying animal. If we could quieten the noise within ourselves,
if we could be helped to come home to ourselves, prayer would rise up spontaneously
within our hearts. However, human beings also carry within themselves a deep-seated
reluctance to pray. Frequently we resolve to pray, to come home to ourselves,
to present ourselves before our God, but we experience a resistance within ourselves
– a barely perceptible voice that calls us away. How often have we not experienced
this when, having overcome the voice and betaken ourselves to prayer, we are tempted
repeatedly to give it up, to leave the chapel or the place of prayer, to abandon
this unfamiliar world into which we are venturing and to return to the familiar
sights and sounds and occupations of our daily routine of the world in which we
are more at home?</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This leads me to my second argument against the pray-
when-you-feel-called-to theory. I have just said that the danger in this is that
you feel the call less and less; you become less sensitive to it. It is another
call, the call away from prayer that keeps occupying your consciousness. In his
Spiritual Exercises St. Ignatius speaks of this voice calling us away from prayer
as one of the standard experiences of those who are giving themselves to God and
to a life of prayer. There are consoling periods, he says, when it is very easy
and delightful to pray. But then come periods of what he calls “desolation” when
it becomes exceedingly difficult to pray. One loses one’s appetite for prayer.
One may even feel disgusted with it When this happens, says Ignatius, far from giving
in to this and abandoning prayer to return to it when we are in a better mood, we
are to consider this as an attack of the evil one and we are to resist it with
courage (a) by not cutting down in the least the time we have allotted to prayer
(b) by making no change whatsoever in our prayer timetable and finally, (c) by even
adding a little extra time to the time we had fixed for prayer. This last advice
generally proves to be extremely beneficial even psychologically because when
you know that any inclination to desist from prayer will be given in to, you are
likely to produce more and more of these inclinations, albeit unconsciously; whereas
when the inclination is met with vigor and with an increased amount of time given
to prayer, it somehow tends to go away!</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This whole approach of Ignatius is, of course, diametrically
opposed to the theory I am at present refuting. And experience itself will show
you the wisdom of this approach and the rich spiritual benefits it brings. How
often people have told me that they have struggled through their prayer, fighting
distractions, resisting the temptation to get up and go away, ignoring the persistent
voice that tells them they are wasting their time, shoring up their determination
to stick it out for the whole time they had fixed to give to prayer, and then,
mysteriously, toward the end of that time things have changed completely, and
they have been flooded with light, grace, and love of God. If they had gone
away on the understanding that this was not their “kairos” they would have missed
the many graces that God had kept for them at the end of their prayer, as a reward
for their struggle and their fidelity.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I am reminded now of a Jesuit seminarian who was given
a deep experience of Christ one day, an experience that had a decisive effect
on his spiritual life, when he did just that – he resisted the temptation to give
in to disgust and distractions and to quit praying. He went into the chapel one
evening to fulfil his daily “duty” of giving a full hour to prayer. After ten minutes
he began to experience what he had experienced very frequently, nearly always, each
time he went to pray – a strong urge to get up and go away. He resisted the urge
that day, not so much from any very spiritual motive as from the purely practical
consideration that he had nothing very particular to do that particular hour and
he might just as well waste it in the chapel as in his room. So he stuck it out.
And ten minutes before the prayer was to end, it happened. Christ came into his
life and into his consciousness in a way he had never come before, filling this
man’s heart and the whole of his being with the awareness of Christ’s consoling
presence. Here was one man who was deeply grateful that he did not follow what
he might have thought was his “rhythm of prayer.” And there are many, many more
like him. I am fairly certain that all of you who are reading this are like this
too. Don’t take my word for it; test it out for a period of six months and see
if it doesn’t prove true for you too.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">There
is a third and final reason I have against the prayerrhythm theory and it is this:
When a person has made some progress in his prayer life he or she is likely to reach
what authors call the Prayer of Faith. This is a form of prayer in which you experience
no sensible consolation in general. For example: you generally have a great appetite
for prayer, but the moment you go to pray you feel as if you are in a blank, as
if you are wasting your time; and you are generally tempted to stop you prayer
forthwith and put it off for some other time. Now it is of vital importance that
you </span></span><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">not</span></i></span><span class="StyleBodytextCharAutoChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">
stop praying, that you continue to invest time in prayer at this stage even though
you feel you are wasting your time. What is happening, even though you may not
know it, is that you are gradually getting adjusted to another kind of consolation
that at the moment only seems like dryness, your spiritual eyes are learning painfully
to discern light where now there appears superficially to be only darkness; in other
words, you are acquiring new tastes in the matter of prayer. If you were to follow
the pray-when- you-feel-called-to-it theory the danger is that you will feel no
call whatsoever to pray or, more accurately, feel the call but lose all appetite
for prayer the moment you give in to the call; and then, just when you are making
progress in the art of prayer, when you are rising to a new and higher level of
prayer, you are likely to give it up.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I shall have much more to say about the last two reasons
– the necessity and wisdom of praying more rather than less – when we are in spiritual
desolation, and about the whole matter of the Prayer of Faith, so I shall content
myself with just stating them here as a kind of refutation of the theory I propounded
above, and have you wait for a fuller development of these topics in later conferences.
There is one point, however, somewhat linked with the matter of the Prayer of
Faith, that I want to underscore before passing on to another point. And it is
this: truly spiritual people have a nearly habitual desire for prayer. They long
to be away from everything and to commune in silence with God, to get in touch
with the Infinite, the Eternal, the Ground of their Being, which is our Father,
the source of all our life and our well-being and our strength. There isn’t a single
saint I know of who did not feel this constant urge, this compelling drive, the
near-habitual appetite for prayer. Not that they gave in to the drive! No, many
of them were too busy doing the work God had allotted them to have the time to
satisfy this urge fully. But the urge persisted, creating a kind of holy tension
in them, so that when they were at prayer they would feel a longing to be up and
about doing great things for Christ, and when they were working for Christ they
would be longing to be away from everything and to be with Him alone. St Paul expressed
this tension well in another context, when talking not of prayer, but of his dying
and being with the Lord in heaven. He says to his Philippians:</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Bodytext2Char" style="background: transparent; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;">For to me life is Christ, and death
gain; but what if my living on in the</span><span class="Bodytext2CharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> body may serve
some good purpose? Which then am I to choose? I cannot tell. I am tom two ways:
what I should like is to depart and be with Christ; that is better by far; but
for your sake there is greater need for me to stay on in the body.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: right;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Philippians 1:1-25<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="BodytextCharCharChar" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Paul was an extremely active man, deeply involved in
his work and in the life of his early Churches; yet he felt this tension between
continuing to work for them and being away with Christ.</span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The same may be said of other very active men like
Francis Xavier or John Vianney, who was constantly having to resist the temptation
to run away from his parish and become a hermit so that he could spend all his time
with God. This intense desire to be away and alone with God makes the apostle’s
whole life and activity a prayer, and he is constantly surrounded and steeped in
an atmosphere of prayer. Mahatma Gandhi remarked that it was his experience that
he could easily live for days on end without eating a single morsel of food, but
he could not live for a single minute without prayer. If he were deprived of prayer
for even a minute, he said, he would go mad, given the type of life he was leading.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="StyleBodytextCharAutoFirstline063cmAfter6ptP"><span class="BodytextCharCharCharChar"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Perhaps that is the reason why we ourselves do not
feel this constant hunger for prayer and so fall victim to theories like the one
I mentioned above. We are not living the radical lives the Gospels challenge us
to live and so we do not feel the constant need for the nourishment and support
and vigor and life that only prayer can give us. We are not constantly hungry
for prayer. In fact, we feel this hunger very rarely because we have so many things
– worldly interests, joys and appetites, even problems and worries – with which
to crowd our minds and our consciousness. We are too full of these distractions
to sense the great void in our hearts and the great need we have of God to fill
that void.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote0" style="background: transparent; margin-left: 7.1pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -7.1pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a href="file:///G:/_Kho%20sach/_Prayer/Contact%20with%20God/Contact%20with%20God.doc#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="Footnote"><sup><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="Footnote"><sup><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></sup></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></sup></span></a><span class="Footnote"><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> We have tried to
remedy the problem of nonine! Usive language in the American edition, see page
vii–ed.</span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote0" style="background: transparent; margin-left: 7.1pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -7.1pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><a href="file:///G:/_Kho%20sach/_Prayer/Contact%20with%20God/Contact%20with%20God.doc#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="Footnote"><sup><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="Footnote"><sup><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></sup></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></sup></span></a><span class="Footnote"><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> The numbering for the
Psalms that Father de Mello uses follows the Hebrew, not the Septuagint
version, and so is different from most Catholic editions.</span></span></p>
</div>
</div>hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-48696987012927862512020-09-24T21:14:00.015+07:002021-03-26T10:31:07.464+07:00DANH NGON<p> Những câu nói nổi tiếng:</p><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlzTNBR0yTwVk_rkNGDXen6XR_6y9oEyFuuwAOjgpvfSPQPIIz1m4Gajlm7hO-OpN97vgsdyVwQL_MltL_glPoJRi8hH0x0V9pxeM-TI8sqxSjMMPUPA7rM4B7x9HjpF8g8-8by6h6HjA/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="900" data-original-width="681" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlzTNBR0yTwVk_rkNGDXen6XR_6y9oEyFuuwAOjgpvfSPQPIIz1m4Gajlm7hO-OpN97vgsdyVwQL_MltL_glPoJRi8hH0x0V9pxeM-TI8sqxSjMMPUPA7rM4B7x9HjpF8g8-8by6h6HjA/s16000/image.png" /></a></span></span></div><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span></span></div><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br />"Modern man listens
more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to
teachers, it is because they are witnesses."</span></span><o:p></o:p><p></p><p style="text-align: right;">
<span style="background: white; font-size: x-small;">Pope Paul VI, Address to the Members of the Consilium
de Laicis (<st1:date day="2" month="10" year="1974"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">2 October 1974</span></st1:date><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">): <br />AAS 66 (1974), p. 568<br />and in <br /></span><span style="color: #663300;">Paul VI Apostolic Exhortation of His Holiness Pope, <br /><i>EVANGELII
NUNTIANDI</i>, </span><st1:date day="8" month="12" year="1975"><span style="color: #663300;">December 8, 1975</span></st1:date><span style="color: #663300;">, # 41)</span></span></p><div><br /></div>The more I know him, the more I love him. The more I love him, the more I know him.<br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div>“A God who became so small could only be mercy and love”<br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">St. Therese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul chapter 5</span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="fontstyle0"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="fontstyle0"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="fontstyle0">Ignatius of Antioch said, “<i>We must go to Scripture as to the flesh of Christ</i>.”</span> </div><span class="fontstyle0" style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="fontstyle0">Letter to the Philadelphians, </span><span class="fontstyle2">4, 1, in </span><span class="fontstyle0">The Ante–Nicene Fathers</span><span class="fontstyle2">, vol. 1,</span></div></span><span class="fontstyle2"><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Buffalo: Christian Literature</span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="fontstyle2" style="font-size: x-small;">Publishing, 1885–1887), 79–85</span> </div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="fontstyle0"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="fontstyle0"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="fontstyle0">I don't go to Mass because I'm Catholic, <br />I'm Catholic because I go to Mass</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>"<span style="font-size: medium;">Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you</span>."<div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">CCC 2834 <br />Attributed to St. Ignatius Loyola, cf. Joseph de Guibert, SJ, <br /><i>The Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and Practice, </i><br />(Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1964), 148, n. 55.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="textLayer" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: PopuLato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; height: 777px; inset: 0px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.2; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline; width: 601px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: transparent; cursor: text; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 9.82026px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; left: 76.107px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 684.715px; transform-origin: 0% 0%; transform: scaleX(0.998329); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Attributed to St. Ignatius Loyola, cf. Joseph de Guibert, SJ, The Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and </span><span style="border: 0px; color: transparent; cursor: text; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 9.82026px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; left: 70.8041px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 696.107px; transform-origin: 0% 0%; transform: scaleX(0.998402); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Practice, (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1964), 148, n. 55.</span><div class="endOfContent" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; font: inherit; inset: 777px 0px 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; user-select: none; vertical-align: baseline; z-index: -1;"></div></div><div class="annotationLayer" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: PopuLato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><section class="linkAnnotation" data-annotation-id="7R" style="border: 0px; font: inherit; height: 27.6px; left: 326.193px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; pointer-events: all; position: absolute; top: 610.2px; transform-origin: -326.193px -610.2px; transform: matrix(0.982026, 0, 0, 0.982026, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; width: 3.564px;"></section></div><div class="textLayer" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: PopuLato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; height: 777px; inset: 0px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.2; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline; width: 601px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: transparent; cursor: text; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 9.82026px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; left: 76.107px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 684.715px; transform-origin: 0% 0%; transform: scaleX(0.998329); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Attributed to St. Ignatius Loyola, cf. Joseph de Guibert, SJ, The Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and </span><span style="border: 0px; color: transparent; cursor: text; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 9.82026px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; left: 70.8041px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 696.107px; transform-origin: 0% 0%; transform: scaleX(0.998402); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Practice, (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1964), 148, n. 55.</span><div class="endOfContent" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; font: inherit; inset: 777px 0px 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; user-select: none; vertical-align: baseline; z-index: -1;"></div></div><div class="annotationLayer" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: PopuLato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><section class="linkAnnotation" data-annotation-id="7R" style="border: 0px; font: inherit; height: 27.6px; left: 326.193px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; pointer-events: all; position: absolute; top: 610.2px; transform-origin: -326.193px -610.2px; transform: matrix(0.982026, 0, 0, 0.982026, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; width: 3.564px;"></section></div></div></div></div>hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-75196346360618313092020-09-05T19:45:00.009+07:002020-09-06T03:27:01.309+07:00Sự cô đơn của đọc<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAVKyiDs7EIyt4_Hib0nJoMCi-bIsR0ptmlv1ACPAkOT3-zZHCA-Vn9-KniZolHVXT9BJ_ZJRM2w-KJ_ca0F5bInLPxcoMogG9hA_T6G-6uv5rsE9SlvPKYuQ67nkDajmkGwcqAc07eJQ/s257/Su_co_don_cua_doc.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="257" data-original-width="280" height="401" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAVKyiDs7EIyt4_Hib0nJoMCi-bIsR0ptmlv1ACPAkOT3-zZHCA-Vn9-KniZolHVXT9BJ_ZJRM2w-KJ_ca0F5bInLPxcoMogG9hA_T6G-6uv5rsE9SlvPKYuQ67nkDajmkGwcqAc07eJQ/w281-h401/Su_co_don_cua_doc.jpg" width="281" /></a></div><br />Bùi Việt Phương - Văn hóa đọc dần bị thay thế bằng văn hóa đọc miệng người khác nói. Từ chỗ mượn mắt của người khác đọc hộ, nghe người khác nói, đến chỗ mượn cả trái tim và khối óc của người khác nghĩ hộ mình, rung động hộ mình, chỉ là một bước ngắn.<br /><br />-------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Đọc bao giờ cũng là tự làm cô đơn mình.<br />Giữa thời đại văn hóa thị giác, người ta chợt hay nhắc đến văn hóa đọc như một đối trọng. Thực sự là hai cái ấy ít nhiều xung khắc với nhau. Văn hóa thị giác làm tươi mát đời sống bằng những biểu hiện bên ngoài của thế giới như màu sắc, hình ảnh và âm nhạc. Còn văn hóa đọc thì trầm lắng, tạo ra sự đa thanh bằng chiều sâu của những tầng tri thức. Một bên như cái tán sum suê, sinh cành đẻ lá. Một bên cứ âm thầm hút nhựa từ đất, càng miệt mài đằm sâu, càng cô đơn.<br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/blog/post/edit/427618573786286129/8088577352590489962#"></a><br />Đọc có nghĩa là được cô đơn. Khi thưởng thức các loại hình nghệ thuật gắn với môi trường diễn xướng như kịch, âm nhạc, người thưởng thức buộc phải chung sống với số đông. Những ý kiến và nhu cầu tranh luận nảy sinh ở họ phần nhiều là trực tiếp. Còn khi đọc, ta sống trong một thế giới siêu không gian, siêu thời gian, cách ly với mọi hệ lụy bên ngoài.<br />Ta cảm nhận những điều sách nói bằng cảm giác của thân thể. Bởi sự tuyệt đối "chân không" ấy mà sự đọc khiến độc giả chìm sâu vào một thế giới của riêng mình. Không phải không có những người đọc choáng ngợp trước sách để rồi không thu nạp được gì nhiều ngoài sự hoang mang. Nhưng, đọc đúng hướng và đúng tầm thì cũng như hạt mầm gieo xuống đất. Nó chìm sâu để rồi tự vươn lên như một cái cây, tạo cho con người một phẩm chất đọc riêng, có thể gọi là nhân cách đọc.<br />Đã có một thế giới khác khi cầm trang sách, tất chúng ta có một địa vị cho mình trong thế giới ấy. Sự đọc dẫn đến sự phân loại độc giả trong mối tương giao với sách, điều người ta hay gọi là “sách kén người”.<br />Việc người đọc tự phân loại mình là một vận động biện chứng, tự thân, độc lập với sự chia luồng độc giả của người viết sách và giới làm sách nhằm tới lợi nhuận thương mại. Đọc để tự biết mình và làm khác mình bằng sự khác biệt về bản sắc và quan điểm về thế giới. Đọc là được cô đơn, cô đơn để có sự khác biệt và độc lập trong suy nghĩ.<br />Với sách văn chương, sự cô đơn có nguồn gốc sâu xa ở chỗ, mỗi người đọc có một thể nghiệm riêng với tác phẩm, một tương tác riêng với nó. Người ta làm một cuộc phiêu lưu vào sách, sống cuộc đời nhân vật trong sách, và hơn hết thử làm chủ nhân một thế giới khác, với trật tự lôgích của riêng nó.<br />Với những cuốn sách thuộc các lĩnh vực khác, sự cô đơn thể hiện thông qua chính kiến và quan điểm riêng của người đọc. Nếu không tự xây dựng định hướng tư duy cho mình thì dù có cập nhật bao nhiêu tri thức cũng vẫn là anh thủ kho kiến thức mà thôi.<br />Sự định hướng ấy là bản lĩnh tiếp nhận. Bản lĩnh tiếp nhận là một biến thể của sự cô đơn - sự cô đơn của cá nhân từ chối hòa tan vào bầy đàn một cách thiếu suy nghĩ.<br />Một câu hỏi đặt ra: Nếu đọc để đạt đến sự cô đơn, liệu có phải những kẻ đọc sách đều là nhưng người lập dị không? Ngày nay đang tồn tại giữa chúng ta một cách đọc mang tính bầy đàn, dựa vào quan điểm đánh giá của một số nhà điểm sách. (Về sự đáng ngờ của các quan điểm đó - sự chênh lệch giữa giá trị ảo được thiết lập nhờ các bài điểm sách trên báo với giá trị thực của cuốn sách, thiết tưởng chúng ta sẽ cần tiếp tục bàn nhiều vào những lần khác).<br />Thay vì tự tạo cho mình một chính kiến văn hóa, một thái độ độc lập, người ta buông mình theo sự a dua đến mức kinh ngạc. Số đông ấy tuy có âm lượng to, dung lượng lớn, nhưng chỉ là hiện tượng nhất thời. Họ bị những mốt này mốt nọ “cưa đổ" như quân bài đôminô mà không hay cái sự ấy khởi phát từ đâu.<br />Con người bị cuộc sống hiện đại lấy mất khoảng thời gian tự tại, đi đến chỗ ỷ lại vào những giá trị văn hóa tinh thần thập cẩm, pha loãng, không cần phải mất công sức cũng có được.<br />Văn hóa đọc (sách) dần bị thay thế bằng văn hóa đọc miệng người khác nói. Từ chỗ mượn mắt của người khác đọc hộ, nghe người khác nói, đến chỗ mượn cả trái tim và khối óc của người khác nghĩ hộ mình, rung động hộ mình, chỉ là một bước ngắn. Liệu có phải vì vậy mà có nhiều người đọc mà chỉ có rất ít đôi mắt nội tại không? Chúng ta tự tước đoạt lá phiếu của chính mình hầu bỏ phiếu tín nhiệm cho mỗi cuốn sách để thay bằng sự áp đặt và đô hộ của những mốt đọc. Trong khi đó, sự cô đơn thực sự giúp người đọc có sự đánh giá của riêng mình. Càng cô đơn trong ý nghĩ, người đọc càng có nhiều thắc mắc và động lực đào sâu tìm kiếm mạch nguồn, tìm sự liên hệ bề sâu với cộng đồng những người đọc với đúng nghĩa của nó.<br /><br />Chính sự cô đơn làm nên vẻ đẹp lấp lánh cho những cuốn sách.<br />Nguồn: Tia Sáng<div><br /></div><div>Video: <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rvq_QQvOYg">Những gì còn lại</a></i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="366" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7rvq_QQvOYg" width="520" youtube-src-id="7rvq_QQvOYg"></iframe></div><br /><i><br /></i><span><a name='more'></a></span><span><!--more--></span></div>hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-17278554283495471522020-09-05T19:19:00.004+07:002020-09-05T19:37:49.725+07:00Library Of Catholic Christian Classics<div class="separator"><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIC0eUe2nJCRcoJgTHa_7ooDtqaEEHhLcJpPh2Sa4bQV5FRtsS2l935qqJWmyPAS38juN9i36bdoni3jMEwQ3ZFnOcsYLXXTq1ZaeFmZBqjJ2efPaT8QJoUU9yBH2IbiLsMh21jKfSGPs/s460/liber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="460" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIC0eUe2nJCRcoJgTHa_7ooDtqaEEHhLcJpPh2Sa4bQV5FRtsS2l935qqJWmyPAS38juN9i36bdoni3jMEwQ3ZFnOcsYLXXTq1ZaeFmZBqjJ2efPaT8QJoUU9yBH2IbiLsMh21jKfSGPs/s320/liber.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p></div><p>You are welcome to use this library for your research, education, edification and spiritual reading. Here you will find a collection of classic reference works, books on prayer, the Church, Church History, the Saints, Spirituality and much more.</p><h1>
<b>PRAYER</b></h1>
<p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/life/prayer.shtml">My Life In Prayer Book</a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/library2/%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%20http://www.ecatholic2000.com/cts/untitled-338.shtml%C3%A2%E2%82%AC">Passiontide Prayer Book</a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/library2/%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%20http://www.ecatholic2000.com/cts/untitled-388.shtml%C3%A2%E2%82%AC">Simple Prayer Book</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/liguori/stations/cross.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/liguori/stations/cross.shtml">Stations of the Cross</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/underhill/meditations.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/underhill/meditations.shtml">Abba Meditations Based on the Lord's Prayer</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/guardini/mass.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/guardini/mass.shtml">Meditations Before Mass</a></p><h1><b>BIBLICAL</b></h1>
<p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/breen/untitled.shtml">A General Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/haydock/title.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/haydock/title.shtml">Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/catena/untitled-111.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/catena/untitled-111.shtml">Catena Aurea</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/cyril2/untitled-81.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/cyril2/untitled-81.shtml">Commentary On The Gospel According To Saint John Vol. 1&2</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/cyril/untitled-143.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/cyril/untitled-143.shtml">A Commentary Upon The Gospel According To Saint Luke</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/bell/psalms.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/bell/psalms.shtml">A Commentary On The Psalms</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/neale/untitled-827.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/neale/untitled-827.shtml">A Commentary On The Psalms From Primitive and Mediæval Writers vol. 1-4</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/macevilly/untitled-33.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/macevilly/untitled-33.shtml">An Exposition Of The Acts Of The Apostles</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/macevilly3/untitled-155.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/macevilly3/untitled-155.shtml">An Exposition Of The Epistles Of Saint Paul</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/macevilly2/untitled-112.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/macevilly2/untitled-112.shtml">An Exposition Of The Gospels</a><a href="http://www.ecatholic2000.com/maas/untitled-25.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="http://www.ecatholic2000.com/maas/untitled-25.shtml">The Gospel According to St. Matthew With Commentary</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/lapide/untitled-170.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/lapide/untitled-170.shtml">The Great Commentary</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/knecht/untitled-198.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/knecht/untitled-198.shtml">A Practical Commentary On Holy Scripture</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/septuagint/untitled-83.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/septuagint/untitled-83.shtml">The Septuagint Version Of The Old Testament</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/anthony/untitled.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/anthony/untitled.shtml">The Moral Concordances Of Saint Anthony Of Padua</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/collection.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/collection.shtml">THE G. K. CHESTERTON COLLECTION</a></p>
<h1>NON-FICTION</h1>
<p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/disc/alarms.shtml">Alarms And Discursions</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/all/things.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/all/things.shtml">All Things Considered</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/works/works.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/works/works.shtml">Appreciations And Criticisms Of The Works Of Charles Dickens</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/history/short.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/history/short.shtml">A Short History Of England</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/charles/works.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/charles/works.shtml">Charles Dickens</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/evl/eugenics.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/evl/eugenics.shtml">Eugenics And Other Evils</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/here/heretics.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/here/heretics.shtml">Heretics</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/imp/irish.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/imp/irish.shtml">Irish Impressions</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/ortho/right.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/ortho/right.shtml">Orthodoxy</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/appetite/tyranny.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/appetite/tyranny.shtml">The Appetite Of Tyranny</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/uk/crimes.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/uk/crimes.shtml">The Crimes Of England</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/defendant/def.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/defendant/def.shtml">The Defendant</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/misc/men.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/misc/men.shtml">The Miscellany of Men</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/jrslm/new.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/jrslm/new.shtml">The New Jerusalem</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/super/divorce.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/super/divorce.shtml">The Superstition Of Divorce</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/victorian/age.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/victorian/age.shtml">The Victorian Age In Literature</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/tremendous/trifles.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/tremendous/trifles.shtml">Tremendous Trifles</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/usu/utopia.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/usu/utopia.shtml">Utopia Of Usurers And Other Essays</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/varied/types.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/varied/types.shtml">Varied Types</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/what/saw.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/what/saw.shtml">What I Saw In America</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/wrong/world.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/wrong/world.shtml">What’s Wrong With The World</a></p><h1>FICTION</h1>
<a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/magic/magic.shtml"></a><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/magic/magic.shtml">Magic</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/alive/man.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/alive/man.shtml">Manalive</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/horse/white.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/horse/white.shtml">The Ballad Of The White Horse</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/ball/cross.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/ball/cross.shtml">The Ball And The Cross</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/blatchford/cont.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/blatchford/cont.shtml">The Blatchford Controversies</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/trades/club.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/trades/club.shtml">The Club Of Queer Trades</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/flying/inn.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/flying/inn.shtml">The Flying Inn</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/cross/blue.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/cross/blue.shtml">The Innocence Of Father Brown</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/too/much.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/too/much.shtml">The Man Who Knew Too Much</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/who/was.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/who/was.shtml">The Man Who Was Thursday</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/hill/not.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/hill/not.shtml">The Napoleon Of Notting Hill</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/pride/trees.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/pride/trees.shtml">The Trees Of Pride</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/absence/wisdom.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/gk/absence/wisdom.shtml">The Wisdom Of Father Brown</a></p><h1>CATECHISM</h1>
<a href="http://www.ecatholic2000.com/trentcat/untitled-58.shtml"></a><p><a href="http://www.ecatholic2000.com/trentcat/untitled-58.shtml">Catechism of the Council of Trent</a><a href="http://www.ecatholic2000.com/cts/untitled-357.shtml#_Toc349936022"></a></p><p><a href="http://www.ecatholic2000.com/cts/untitled-357.shtml#_Toc349936022">Primer Catechism</a></p><h1>CHILDREN'S LITERATURE<br />
Rev. John Furniss C.S.S.R. Children's Collection</h1>
<a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/furniss/little/loves.shtml"></a><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/furniss/little/loves.shtml">Almighty God Loves Little Children</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/furniss/great/evl.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/furniss/great/evl.shtml">The Great Evil</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/furniss/confession/confess.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/furniss/confession/confess.shtml">Confession</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/furniss/perfections/perfect.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/furniss/perfections/perfect.shtml">God and His Perfections</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/furniss/question/great.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/furniss/question/great.shtml">The Great Question</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/furniss/sight/hell.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/furniss/sight/hell.shtml">The Sight of Hell</a></p><h1>CHURCH COUNCILS</h1>
<a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/councils/untitled-66.shtml"></a><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/councils/untitled-66.shtml">A History Of The Councils Of The Church Volumes 1 to 5</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/councils2/untitled-34.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/councils2/untitled-34.shtml">A Manual Of The Councils Of The Holy Catholic Church</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/church/councils.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/church/councils.shtml">History of the Councils</a><a href="http://www.ecatholic2000.com/vatican1/untitled-06.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="http://www.ecatholic2000.com/vatican1/untitled-06.shtml">The Decrees of Vatican I</a><a href="http://www.ecatholic2000.com/trent/untitled-114.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="http://www.ecatholic2000.com/trent/untitled-114.shtml">The Canons And Decrees Of The Council Of Trent</a></p><h1>MONASTICISM</h1>
<a href="http://www.ecatholic2000.com/benedict/rule.shtml"></a><p><a href="http://www.ecatholic2000.com/benedict/rule.shtml">Rule of St Benedict</a><a href="http://www.ecatholic2000.com/pachomius/untitled-07.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="http://www.ecatholic2000.com/pachomius/untitled-07.shtml">Rules Of Pachomius</a></p>
<h1>REFERENCE</h1>
<p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/addis/dictionary.shtml">Catholic Dictionary</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/trudel/canon.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/trudel/canon.shtml">Dictionary of Canon Law</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/coppens/study.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/coppens/study.shtml">A Systematic Study of the Catholic Religion</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/theology/manual.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/theology/manual.shtml">A Manual of Catholic Theology</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/pohle/untitled.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/pohle/untitled.shtml">Escathology Or The Catholic Doctrine Of The Last Things</a><a href="http://www.ecatholic2000.com/cathopedia/title.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="http://www.ecatholic2000.com/cathopedia/title.shtml">Catholic Encyclopedia</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/pocket/untitled.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/pocket/untitled.shtml">Catholic Pocket Dictionary</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/augustine/untitled-01.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/augustine/untitled-01.shtml">The Confessions Of St. Augustine</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/fathers/untitled.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/fathers/untitled.shtml">The Complete Church Fathers Collection. Catholic Edition</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/fathers/didache.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/fathers/didache.shtml">The Didache</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/eusebius/untitled-287.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/eusebius/untitled-287.shtml">Ecclesiastical History</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/malan/georgian.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/malan/georgian.shtml">A Short History of the Georgian Church</a><a href="http://www.ecatholic2000.com/augustine/enchiridion/untitled.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="http://www.ecatholic2000.com/augustine/enchiridion/untitled.shtml">Endichron On Faith, Hope and Love</a></p>
<h1>History Of The Catholic Church</h1>
<p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/history/cc.shtml">Volume I</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/history/cc36.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/history/cc36.shtml">Volume II</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/history3/untitled-185.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/history3/untitled-185.shtml">A History Of The Church In Six Books</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/history4/untitled-262.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/history4/untitled-262.shtml">A History Of The Church In Seven Books</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/history5/untitled-263.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/history5/untitled-263.shtml">A History Of The Church In Nine Books</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/history6/untitled-08.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/history6/untitled-08.shtml">A History Of The Jewish People In The Time Of Jesus Christ</a><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/outlines/untitled-79.shtml"></a></p><p><a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/outlines/untitled-79.shtml">Outlines Of Jewish History</a></p>hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-83387361064650384132020-09-05T18:59:00.008+07:002021-02-25T20:09:14.863+07:00 Free E-BOOKS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfXLyHxfOOn8dfX2dFtyiJVmakhN8Aj21tTiexBDMU7NLYMlAYEYO6uPy5ULP5fC9c86fPxAsomS1S_FtoEq_13otoujl17iewzM243yi2bosE_5HEOfodehJH3G_Mry85IezeWYTAYdw/s1024/Ebook.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="769" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfXLyHxfOOn8dfX2dFtyiJVmakhN8Aj21tTiexBDMU7NLYMlAYEYO6uPy5ULP5fC9c86fPxAsomS1S_FtoEq_13otoujl17iewzM243yi2bosE_5HEOfodehJH3G_Mry85IezeWYTAYdw/s320/Ebook.jpeg" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">All eBooks listed are in public domain, are not copyright or there has been given a permission by the author for free distribution: which means they are all legally free.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">Copyright laws in most countries are in a constant state of change. Check the laws of your country before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or creating derivative works based on this work.<br /><br />A little advice; consider taking brain foods to help with studies: virgin cold pressed coconut oil, wild and pollutant free omega 3 fish oil, walnuts, wild blueberries, pecans, L Glutamine, Inositol and Taurine. I personally only take coconut oil and it really helps. Cheap, considering how long you can keep it in the fridge. Sometimes I buy the others if I have money.... <br /><br /><br />Apparently 3 best books on Introduction to Christianity, Theology and Philosophy; fundamentals. Actually, Mere Christianity is recommended by scholars the other two are recommended by me: <br /><br />1. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. <a href="https://archive.org/details/merechristianity00csle">borrow only</a></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />2. Thomas Aquinas in 50 Pages by Dr. Taylor Marshall. <a href="https://taylormarshall.com/2013/05/free-book-is-ready-thomas-aquinas-in-50.html">free ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />3. An Introduction to Philosophy for Young People by Dough McManaman. May be read online at <a href="http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/mcm/ph/ph_01philosophyyouth1.html">www.lifeissues.net</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Use FlashGot Mass Downloader, select box indicating links and download it in seconds. Once downloaded you can convert it to any format you want using online, free ebook converters.<br /><br />1. The Commandments explained, according to the teaching and doctrine of the Catholic Church by Arthur Devine. <a href="https://archive.org/details/tencommandm00deviuoft">ebook</a> and <a href="http://openlibrary.org/books/OL14044790M/The_commandments_explained_according_to_the_teaching_and_doctrine_of_the_Catholic_Church">here</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />2. The Sacraments Explained According to the Teaching and Doctrine of the Catholic Church: With Introductory Treaties on Grace by Arthur Devine. <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/5thsacramentsexp00deviuoft">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />3. The Catechism of the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas. <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/catechismsumma00peguuoft">ebook</a> or <a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7108483M/Catechism_of_the_Summa_theologica_of_Saint_Thomas_Aquinas">here</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />4. The Catechism of the Council of Trent by Rev. J. Donovan. <a href="https://archive.org/details/thecatechismofth00donouoft">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />5. The Spirit of Catholicism by Karl Adam. <a href="http://www.ewtn.com/library/THEOLOGY/SPIRCATH.HTM">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />7. The Principles of Catholic Apologetics: Study of Modernism based chiefly on the Lectures of Pere Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.'s by Garrigou-Lagrange, Réginald, O.P. & Walshe, Fr. T. J. <a href="https://archive.org/details/PrinciplesOfCatholicApologetics">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />8. An Introduction to Christian Philosophy by Fr. William Most. May be copied online at <a href="http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/most/getwork.cfm?worknum=11">www.catholicculture.org</a> or <a href="http://www.ewtn.com/library/THEOLOGY/PHIL631.HTM">full text</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />9. Epistemology or The Theory of Knowledge. (An Introduction to General Metaphysics by P. Coffey, PhD.<br />Volume 1 <a href="http://archive.org/details/epistemologycoff01coffuoft">ebook</a><br />Volume 2 <a href="http://archive.org/details/epistemologycoff02coffuoft">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />10. A Catholic Atlas or Digest of Catholic Theology by Charles C. Crafton. <a href="http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7105600M/A_Catholic_atlas_or_Digest_of_Catholic_theology">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />11. Early Church Fathers in <a href="http://www.ccel.org/fathers.html">PDF format</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />12. Sermons: Adapted to all the Sundays and Holidays of the Year by Fr. Franz Hunolt. This is simple introduction to Theology, Apologetics, Spirituality, your purpose in life.... <a href="https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Hunolt%2C+Franz%2C+1691-1746%22">Lots of eBooks</a> If you don't like it there is plenty of other ebooks to choose from, including my <a href="https://catholicguidance.blogspot.ca/2012/02/good-books-on-apologetics.html">Apologetics section of blog.</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />13. A Handbook of Patrology, by Joseph Tixeront. <a href="http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7105872M/A_handbook_of_patrology">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />14. Manual of Patrology, by Bernard Schmid. <a href="http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7080201M/Manual_of_patrology">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />15. Patrology; the lives and works of the fathers of the church, by Otto Bardenhewer, Thomas Joseph Shahan. <a href="https://archive.org/details/patrologythelive00obaruoft">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />16. Manual of Patrology by V.J. Schoebel. <a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7080201M/Manual_of_patrology">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />17. A Brief History of Philosophy by Charles Coppens. <a href="http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7170603M/A_brief_history_of_philosophy">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />18. A History of Western Philosophy by Ralph McInerny. <a href="http://www.24grammata.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Ralph-McInerny-A-History-of-Western-Philosophy.-24grammata.com_.-pdf.pdf">PDF</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />19. History of Medieval Philosophy by Wulf M. de Maurice and Peter Coffey. <a href="https://archive.org/details/historyofmediaev00wulf">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />20. History of Philosophy by William Turner. <a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL6927763M/History_of_philosophy">ebook</a> <br /><br />21. A History of Philosophy by Frederick Charles Copleston.<br /><a href="http://www.dhspriory.org/kenny/PhilTexts/Copleston/HistoryPhilosophy1.pdf">Volume 1, PDF</a> <br /><a href="https://archive.org/details/medievalphilosop00copl">Volume 2</a> <br /><a href="https://archive.org/details/historyofphiloso03copl">Volume 3</a> <br /><a href="http://dhspriory.org/kenny/PhilTexts/Copleston/HistoryPhilosophy4.pdf">Volume 4</a><br /><a href="http://dhspriory.org/kenny/PhilTexts/Copleston/HistoryPhilosophy5.pdf">Volume 5</a><br /><a href="http://dhspriory.org/kenny/PhilTexts/Copleston/HistoryPhilosophy6.pdf">Volume 6</a><br /><a href="https://spiritual-minds.com/religion/philosophy/Frederick%20Copleston%20-%20A%20History%20of%20Philosophy%207%20-%20Modern%20Philosophy%20From%20the%20Post-Kantian%20Idealists%20to%20Marx,%20Kierkegaard,%20and%20Nietzsche%20-%200385470444.pdf">Volume 7</a><br /><a href="http://dhspriory.org/kenny/PhilTexts/Copleston/HistoryPhilosophy8.pdf">Volume 8</a><br /><a href="http://www.en.islamic-sources.com/book/a-history-of-philosophy-vol-9">Volume 9</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />22. Mediaeval Philosophy Illustrated from the System of St. Thomas Aquinas by Maurice de Wulf. <a href="http://archive.org/details/mediaevalphiloso1922wulf">ebook</a> 23. SUMMA THEOLOGICA by St. Thomas Aquinas. <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa.html">PDF and ebooks</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />24. St. Thomas Aquinas by G.K. Chesterton. <a href="http://www.catholicprimer.org/chesterton/st_thomas.pdf">PDF</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />25. The Thirteenth: Greatest of Centuries by Walsh, James J. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38680">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />26. St. Thomas Aquinas and Medieval Philosophy by D.J. Kennedy, O.P. <a href="http://archive.org/details/stthomasaquinasm00kennuoft">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />27. Compendium of Theology by St. Thomas Aquinas. <a href="https://archive.org/details/CompendiumOfTheologyAquinasSt.Thomas3506">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />28. Beauty; A Study in Philosophy by Rev. Aloysius Rother, S.J. <a href="https://archive.org/details/beautyastudyin00rothuoft">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />29. Degrees of Knowledge by Jacques Maritain. <a href="http://archive.org/details/DegreesOfKnowledge">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />30. Certitude; A Study in Philosophy by Rother, A. Joseph. <a href="https://archive.org/details/certitudestudyin00roth">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />31. Truth and Error by Rother, A. Joseph. <a href="http://archive.org/details/trutherrorstudyi00roth">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />32. Logic by Richard Clarke. <a href="http://archive.org/details/cu31924031245545">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />33. A Brief Textbook of Logic and Mental Philosophy by Charles Coppens. <a href="https://archive.org/details/brieftextbookofm00coppuoft">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />34. The Revival of Scholastic Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century by Joseph Louis Perrier. <a href="https://archive.org/details/revivalofscholas00perrrich">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />35. Reality, A Synthesis of Thomistic Thought by Garrigou-Lagrange, Réginald. <a href="http://www.ewtn.com/library/theology/reality.htm">full text</a><br /><br />36. Modern Thomistic Philosophy: an explanation for students by Rihard Percival Phillips. <br /><a href="http://archive.org/details/modernthomisticp01phil">Volume 1</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />37. Beatitude": a Commentary on St. Thomas' Theological Summa, la llae qq. 1-54 by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange. <a href="https://archive.org/details/BeatitudeGarrigouLagrangeReginaldO3049">ebook</a>38. Scholasticism Old and New; An Introduction to Scholastic Philosophy, Medieval and Modern by Maurice de Wulf. <a href="https://archive.org/details/scholasticismold00wulfiala">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />39. A Manual of Modern Scholastic Philosophy by Cardinal Mercier and Professor Louvain.<br />Volume I <a href="https://archive.org/stream/manualofmodernsc01merc#page/n7/mode/2up">ebook</a><br />Volume II <a href="https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15873983W/A_manual_of_modern_scholastic_philosophy">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />40. Scholasticism by Joseph Rickaby. <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/scholasticism00rickrich">ebook</a> or <a href="http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7212129M/Scholasticism">here</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />41. The Physical System of St. Thomas by Giovanni Maria Cornoldi. <a href="http://archive.org/details/physicalsystemof00cornuoft">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />42. The First Principles of Knowledge by John Rickaby, S.J. <a href="http://archive.org/details/thefirstprincipl00rickuoft">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />43. Elementary Course of Christian Philosophy by Brother Louis of Poissy. <a href="https://archive.org/details/cu31924029060354/page/n5">ebook</a> or <a href="http://www3.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/cp.htm">full text, complete work</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />44. An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, by John Henry Newman, 6th ed. (1878) Available in multiple formats at <a href="http://www.manybooks.net/titles/newmanj3511035110.html">ManyBooks.net </a>and <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35110">Project Gutenberg</a>, and may be read online at <a href="http://www.newmanreader.org/works/development/index.html">Newman Reader</a> and <a href="http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511702785">Cambridge Books Online</a>. The 7th edition (1890) is available in multiple formats <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/developdoctrineA25j189000newmuoft">here at Internet Archive</a> with a <a href="http://www.archive.org/stream/developdoctrineA25i189000newmuoft#page/n5/mode/2up">second copy here</a> and at <a href="http://openlibrary.org/books/OL23375968M/An_essay_on_the_development_of_Christian_doctrine">Open Library</a> with <a href="http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7171850M/An_essay_on_the_development_of_Christian_doctrine">a second copy here</a>.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />45. Natural Theology by Bernard Boedder. <a href="https://archive.org/details/naturaltheology00boedrich">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />46. Principles of Natural Theology by G.H. Joyce. <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/principlesofnatu00joycuoft">ebook</a><br /><br />47. The Fourfold Sovereignty of God by Archbishop, Henry Edward Manning. <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/fourfoldsovereig00mannuoft">ebook</a> 48. The Reason Why by John Bernard Otten. <a href="http://archive.org/details/reasonwhy00bern">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />49. A Map of Life by F.J. Sheed. <a href="http://www.ewtn.com/library/SPIRIT/MAPLIF.TXT">full text</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />50. Christ in the Classroom by F.J. Sheed. <a href="http://ewtn.com/library/HOMESCHL/CHRCLS.HTM">full text</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />51. Being a Study in Metaphysics by Rother, A. Joseph. <a href="http://archive.org/details/beingstudyinmeta00roth">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />52. The Everlasting Man by K.G. Chesterton. <a href="http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/everlasting_man.pdf">PDF</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />53. A Confession by Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy. <a href="https://archive.org/details/myconfessioncrit00tols">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />54. The Church by G.A. Sertillanges. <a href="http://archive.org/details/churchse00sert">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />55. Catholic Dogma: The Fundamental Truths of Revealed Religion by Church Club of New York. <a href="http://archive.org/details/catholicdogma00unknuoft">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />56. The Seven Ecumenical Councils. <a href="https://archive.org/details/sevenecumenicalc00perc">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />57. The Canons and Decrees of the Sacred and Ecumenical Council of Trent by Rev. James Waterworth; to which are prefixed essays on the external and internal history of the Council. <a href="http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7224040M/The_canons_and_decrees_of_the_sacred_and_oecumenical_Council_of_Trent_celebrated_under_the_sovereign">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />58. Decrees and Canons of the Vatican Council. <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/a678655400slsnuoft">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />60. On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius. <a href="http://www.copticchurch.net/topics/theology/incarnation_st_athanasius.pdf">PDF</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />61. Christ the Savior by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange. <a href="http://www.documenta-catholica.eu/d_Garrigou%20-%20Lagrange,%20R%20-%20The%20Third%20Part%20of%20St%20Thomas%27%20Theological%20Summa%20-%20EN.pdf">PDF</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />62. Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma by Ludwig Ott. Mat be read online <a href="http://www.catecheticsonline.com/SourcesofDogma.php">www.catecheticsonline.com</a> or <a href="http://www.essan.org/SignumMagnum/e%20Books/Fundamentals%20Of%20Catholic%20Dogma.pdf">PDF</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />63. The Sources of Catholic Dogma by Denzinger. <a href="http://archive.org/details/TheSourcesOfCatholicDogma">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />64. A Systematic Study of the Catholic Religion, by Charles Coppens, S.J. <a href="http://archive.org/details/systematicstudy00coppuoft">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />65. The Catholic Doctrine of Grace by George Hayward Joyce. <a href="http://archive.org/details/catholicdoctrine00joyc">ebook</a><br /><br />66. Grace by Rev. R. Garrigou Lagrange. <a href="http://www.romancatholicism.org/pdf/gl-grace.pdf">PDF</a>67. The Glories of Divine Grace by Eusebius Niremberg. <a href="http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7250898M/The_glories_of_divine_grace">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />68. Papal Encyclicals in their Historical Context by Gustave Weigel. <a href="https://archive.org/details/papalencyclicals00incath">ebook</a><br /><br />69. A Manual of the History of Dogmas by Bernard John Otten, S.J.<br />Volume I <a href="http://archive.org/details/manualofhistoryo00bern">ebook</a><br />Volume II <a href="https://archive.org/details/amanualofthehist02otteuoft">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />70. On Christian Doctrine, In Four Books by St. Augustine. <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/augustine/doctrine.html">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />71. City of God by St. Augustine. <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf102.html">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <a href="http://phatcatholic.blogspot.ca/p/catholic-books-online.html">Other Works by</a> St Augustine and <a href="http://www.ccel.org/index/author/A">HERE</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />72. General Metaphysics by John Rickaby. <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/generalmetaphys00rickuoft">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">73. A Preface To Metaphysics, by Jacques Maritain. <a href="http://archive.org/details/prefacetometaphy032363mbp">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />74. Approaches To God: World Perspective, Volume I by Jacques Maritain. <a href="http://archive.org/details/approachestogodw012060mbp">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />75. A Manual of Catholic Theology; based on Scheeben’s “Dogmatik”.<br />Volume I <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/manualofcatholic01scheiala">ebook</a><br />Volume II <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/manualofcatholic02scheiala">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />76. Outlines of Dogmatic Theology by Sylvester Joseph Hunter.<br />Volume I <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/outlinesofdogmat01hunt">ebook</a><br />Volume II <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/outlinesofdogmat02hunt">ebook</a><br />Volume III <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/outlinesofdogmat03hunt">ebook</a>77. Ontology or the Theory of Being (An Introduction to General Metaphysics) by P. Coffey.<br /><a href="http://archive.org/details/ontology00coffuoft">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />78. The Divinity of Christ, by Joseph Rickaby, S.J. <a href="http://archive.org/details/divinityofchrist00rickuoft">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />79. Theology of the Sacraments: a Study in Positive Theology by Pourrat, P. (Pierre). <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/theologysacramen00pouruoft">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />80. Sermons on the Sacraments by Henry Bullinger, minister of the church of Zurich. <a href="http://openlibrary.org/books/OL13497811M/Sermons_on_the_sacraments">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />81. The Four Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Justice , Fortitude and Temperance by Josef Pieper. <a href="http://archive.org/details/fourcardinalvirt012953mbp">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />82. These are the Sacraments by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. <a href="http://www.basilica.org/pages/ebooks/Fulton%20Sheen-These%20are%20the%20Sacraments.pdf">PDF</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />83. Pastoral Medicine by Rev. Walter M. Drum. <a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7150347M/Pastoral_medicine">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />84. The Four Last Things--Death, Judgment, Hell and Heaven by Fr. Martin Von Cochem. <a href="https://archive.org/details/thefourlastthing00martuoft">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />85. Life Everlasting; A Theological Treatise on the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange. May be read online at <a href="http://www.catholictreasury.info/books/everlasting_life/index.php">catholictreasury</a> and <a href="http://www.ewtn.com/library/SPIRIT/LIFE_EV.txt">full text</a><br /><br />86. Utopia by More, St. Thomas. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2130">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />87. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevski. <a href="http://archive.org/details/crimepunishment00dostuoft">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />88. Education: A Survey of the Development of Educational Theory and Practice in Ancient, Medieval and Modern Times by Patrick J. McCormick. <a href="https://archive.org/details/education_201406">ebook</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />89. History of Philosophy and Philosophical Education by Etinne Gilson. <a href="https://archive.org/details/historyofphiloso00gils">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />90. A Practical Introduction to English Rhetoric by Rev. Charles Coppens. <a href="https://archive.org/details/practicalintrodu00coppuoft">ebook</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />91. St. Augustine's Confessions by William Watts. <br /><a href="https://archive.org/details/staugustinesconf01augu">Volume 1</a><br /><a href="https://archive.org/details/staugustinesconf02augu">Volume 2</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />92. Our Father's Plan: God's Arrangements and Our Response by Fr. William G. Most. May be copied online at <a href="http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/most/getwork.cfm?worknum=232">www.catholicculture.org</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />93. Philosophy of Nature Let Thomas Aquinas Teach it by Joseph Kenny, O.P. <a href="https://archive.org/details/PhilosophyOfNatureLetThomKennyJosephO.P.5145">booklet</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />94. transformation In Christ by Dietrich Von Hildebrand. <a href="https://archive.org/details/TransformationInChristDietrichVonHildebrand">ebook</a>By Joseph Pohle, translated by Arthur Preuss:<br /><br />1. Dogmatic Theology I. God: His Knowability, Essence, and Attributes, a dogmatic treatise, prefaced by a brief general introduction to the study of dogmatic theology, by Joseph Pohle, translated by Arthur Preuss. St. Louis: Herder. 1916. With Imprimatur. Available in multiple formats on <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/dogmatictheology00pohluoft">Internet archive</a> and <a href="http://openlibrary.org/ia/dogmatictheology00pohluoft">Open Library</a><a href="http://openlibrary.org/ia/godhisknowabilit00pohluoft">Open Library</a> and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/godhisknowabilit00pohluoft">Internet Archive</a>, (Digitizing sponsor: MSN, Book contributor: Robarts – University of Toronto) as of 12 February 2012</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />2. Dogmatic theology II. The Divine Trinity, a dogmatic treatise Pohle, Joseph, translated by Arthur Preuss. St. Louis: Herder, 1916. With Imprimatur. Available in multiple formats at <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/dogmatictheology02pohluoft">Internet archive</a> (Digitizing sponsor: MSN, Book contributor: Kelly – University of Toronto) as of February 12, 2012. The 1912 edition is also available at <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/divinetrinityad00pohlgoog">Internet Archive</a> and <a href="http://openlibrary.org/ia/divinetrinityad00pohlgoog">Open Library</a> (Digitizing sponsor: Google, Book from the collections of: New York Public Library)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />3. Dogmatic theology III. God: The Author of Nature and the Supernatural, a dogmatic treatise, by Joseph Pohle, translated by Arthur Preuss. <a href="http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=publisher%3A">St. Louis : Herder</a>, 1916. Imprimatur. Available at <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/dogmatictheology03pohluoft">Internet Archive</a> (Digitizing sponsor: MSN, Book contributor: Kelly Library, University of Toronto). The 1912 edition with Imprimatur is also available at <a href="http://openlibrary.org/ia/godadogmatictrea00pohluoft">Open Library</a> and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/godadogmatictrea00pohluoft">Internet archive</a>(Digitizing sponsor: MSN, Book contributor: Robarts – University of Toronto)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />4. Dogmatic theology IV. Christology: a dogmatic treatise on the Incarnation, by Joseph Pohle, translated by Arthur Preuss (St. Louis: Herder, 1916). With Imprimatur. Available at <a href="http://openlibrary.org/ia/dogmatictheology04pohluoft">Open Library</a> and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/dogmatictheology04pohluoft">Internet Archive</a> (Digitizing sponsor: MSN, Book contributor: Kelly Library, University of Toronto). The 1913 2nd edition with Imprimatur is also available on <a href="http://openlibrary.org/ia/christology00pohluoft">Open Library</a> and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/christology00pohluoft">Internet Archive</a> (Digitizing sponsor: MSN, Book contributor: Kelly Library, University of Toronto)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">5. Dogmatic Theology V. Soteriology: a dogmatic treatise on the redemption, by Joseph Pohle, translated by Arthur Preuss (St. Louis, Mo. : Herder, c1913). With Imprimatur. Available on <a href="http://openlibrary.org/ia/soteriology00pohluoft">Open Library</a> and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/soteriology00pohluoft">Internet Archive</a> (Digitizing sponsor: MSN, Book contributor: Kelly Library, University of Toronto).</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />6. Dogmatic Theology VI. Mariology; a dogmatic treatise on the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, by Joseph Pohle, translated by Arthur Preuss (St. Louis, Mo.: Herder, 1914). With Imprimatur. Available on <a href="http://openlibrary.org/ia/mariologydogmati00pohl">Open Library</a> and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/mariologydogmati00pohl">Internet Archive</a> (Digitizing sponsor: Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries, Book contributor: Wellesley College Library). 1919 edition with Imprimatur also available on <a href="http://openlibrary.org/ia/mariologydogmati00pohluoft">Open Library</a> and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/mariologydogmati00pohluoft">Internet Archive</a> (Digitizing sponsor: MSN, Book contributor: Kelly – University of Toronto)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />7. Dogmatic Theology VII. Grace, actual and habitual: a dogmatic treatise, by Joseph Pohle, translated by Arthur Preuss (St. Louis, Mo.: Herder, 1919). With Imprimatur. Available in PDF, Full Text and DjVu at <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/actualhabitual00pohluoft">Internet Archive</a> (Book contributor: University of Toronto). Another copy of the 1919 edition with Imprimatur is available in PDF, Full text, and EPUB formats at <a href="http://catholicebooks.wordpress.com/list-by-title/Internet%20Archive">Internet Archive</a> and <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29540">Project Gutenberg</a> (Book contributor: Project Gutenberg). [NB, These are the best PDF copies online]. Still another copy of the 1919 edition is available in mutiple formats at <a href="http://openlibrary.org/ia/graceactualhabit00pohluoft">Open Library</a> and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/graceactualhabit00pohluoft">Internet Archive</a> (Digitizing sponsor: MSN, Book contributor: Kelly Library, University of Toronto). The 1915 edition with Imprimatur is available in various formats at <a href="http://openlibrary.org/ia/graceactualhabit07pohl">Open Library</a> and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/graceactualhabit07pohl">Internet Archive</a> (Digitizing sponsor: MSN, Book contributor: New York Public Library).</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />8. Dogmatic Theology VIII. The sacraments: a dogmatic treatise. Vol 1. The Sacraments in General, Baptism, Confirmation, by Joseph Pohle, translated by Arthur Preuss (St. Louis, Mo.: B. Herder, 1917) With Imprimatur. Available on multiple formats at <a href="http://openlibrary.org/ia/sacraments01pohluoft">Open Library</a> and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/sacraments01pohluoft">Internet Archive</a> (Digitizing sponsor: MSN, Book contributor: Regis Library, University of Toronto).</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />9. Dogmatic Theology IX. The sacraments: a dogmatic treatise. Volume II, The Holy Eucharist, by Joseph Pohle, translated by Arthur Preuss (St. Louis, Mo.: B. Herder, 1915) With Imprimatur. Available on multiple formats at <a href="http://openlibrary.org/ia/sacramentsdogmat02pohluoft">Open Library</a> and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/sacramentsdogmat02pohluoft">Internet Archive</a> (Digitizing sponsor: MSN, Book contributor: Kelly Library, University of Toronto).</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />10. Dogmatic Theology X. The sacraments: a dogmatic treatise. Vol. III, Penance, by Joseph Pohle, translated by Arthur Preuss (St. Louis, Mo.: B. Herder, 1915). With Imprimatur. Available on multiple formats at <a href="http://openlibrary.org/ia/sacramentsdogmat03pohl">Open Library</a> and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/sacramentsdogmat03pohl">Internet Archive</a> (Digitizing sponsor: MSN, Book contributor: New York Public Library).</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />11. Dogmatic Theology XI. The sacraments: a dogmatic treatise, Vol. IV, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, Matrimony, by Joseph Pohle, translated by Arthur Preuss (St. Louis, Mo.: B. Herder, 1915). With Imprimatur. Available on multiple formats at <a href="http://openlibrary.org/ia/sacramentsdogmat04pohl">Open Library</a> and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/sacramentsdogmat04pohl">Internet Archive</a> (Digitizing sponsor: MSN, Book contributor: New York Public Library).</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />12. Dogmatic Theology XII. Eschatology: or, The Catholic doctrine of the last things: a dogmatic treatise, by Joseph Pohle, translated by Arthur Preuss (St. Louis, Mo.: B. Herder, 1918, c1917) With Imprimatur. Available on multiple formats at <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/eschatology00pohluoft">Internet Archive</a> and <a href="http://openlibrary.org/ia/eschatology00pohluoft">Open Library</a> (Digitizing sponsor: MSN, Book contributor: Kelly Library, University of Toronto) </span></div>hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-3311933898487434982020-04-26T01:24:00.003+07:002020-09-05T19:38:34.912+07:00FAITHFUL PRAYER<h3 style="text-align: center;">
FAITHFUL PRAYER<br />Universal Prayer and Commentary</h3>
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<table border="1" bordercolor="#111111" cellpadding="15" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><tbody>
<tr><th bgcolor="" class="tg-031e">Year</th><th bgcolor="" class="tg-031e">MS Word</th><th bgcolor="" class="tg-031e">Adobe PDF</th></tr>
<tr><td class="tg-031e">2020</td><td class="tg-031e"><a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2020/2020_JAN_C.docx">January</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2020/2020_FEB_C.docx">February</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2020/2020_MAR_C.docx">March</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2020/2020_OC_Q1.docx">Q1 Openings and Closings</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2020/2020_APR_C.docx">April</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2020/2020_MAY_C.docx">May</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2020/2020_JUNE_C.docx">June</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2020/2020_OC_Q2.docx">Q2 Openings and Closings</a></td><td class="tg-031e"><a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2020/2020_JAN_C.pdf">January</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2020/2020_FEB_C.pdf">February</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2020/2020_MAR_C.pdf">March</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2020/2020_OC_Q1.pdf">Q1 Openings and Closings</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2020/2020_APR_C.pdf">April</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2020/2020_MAY_C.pdf">May</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2020/2020_JUNE_C.pdf">June</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2020/2020_OC_Q2.pdf">Q2 Openings and Closings</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tg-031e">2019</td><td class="tg-031e"><a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_JAN_C.docx">January</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_FEB_C.docx">February</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_MAR_C.docx">March</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_OC_JM.docx">Q1 Openings and Closings</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_APRIL_C.docx">April</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_MAY_C.docx">May</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_JUNE_C.docx">June</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_APR-JUN_OC.docx">Q2 Openings and Closings</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_JUL_C.docx">July</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_AUG_C.docx">August</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_SEP_C.docx">September</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_JS_OC.docx">Q3 Openings and Closings</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_OCT_C.docx">October</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_NOV_C.docx">November</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_DEC_C.docx">December</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_OC_Q4.docx">Q4 Openings and Closings</a></td><td class="tg-031e"><a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_JAN_C.pdf">January</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_FEB_C.pdf">February</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_MAR_C.pdf">March</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_OC_JM.pdf">Q1 Openings and Closings</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_APRIL_C.pdf">April</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_MAY_C.pdf">May</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_JUNE_C.pdf">June</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_APR-JUN_OC.pdf">Q2 Openings and Closings</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_JUL_C.pdf">July</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_AUG_C.pdf">August</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_SEP_C.pdf">September</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_JS_OC.pdf">Q3 Openings and Closings</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_OCT_C.pdf">October</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_NOV_C.pdf">November</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_DEC_C.pdf">December</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2019/2019_OC_Q4.pdf">Q4 Openings and Closings</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tg-031e">2018</td><td class="tg-031e"><a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_JAN_C.docx">January</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_FEB_C.docx">February</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_MAR_C.docx">March</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_OC_JM.docx">Q1 Openings and Closings</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_APRIL_UP.docx">April</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_MAY_UP.docx">May</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_JUNE_UP.docx">June</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_APR-JUN_OC.docx">Q2 Openings and Closings</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_JUL_C.docx">July</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_AUG_C.docx">August</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_SEP_C.docx">September</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_JS_OC.docx">Q3 Openings and Closings</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_OCT_UP.docx">October</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_NOV_UP.docx">November</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_DEC_UP.docx">December</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_OCT-DEC_OC.docx">Q4 Openings and Closings</a></td><td class="tg-031e"><a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_JAN_C.pdf">January</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_FEB_C.pdf">February</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_MAR_C.pdf">March</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_OC_JM.pdf">Q1 Openings and Closings</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_APRIL_UP.pdf">April</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_MAY_UP.pdf">May</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_JUNE_UP.pdf">June</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_APR-JUN_OC.pdf">Q2 Openings and Closings</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_JUL_C.pdf">July</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_AUG_C.pdf">August</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_SEP_C.pdf">September</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_JS_OC.pdf">Q3 Openings and Closings</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_OCT_UP.pdf">October</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_NOV_UP.pdf">November</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_DEC_UP.pdf">December</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2018/2018_OCT-DEC_OC.pdf">Q4 Openings and Closings</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tg-031e">2017</td><td class="tg-031e"><a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_JAN_C.docx">January</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_FEB_C.docx">February</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_MAR_C.docx">March</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_OC_JM.docx">Q1 Openings and Closings</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_Apr_C.docx">April</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_MAY_C.docx">May</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_JUN_C.docx">June</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_APR-JUN_OC.docx">Q2 Openings and Closings</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_JUL_C.docx">July</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_AUG_C.docx">August</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_SEP_C.docx">September</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_JS_OC.docx">Q3 Openings and Closings</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_OCT_UP.docx">October</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_NOV_UP.docx">November</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_DEC_UP.docx">December</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_OD_OC.docx">Q4 Openings and Closings</a></td><td class="tg-031e"><a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_JAN_C.pdf">January</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_FEB_C.pdf">February</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_MAR_C.pdf">March</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_OC_JM.pdf">Q1 Openings and Closings</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_Apr_C.pdf">April</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_MAY_C.pdf">May</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_JUN_C.pdf">June</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_APR-JUN_OC.pdf">Q2 Openings and Closings</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_JUL_C.pdf">July</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_AUG_C.pdf">August</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_SEP_C.pdf">September</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_JS_OC.pdf">Q3 Openings and Closings</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_OCT_UP.pdf">October</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_NOV_UP.pdf">November</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_DEC_UP.pdf">December</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2017/2017_OD_OC.pdf">Q4 Openings and Closings</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tg-031e">2016</td><td class="tg-031e"><a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Jan_C.doc">January</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Feb_C.doc">February</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Mar_C.doc">March</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Q1_OC.doc">Q1 Openings and Closings</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Apr_C.doc">April</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_May_C.doc">May</a><br />
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<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Jun_C.doc">June</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Q2_OC.doc">Q2 Openings and Closings</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Jul_C.docx">July</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Aug_C.docx">August</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Sep_C.docx">September</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Q3_OC.docx">Q3 Openings and Closings</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Oct_C.doc">October</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Nov_C.doc">November</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Dec_C.doc">December</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Q4_OC.doc">Q4 Openings and Closings</a></td><td class="tg-031e"><a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Jan_C.pdf">January</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Feb_C.pdf">February</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Mar_C.pdf">March</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Q1_OC.pdf">Q1 Openings and Closings</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Apr_C.pdf">April</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_May_C.pdf">May</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Jun_C.pdf">June</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Q2_OC.pdf">Q2 Openings and Closings</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Jul_C.pdf">July</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Aug_C.pdf">August</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Sep_C.pdf">September</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Q3_OC.pdf">Q3 Openings and Closings</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Oct_C.pdf">October</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Nov_C.pdf">November</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Dec_C.pdf">December</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faithcontent.net/upc/2016/2016_Q4_OC.pdf">Q4 Openings and Closings</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</center>
</div>
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hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-59591207816212528752020-03-23T00:15:00.003+07:002020-03-24T20:22:36.065+07:00Dai dich Virus corona<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidaZgvnwy2ztcJ8N12YqGAk_fXq1cexmeu0ru-Kj8C5uhfLMmnVrtrzx2ZzpbHGB4dcpqykzEn2sr6tIk5HksQRo-rO4sWuf_QS0kb7btUNgnwooZJHltge_2K0XOgLlrnehWYo4K0Rr0/s1600/Covid-19-Transmission-graphic-01.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1360" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidaZgvnwy2ztcJ8N12YqGAk_fXq1cexmeu0ru-Kj8C5uhfLMmnVrtrzx2ZzpbHGB4dcpqykzEn2sr6tIk5HksQRo-rO4sWuf_QS0kb7btUNgnwooZJHltge_2K0XOgLlrnehWYo4K0Rr0/s640/Covid-19-Transmission-graphic-01.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Tốc độ lây lan khủng khiếp của Corona Virus</span></h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpla5vGeUZiaNhm6Ha10QTs5cHz1gRK3-Gc1aYkqFvkCpWPgRhMeN62i_kmsTvX8_9JojB6IQ2pc7CVXWi6mhWb4CE6l7DTnsbIwvB53oA8XhXwlL0lVp4L2Y3T1ufvJVyekSBoU6HKtI/s1600/Flatten-The-Curve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="736" data-original-width="670" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpla5vGeUZiaNhm6Ha10QTs5cHz1gRK3-Gc1aYkqFvkCpWPgRhMeN62i_kmsTvX8_9JojB6IQ2pc7CVXWi6mhWb4CE6l7DTnsbIwvB53oA8XhXwlL0lVp4L2Y3T1ufvJVyekSBoU6HKtI/s640/Flatten-The-Curve.jpg" width="580" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Virus là gì?</span></h3>
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<b>Virus /</b> <b>vi-rút</b> bắt nguồn từ tiếng Pháp <i>virus</i> /viʁys/), cũng còn được gọi là <b>siêu vi</b>, <b>siêu vi khuẩn</b> hay <b>siêu vi trùng</b>, là một tác nhân gây một số bệnh tật, chúng chỉ nhân lên được khi ở bên trong tế bào sống của một sinh vật khác. Virus có thể xâm nhiễm vào tất cả các dạng sinh vật, từ động vật, thực vật cho tới đông vật, từ sinh vật đơn bào cho đến đa bào. </div>
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Từ năm 1892 D. I. Ivanovskiy đã mô tả một dạng mầm bệnh không thuộc vi khuẩn lây nhiễm vào cây thuốc lá, và năm 1898 Martinus Beijerinck đã khám phá ra virus khảm thuốc lá.</div>
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Đến nay các nhà khoa học khám phá được và miêu tả chi tiết khoảng 5.000 loại virus trong số hàng triệu dạng virus khác nhau.</div>
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Virus được tìm thấy ở hầu hết mọi hệ sinh thái trên Trái Đất và là dạng có số lượng nhiều nhất trong tất cả các thực thể sinh học.</div>
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Khoa học nghiên cứu virus là virus học (<i>virology</i>), một chuyên ngành phụ của vi sinh vật học.</div>
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Các phần tử (hay <i>hạt</i>) virus (được gọi là <i>virion</i>) được tạo thành từ hai hoặc ba bộ phận:</div>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Phần vật chất di truyền được tạo nên từ DNA hoặc RNA, là những phân tử mang thông tin di truyền.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Một lớp vỏ protein - để bảo vệ hệ gen.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Một lớp vỏ bọc bên ngoài lipid bên ngoài lớp vỏ protein khi virus ở ngoài tế bào (chỉ có trong một số trường hợp)</li>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sự khách nhau giữa Virus và Bacteria?</span></h3>
<b>Bacteria</b> là tế bào đầy đủ của sinh vật sống có chứa bào quan, DNA, và RNA và bao quanh bởi vỏ tế bào. Bào quan thực hiện chức năng quan trọng cho phép Bacteria lấy năng lượng từ môi trường và tái tạo. Bacteria thường được sinh sản vô tính bằng một quá trình được gọi là phân hạch nhị phân. Trong quá trình này, một tế bào đơn tái tạo và phân chia thành hai cá thể mới. Dưới những điều kiện thích hợp, bacteria có thể trải nghiệm tốc độ tăng trưởng theo cấp số nhân.<br />
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Trong khi hầu hết các trường hợp bacteria vô hại, thậm chí còn mang lại lợi ích cho con người, chỉ một số rất ít bacteria có khả năng gây bệnh. </div>
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Bacteria gây bệnh khi chúng sản sinh chất độc phá hủy các tế bào, gây ra ngộ độc thực phẩm và các bệnh khác bao gồm viêm màng não, viêm phổi, và bệnh lao. </div>
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Các trường hợp nhiễm bacteria thì thuốc kháng sinh có thể tiêu diệt vi khuẩn cách dễ dàng. Vaccine cũng rất hữu ích trong việc ngăn ngừa sự lây lan của bệnh do bacteria.</div>
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<b>Virus</b> không được coi là tế bào nhưng tồn tại như các hạt axit nucleic (DNA hoặc RNA) bọc trong vỏ protein và lipit. Một số virus có màng bổ sung được gọi một phong bì đó gồm phospholipid và protein lấy từ màng tế bào của một tế bào vật chủ. Phong bì này giúp virus nhập một tế bào mới bằng cách kết hợp với màng của tế bào.<br />
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Không giống như bacteria, virus chỉ có thể sinh sản bằng những chất liệu của tế bào vật chủ. Chúng không có bào quan cần thiết cho việc tái tạo mà phải sử dụng các bào quan của tế bào chủ để nhân rộng. Khi thâm nhập tế bào vật chủ, virus sẽ tiêm nhiễm vật liệu di truyền của nó (DNA hoặc RNA) vào một tế bào và nhân lên. Khi virus mới được tạo ra và trưởng thành, chúng phá vỡ và chuyển sang lây nhiễm các tế bào khác.</div>
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Virus là thủ phạm gây ra hàng loạt các bệnh bao gồm bệnh thủy đậu, cúm, bệnh dại, Ebola , bệnh Zika, HIV / AIDS, Sars, và viêm phổi cấp. Virus có thể gây ra các nhiễm trùng dai dẳng, do chúng tồn tại dạng bào tử (ngủ đông và kích hoạt lại sau một thời gian). Một số virus có thể gây ra những thay đổi trong tế bào vật chủ gây ung thư. Những virus ung thư được biết như ung thư gan, ung thư cổ tử cung, và u lympho Burkitt của. Kháng sinh không có tác dụng chống lại virus.<br />
Điều trị các bệnh nhiễm virus thường liên quan đến các loại thuốc mà điều trị các triệu chứng, không phải là tiêu diệt virus.<br />
Co ba cách điều trị nhiễm virus chính:<br />
a) Kính hoạt hệ miễn dịch chống lại sự thâm nhập Virus vào cơ thể. Vaccine là liệu pháp chính được sử dụng để ngăn ngừa nhiễm virus.<br />
b) Phòng vệ không cho virus thâm nhập vào tế bào.<br />
c) Ngăn không cho virus sinh sản trong tế bào.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Virus Corona<a href="http://nhidong.org.vn/chuyen-muc/hoi-dap-ve-virus-corona-moi-c3-1108.aspx">(1)</a></span></h3>
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1. Virus corona là gì?</div>
Virus corona là một họ virus lớn, được tìm thấy ở cả động vật và người. Một số virus có thể gây bệnh cho người từ cảm lạnh thông thường đến các bệnh nghiêm trọng hơn như Hội chứng Hô hấp Trung Đông (MERS) và Hội chứng Hô hấp cấp tính nặng (SARS).<br />
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2. Virus corona “mới” là gì?</div>
Virus corona mới nầy là một chủng mới của virus corona chưa từng phân lập được ở người trước đây.<br />
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Virus mới này hiện gọi là 2019-nCoV, chưa từng được phát hiện trước khi bùng phát bệnh được báo cáo tại Vũ Hán, Trung Quốc vào tháng 12 năm 2019.</div>
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3. Các tên gọi:</div>
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2019-nCoV</div>
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Wuhanvirus</div>
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Covid 19</div>
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Chinese-Virrus</div>
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CCP-virus</div>
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4. Virus mới này có giống như virus gây ra SARS không?<br />
Không, virus nCoV cùng họ với virus gây Hội chứng Hô hấp cấp tính nặng (SARS-CoV) nhưng không phải là cùng một loại virus.<br />
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5. Virus mới này nguy hiểm như thế nào?<br />
Giống như các bệnh về đường hô hấp khác, nhiễm Covid 19 có thể gây ra các triệu chứng nhẹ bao gồm sổ mũi, đau họng, ho và sốt. Bệnh có thể nặng ở một số người và có thể dẫn đến viêm phổi hoặc khó thở. Hiếm hơn, bệnh có thể gây tử vong. Người già và những người mắc bệnh sẵn có trước (chẳng hạn như bệnh tiểu đường và bệnh tim) dường như nhạy dễ trở nên bị bệnh nặng hơn khi nhiễm virus nầy.<br />
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6. Người có thể bị lây nhiễm 2019-nCoV từ động vật không?<br />
Các điều tra đầy đủ cho thấy virus SARS-CoV lây truyền từ cầy hương sang người tại Trung Quốc năm 2002 và virus MERS-CoV lây từ lạc đà sang người tại Ả Rập Xê Út năm 2012. Nhiều loại coronavirus đang lưu hành ở động vật nhưng chưa lây truyền sang người. Khi việc giám sát trên toàn thế giới được cải thiện, có khả năng nhiều loại coronavirus sẽ được phát hiện.<br />
Nguồn động vật của virus Covid 19 chưa được phân lập. Điều này không có nghĩa là bạn có thể nhiễm Covid 19 từ bất kỳ động vật nào hoặc thú nuôi gần gũi của bạn.<br />
Có vẻ như một nguồn động vật tại một chợ buôn bán động vật sống ở Trung Quốc là nguồn truyền bệnh cho một số trường hợp đầu tiên bị nhiễm ở người được báo cáo.<br />
Để bảo vệ bản thân, khi đi chợ buôn bán động vật tươi sống cần tránh tiếp xúc trực tiếp với động vật sống và bề mặt tiếp xúc của động vật.<br />
Nên tránh tiêu thụ các sản phẩm động vật sống hoặc chưa nấu chín. Thịt sống, sữa hoặc nội tạng động vật nên xử lý cẩn thận, tránh lây nhiễm chéo với thực phẩm chưa nấu chín khác. Cần tuân thủ tốt các thực hành an toàn thực phẩm.<br />
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7. Có thể nhiễm virus corona từ thú nuôi gần gũi của mình không?<br />
Không, hiện tại không có bằng chứng cho thấy động vật nuôi như mèo và chó đã bị nhiễm hoặc gây lây lan virus Covid 19.<br />
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8. Virus corona mới có thể lây truyền từ người sang người không?<br />
Có, virus Covid 19 gây ra bệnh đường hô hấp và có thể lây truyền từ người sang người, thường là sau khi tiếp xúc gần gũi với người bị nhiễm bệnh, ví dụ: tại nơi làm việc, trong gia đình hoặc cơ sở y tế.<br />
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Các phương pháp điều trị Virus hiện nay:<br />
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Cách chống dịch hiệu quả<br />
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Flatten the Curve là gì?<br />
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Các bước làm phẳng dường cong (Flatten the Curve)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAbsduT18UzdPAquVB1mC5VXpPRfBohAV-8MND4pnv9qWzyZEJhBM5pz8k4It5kB0iQeCJUdaQFtNcJXPd_8pConkIMxBkssxjEKsYD3Yw3gjryWot7dWl5wQGhyUJtMYE8WpLui6hja0/s1600/89806142_2802002659912278_6716080265296347136_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="960" height="467" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAbsduT18UzdPAquVB1mC5VXpPRfBohAV-8MND4pnv9qWzyZEJhBM5pz8k4It5kB0iQeCJUdaQFtNcJXPd_8pConkIMxBkssxjEKsYD3Yw3gjryWot7dWl5wQGhyUJtMYE8WpLui6hja0/s640/89806142_2802002659912278_6716080265296347136_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Social distancing</div>
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Shutdown</div>
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Block-down</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">DO THE FIVE</span><br />Help stop coronavirus</h4>
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<i style="font-weight: normal;">Hãy làm năm việc để chặn coronavirus</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">1 <b>HANDS </b>Wash them often /<br />
Rửa tay thường xuyên<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">2 </span><st1:stockticker><b><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">ELBO</span></b></st1:stockticker><b><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">W</span></b><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"> Cough
into it /<br />
Dùng khuỷu tay che lại khi ho<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">3 <b>FACE</b> Don't touch it /<br />
Không sờ tay lên mặt<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">4 <b>SPACE </b>Keep safe distance /<br />
Giữ khoảng cách an toàn<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">5 <b>HOME</b> Stay if you can /<br />
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<pre><span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-weight: 700; white-space: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">RỬA TAY DIỆT KHUẨN PHÒNG DỊCH BỆNH</span></span></pre>
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<span style="color: #1c1e21;"><span style="background-color: white;">1. CỒN KHÔNG PHẢI LÀ TỐT NHẤT</span></span></h2>
<span style="color: #1c1e21;"><span style="background-color: white;">Để phòng bệnh do virus, các chuyên gia khuyên rửa tay 20 giây nhưng đã có những người hiểu lầm hoăc bị các tin đồn dẫn dắt nên tin rằng "cồn là tốt nhất". Điều này không đúng vì:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21;"><span style="background-color: white;">Cồn Y TẾ là cồn Methanol (Mê-ta-non), công thức hóa học là CH3-OH, có nồng độ dưới 70 độ mới có tác dụng tốt; cồn 90 độ sẽ làm vi trùng/virus kết bào tử tạm ngưng hoạt động chờ cơ hội.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21;"><span style="background-color: white;">Rượu chúng ta uống có hàm lượng cồn, loại này là cồn Ethanol (ê-ta-non, còn tên khác là ê-ty-nic), công thức hóa học là CH3-CH2-OH (C2H5OH), còn được dùng để làm nhiên liệu chạy xe (pha vào xăng), hoặc để đốt. Loại này ở nồng độ thấp thì sát trùng rất kém, ở nồng độ cao thì làm vi trùng/virus kết bào tử. Vì thế cồn Ethanol không được dùng trong Y TẾ để sát trùng.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1c1e21;"><span style="background-color: white;">2. XÀ PHÒNG LÀ TỐT NHẤT</span></span></h2>
<span style="color: #1c1e21;"><span style="background-color: white;">Nói xà phòng là tốt nhất vì:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21;"><span style="background-color: white;">Trong cơn đại dịch, cồn Y TẾ bị khan hiếm vì các cơ sở y tế phải dùng nhiều cho nghiệp vụ của mình, các cơ sở không kịp sản xuất... nên cồn y tế rất khó mua.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21;"><span style="background-color: white;">Không ai bảo đảm các loại nước rửa tay khô được làm đúng chủng loại cồn (cồn y tế hay cồn nhiên liệu). Nếu mua phải loại nước rửa tay làm từ cồn nhiên liệu thì hậu quả khó lường.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21;"><span style="background-color: white;">Trong khi đó, mọi loại xà phòng (xà bông) đều có tác dụng sát khuẩn tốt, vì tế bào virus/vi khuẩn và cả tế bào trên cơ thể chúng ta đều có cấu tạo bởi hai thành phần chính là protein và chất béo (mỡ). Xà bông là các chất tẩy rửa đều có tác dụng hòa tan chất béo, nên làm vỡ cấu trúc tế bào. Virus sẽ bị tiêu diệt khi tế bào bị vỡ, “da tay bị ăn” là khô da tay.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1c1e21;"><span style="background-color: white;">3. SỬ DỤNG ĐÚNG CÁCH</span></span></h2>
<span style="color: #1c1e21;"><span style="background-color: white;">Rửa tay bằng xà phòng : xả nước ướt tay, thoa đều xà bông, chờ 20 giây để xà bông hòa tan chất béo làm vỡ cấu trúc tế bào, virus bị tiêu diệt. Sau 20 giây, xả nước để rửa trôi xà bông và xác chết Virus.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21;"><span style="background-color: white;">Rửa tay bằng cồn: Cồn được sử dụng làm chất rửa tay vì tính tiện lợi, nhưng không vì thế mà thay thế được việc rửa tay bằng xà phòng. Nói cách khác là rủa tay khô chỉ là tình thế chữa cháy khi không tiện có nguồn nước mà thôi.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21;"><span style="background-color: white;">Mỗi lần dùng chỉ cần nhỏ vài giọt lên tay rồi thoa đều là xong. Tuy nhiên, khi có điều kiện nguồn nước thì phải rửa tay bằng xà phòng.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Kinh nghiệm đọc sách</span></h2>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Kinh nghiệm của tiến sỹ Dương Ngọc Dũng</span></h2>
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Bài 01</div>
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Bài 02</h3>
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Bài 03</h3>
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Bài 05</div>
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Bài 06</h3>
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Bài 07</h3>
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Bài 08</h3>
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<br />Bài 09</h3>
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<br />Bài 10</h3>
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Bài 11</h3>
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<br />Bài 12</h3>
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<br />Bài 13</h3>
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<br />Bài 14</h3>
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<br />Bài 15</h3>
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<a href="https://thuviendongtien.blogspot.com/p/chiase.html" style="font-size: x-large; text-align: right;">Về kho sách>></a></div>
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hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-38679507512613580552019-10-03T20:26:00.002+07:002019-10-03T21:09:53.950+07:00The Heart of Change<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZMiq-BhHOj1VD31Twy3pob7rnAA7Xcmy2EvAwr9zoNpoaZhoGbGFU7NBEce2bMsqyCOTsHVHw4FYBOta-MnKRkJR1jOD9PcjU3c0AU9YR4lehqmg25LBmmmAaw2L0GlIGyUX0D2iVAjk/s1600/the+heart+of+change.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="359" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZMiq-BhHOj1VD31Twy3pob7rnAA7Xcmy2EvAwr9zoNpoaZhoGbGFU7NBEce2bMsqyCOTsHVHw4FYBOta-MnKRkJR1jOD9PcjU3c0AU9YR4lehqmg25LBmmmAaw2L0GlIGyUX0D2iVAjk/s320/the+heart+of+change.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Tại sao chúng ta thành công và và tại sao chúng ta thất bại trước những sự thay đổi ở quy mô lớn? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Người ta thay đổi hành động của mình bởi vì họ được <b>thấy</b> một sự thật có tác động đến những <b>cảm nhận</b> của mình chứ không phải vì bạn cung cấp cho họ những bản phân tích nhằm làm thay đổi suy nghĩ của họ. Điều này đặc biệt đúng đối với việc thay đổi tổ chức ở quy mô lớn, khi mà bạn phải đối mặt với những việc như: <i>tiếp nhận công nghệ mới, sáp nhập và mua lại công ty, tái cấu trúc, chiến lược mới, thay đổi văn hóa, toàn cầu hóa, và thương mại điện tử</i> – dù là ở trong một công ty hay chỉ một phòng ban, một bộ phận, hoặc ở một nhóm đội. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Trong thời đại đầy biến động ngày nay, nếu biết cách giải quyết tốt những vấn đề trên thì bạn sẽ thắng lợi; bằng không thì có thể bạn phải điên đầu, sẽ mất nhiều tiền bạc và gặp nhiều khó khăn.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Những tổ chức có được sự thành công lớn thường biết cách lèo lái những cá nhân thường hay từ chối sự đổi mới. Họ biết cách chộp lấy cơ hội và né tránh những mối nguy. Họ hiểu rằng thay đổi càng lớn thì thắng lợi càng lớn. Họ thấy được rằng cải tiến từ từ cho dù liên tục vẫn là chưa đủ.</span>icmadminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641225860905813923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-19131703381428730522014-01-13T21:49:00.001+07:002019-10-03T23:53:42.990+07:00Thánh kinh<h2>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">1. BÀI HỌ TÂN ƯỚC</span></b></h2>
Tác giả : <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i>Linh mục Carôlô Hồ Bặc Xái</i></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Nơi xuất bản : <i>ÐẠI CHỦNG VIỆN THÁNH QUÝ CẦN THƠ </i></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Năm xuất bản : <i>1994</i></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif;">Nhằm cung cấp cho giáo dân<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>một số<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>hiểu biết cơ bản về<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>một số đoạn Tân Ước quan trọng nên tài liệu có<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>những giới hạn hữu ý<span class="apple-converted-space">:<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif;">a) Chỉ tuyển lựa một số đoạn Tân Ước theo thứ tự lịch sử đời Ðức Giêsu và Giáo Hội. Những đoạn này được lựa chọn từ tất cả các sách Tân Ước chứ không theo một quyển nào nhất định. Cũng giống như một thứ "Tân Ước Hợp Tuyển". Xét theo chuyên môn thì điều này không được hay lắm, bởi vì mỗi quyển, nhất là những quyển Tin Mừng, có một cách trình bày riêng thể hiện một suy tư thần học riêng, do đó không nên tổng hợp lại thành một món thập cẩm. Nhưng vì giáo dân không có điều kiện để học tất cả các quyển nên đành phải chấp nhận món thập cẩm này vậy !</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 12px;">b) Việc giải thích những đoạn được tuyển chọn ấy cũng không đi sâu vào chuyên môn như khoa chú giải, nhưng chỉ nhằm cho giáo dân hiểu và sống Lời Chúa thôi. </span><a href="http://thuviendongtien.blogspot.com/2014/01/bai-hoc-tan-uoc.html" style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><<</span><span style="font-size: large;">Mục lục chi tiết</span><span style="font-size: 12px;">>></span></a></div>
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hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-75227920473511935072014-01-13T21:18:00.002+07:002019-10-03T23:53:43.048+07:00BÀI HỌC TÂN ƯỚC<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">T</span><span style="background-color: white;">ác giả : <span lang="EN-US"><i>Linh mục Carôlô Hồ Bặc Xái</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nơi xuất bản : <i>ÐẠI CHỦNG VIỆN THÁNH QUÝ CẦN THƠ </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Năm xuất bản : <i>1994</i></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nhằm cung cấp cho giáo dân<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>một số<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>hiểu biết cơ bản về<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>một số đoạn Tân Ước quan trọng nên tài liệu có<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>những giới hạn hữu ý<span class="apple-converted-space">:<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">a) Chỉ tuyển lựa một số đoạn Tân Ước theo thứ tự lịch sử đời Ðức Giêsu và Giáo Hội. Những đoạn này được lựa chọn từ tất cả các sách Tân Ước chứ không theo một quyển nào nhất định. Cũng giống như một thứ "Tân Ước Hợp Tuyển". Xét theo chuyên môn thì điều này không được hay lắm, bởi vì mỗi quyển, nhất là những quyển Tin Mừng, có một cách trình bày riêng thể hiện một suy tư thần học riêng, do đó không nên tổng hợp lại thành một món thập cẩm. Nhưng vì giáo dân không có điều kiện để học tất cả các quyển nên đành phải chấp nhận món thập cẩm này vậy !<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">b) Việc giải thích những đoạn được tuyển chọn ấy cũng không đi sâu vào chuyên môn như khoa chú giải, nhưng chỉ nhằm cho giáo dân hiểu và sống Lời Chúa thôi.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><div style="background-color: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif;"><b>MỤC LỤC</b></span></h3>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài mở đầu: PHƯƠNG HƯỚNG VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP</span></b></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Bài chuyên môn: LỊCH SỬ HÌNH THÀNH TÂN ƯỚC</span></b></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>01: </b><b>THIÊN SỨ TRUYỀN TIN CHO ĐỨC MARIA<br /><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Bài 02: ĐỨC MARIA ĐI THĂM BÀ ISAVE</span></b></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>03: ĐỨC GIÊSU SINH RA</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>04: DÂNG ĐỨC GIÊSU TRONG ĐỀN THỜ</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>05: CÁC ĐẠO SĨ KÍNH BÁI ĐỨC GIÊSU</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>06: HÊRÔĐÊ TÀN SÁT CÁC HÀI NHI</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>07: ĐỨC GIÊSU Ở LẠI TRONG ĐỀN THỜ</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>08: Gioan tiền hô dọn đường<br /><span class="apple-converted-space"></span></b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>09: ĐỨC GIÊSU CHỊU THANH TẨY</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>10: ĐỨC GIÊSU LOAN BÁO TIN MỪNG</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>11: PHÉP LẠ ĐẦU TIÊN TẠI <st1:place w:st="on">CANA</st1:place></b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>12: PHÉP LẠ MẺ LƯỚI NHIỀU CÁ</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>13: ĐỨC GIÊSU CHỌN 12 TÔNG ĐỒ</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>14: ẨN DỤ VỀ NGƯỜI GIEO GIỐNG</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>15: ĐỨC GIÊSU DẠY CẦU NGUYỆN</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>16: ĐỨC GIÊSU TRỪ TÀ THẦN</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>17: ĐỨC GIÊSU THA TỘI VÀ CHỮA BỆNH CHO MỘT NGƯỜI BẤT TOẠI</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>18: </b>.<b>ĐỨC GIÊSU CHỮA BỆNH CHO ĐẦY TỚ VIÊN SĨ QUAN NGOẠI ĐẠO</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>19: CHỮA BỆNH CHO MỘT NGƯỜI LOẠN HUYẾT VÀ CỨU SỐNG CON GÁI ÔNG GIAIRÔ</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>20: SÓNG GIÓ YÊN LẶNG</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>21: ĐỨC GIÊSU HÓA BÁNH RA NHIỀU</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Bài <b>22: ĐỨC GIÊSU ĐI TRÊN MẶT NƯỚC</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 23: BÁNH TRƯỜNG SINH</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 24: ĐỨC GIÊSU ĐẶT PHÊRÔ LÀM ĐẠI DIỆN CỦA NGÀI Ở TRẦN GIAN</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 25: ĐỨC GIÊSU BIẾN HÌNH </span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 26: DỤ NGÔN HAI NGƯỜI CẦU NGUYỆN</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 27: ĐỨC GIÊSU VÀ TRẺ NHỎ</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 28: NGƯỜI MÙ THÀNH GIÊRICÔ</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 29: ÔNG GIAKÊ</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 31: DỤ NGÔN NGƯỜI CHA NHÂN LÀNH</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 32: ĐỨC GIÊSU VÀO THÀNH GIÊRUSALEM</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 33: ĐỨC GIÊSU THANH TẨY ĐỀN THỜ</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 34: ĐỨC GIÊSU NÓI VỀ NGÀY TẬN THẾ</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 35: BỮA TIỆC LY</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 36: ĐỨC GIÊSU CẦU NGUYỆN TRONG VƯỜN CÂY DẦU</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 37: ĐỨC GIÊSU BỊ BẮT</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 38: ĐỨC GIÊSU TRƯỚC CÔNG NGHỊ</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 39: PHÊRÔ HỐI TỘI - GIUĐA TỰ TỬ</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 40: ĐỨC GIÊSU TRƯỚC TÒA PHILATÔ</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 41: ĐỨC GIÊSU BỊ HÀNH HẠ</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 42: ĐỨC GIÊSU TẮT THỞ</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 43: TÁNG XÁC ĐỨC GIÊSU</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 44: ĐỨC GIÊSU SỐNG LẠI</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 45: ĐỨC GIÊSU HIỆN RA VỚI CÁC TÔNG ĐỒ</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 46: ĐỨC GIÊSU CHỌN PHÊRÔ LÀM THỦ LÃNH GIÁO HỘI</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 47: ĐỨC GIÊSU SAI CÁC TÔNG ĐỒ ĐI LOAN BÁO TIN MỪNG KHẮP THẾ GIAN</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 48: ĐỨC GIÊSU LÊN TRỜI</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 49: THÁNH THẦN HIỆN XUỐNG</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 50: GIÁO ĐOÀN ĐẦU TIÊN</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 51: PHÓ TẾ STÊPHANÔ TỬ ĐẠO</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 52: PHÊRÔ RỬA TỘI CHO ÔNG CORNÊLIÔ</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 53: ĐỨC GIÊSU CHỌN SAOLÔ LÀM MÔN ĐỆ</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bài 54: PHAOLÔ RAO GIẢNG TIN MỪNG CHO LƯƠNG DÂN</span></h4>
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hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-65436135516917013432012-11-16T10:45:00.004+07:002012-11-16T10:45:56.127+07:00Nông dân mở thư viện tư nhân<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEXHWwIVMIugEh3RjutDOK4yMBeLxeVQbxNk40y8aArSLNz1p3PErT_7CR33bLeMpglPxlIuATHrgN8-ze3EI9mju5EQPw-J6PR2Ru4e4KcjoU5vVhfFbAVwJZEOqhhNueJV5PX7rt5N0/s1600/nongdan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEXHWwIVMIugEh3RjutDOK4yMBeLxeVQbxNk40y8aArSLNz1p3PErT_7CR33bLeMpglPxlIuATHrgN8-ze3EI9mju5EQPw-J6PR2Ru4e4KcjoU5vVhfFbAVwJZEOqhhNueJV5PX7rt5N0/s400/nongdan.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">Ông Huỳnh Tấn Hưng trong thư viện của mình - Ảnh: Tiến Trình</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;">Hơn 10 năm nay, ông
Huỳnh Tấn Hưng ở Mỹ Lộc (H.Tam Bình, Vĩnh Long) vẫn kiên trì lặn lội khắp nơi
xin sách báo về phục vụ người dân quê mình. Ông là nông dân hiếm hoi ở ĐBSCL đứng
ra thành lập thư viện tư nhân ở vùng quê hẻo lánh.</span></h1>
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<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.0pt;"><span style="float: right;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">Bảng hiệu nhỏ bằng gỗ đề “Thư viện tư nhân Tứ Hưng” treo
phía trên hiên ngôi nhà lợp lá khiến người qua lại con đường quê cong quẹo ở ấp
8 phải chậm lại nhìn. Bên trong căn nhà không cửa là những kệ sách được kê tươm
tất. Ngay lối ra vào là dãy bàn đá, nơi nam phụ lão ấu xa gần đến quây quần bên
những quyển sách. Cha bị rắn cắn phải đi thầy thuốc, cậu bé Huỳnh Tấn Chơn (13
tuổi) được phân công ở nhà trông coi thư viện với trên 3.000 quyển sách các loại.
Hơn 10 năm nay, nhà ông Huỳnh Tấn Hưng (51 tuổi) lúc nào cũng có người túc trực
hướng dẫn, đón tiếp bà con tới tìm sách như thế.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">Trước ông Hưng làm công tác Đoàn, rồi làm trưởng ấp. Nhà có
quán cà phê cóc, mỗi lần đi họp thì ông xin tất tần tật những gì “có chữ đọc được”
là mang về nhà, từ báo cũ, tờ rơi tuyên truyền phòng trừ sâu bệnh, an toàn giao
thông, sinh đẻ có kế hoạch… Ở vùng quê thiếu sách báo thì những thứ đó trở nên
quý hiếm. Nhà ở gần con lộ đất, người qua lại thấy cảnh nông dân già trẻ xúm lại
nhà ông Hưng đọc sách báo mà xúc động. Ông Hưng kể, đầu tiên có hai “bà Tây” ở Quỹ
bình đẳng giới Đan Mạch - Thụy Điển đi qua thấy người ta đọc sách ở dưới tán
cây, đã thông qua xã tặng cho chiếc tủ đựng sách.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">Đó là tài sản đầu tiên của thư viện. Kế đến, nhiều người xa
gần nghe tiếng có người đứng ra mở điểm đọc sách cho nông dân đã nhiệt tình ủng
hộ. Ông Bùi Chí Hiếu (công tác ở Sở GD-ĐT Vĩnh Long) tặng cho bộ sách giáo
khoa; ông Tám Phong (Phó chủ tịch huyện) mỗi tháng về thăm chị ruột ở gần đó
cũng không quên mang theo báo cũ trong tháng được gói cẩn thận để tặng lại cho
người dân đọc. Ông Phi (ở phòng Nội vụ) đi họp ở đâu có sách mang về là tặng lại
cho ông Hưng. Một nhà thơ ở Sài Gòn, hay một nông dân ở trong xã…, mỗi người một
ít đã góp vào mà tủ sách càng đầy hơn. Người đọc ngày càng đông hơn. Ông Hưng
bàn với vợ dẹp luôn quán cà phê, dành mặt bằng cất lại căn nhà cho sạch sẽ để
có chỗ bà con đến ngồi đọc sách.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">Tuy số lượng sách báo “hảo tâm” ngày càng nhiều, nhưng vẫn
chưa phong phú. Năm 2008, ông Hưng xin thư viện tỉnh cho đi thi tại Hội
sách TP.HCM, mà mục đích lớn nhất của ông là tìm nguồn… xin sách. Nhưng bất ngờ,
lần đó “thủ thư nông dân” này đoạt luôn giải đặc biệt, được cử báo cáo điển
hình ở Hà Nội. Ông Hưng nhớ lại: “Cơ hội tới khi tui đến bắt tay ông Huỳnh Vĩnh
Ái (Thứ trưởng Bộ VH-TT-DL), được ông giới thiệu với cán bộ ở các tỉnh. Gặp ai
tui cũng xin số điện thoại để sau này liên hệ… xin sách. Mình xin về cho người
dân của mình, đâu phải xin cho riêng mình nên tui không ngại”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">Có được “nguồn” sách, ông Hưng phải đi như con thoi đến các
tỉnh, đi Sài Gòn, liên hệ với các nhà xuất bản, các thư viện… Mỗi lần mang được
một bao sách về là cả nhà ông coi như được mùa lúa. Từ nguồn sách “hảo tâm”
này, cùng với số sách luân chuyển của Thư viện tỉnh Vĩnh Long, hiện thư viện Tứ
Hưng của nông dân Huỳnh Tấn Hưng đã có thường trực trên 3.000 đầu sách. Từ nhiều
năm nay, đây là nơi lui tới thường xuyên của những nông dân, học sinh, sinh
viên và của cả cán bộ địa phương đến tìm tài liệu phục vụ công tác.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">Vậy ông nhận được gì từ việc mở thư viện miễn phí này? Ông
nông dân cười hiền: “Mấy đứa con tui hằng ngày mê đọc sách mà học giỏi cả đó
chú”. Nhà ông hiện có 4 người con tốt nghiệp đại học. “Ấp 8 của tui có tới 70
-80 người học đại học rồi chứ đâu ít”, ông khoe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">Tiến Trình</span></strong><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-20251334266334523192012-10-19T16:35:00.003+07:002012-10-19T16:36:01.263+07:00Nhà giáo dục nhân bản<br />
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Tạp chí <em style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Time </em>(Mỹ) bình chọn Einstein là “Nhân vật của thế kỷ 20”<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;">TT </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">- </span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;">Einstein mất ngày 18-4-1955 tại Princeton, Mỹ, hưởng thọ 76 tuổi. Lễ truy điệu được tổ chức đơn giản trong vòng bạn bè thân thiết nhất.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;">Vài giờ trước khi mất, Einstein lặp lại với Margot, con gái của ông: “Tôi đã làm xong việc của tôi trên quả đất”. Bí mật cuối cùng ông mang theo là những tiếng thều thào bằng tiếng Đức trước lúc ông chấm dứt cuộc hành trình để vĩnh viễn trở về với cát bụi. Cô y tá trực không biết một chữ Đức nào. “Những lời nói sau cùng của con người khổng lồ trí thức đã bị mất đi vào thế giới”, đó là hàng chữ to trên tờ New York Times ngày hôm sau. Khi mất, Einstein để lại di chúc yêu cầu đem tro của mình rải vào không gian ở nơi không ai biết.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;">Theo di chúc của ông, không có điếu văn, nghi lễ, không hoa, không nhạc, không bia mộ. Otto Nathan, người thực hiện di chúc của ông, bước tới quan tài để đọc mấy dòng thơ của Goethe có hai câu kết: “Ông tỏa sáng trước chúng ta, như một sao chổi rồi vụt biến. Ánh sáng vô tận - quyện với ánh sáng của ông”.</span></div>
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“Cơn ác mộng” thi cử</div>
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Nhìn lại cuộc đời và sự nghiệp của mình, Einstein xác định yếu tố giáo dục và suy nghĩ độc lập quyết định con đường đi của mình. Ông nhớ lại: “Khi dọn về Aarau ở Thụy Sĩ năm 1896 và vào trường đại học bách khoa kỹ thuật, lần đầu tiên tôi mới ý thức rằng tôi không thích như thế nào cách nhồi nhét và học thuộc lòng, cách dạy của môn toán. Tôi tin rằng sở thích vật lý của tôi hình thành vào thời điểm này”. Ông nói mục đích của nhà trường là “phải để con người trẻ phát triển trong một tinh thần mà những nguyên tắc này (sự phát triển tự do và tự chịu trách nhiệm của cá nhân) trở thành tự nhiên như không khí người đó thở. Chỉ có dạy thôi thì không đạt được gì cả”.</div>
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Về việc học nhồi nhét, Einstein nói: “Tôi nghĩ người ta có thể làm mất đi tính háu ăn của một con thú ăn thịt sống nếu cứ bắt nó phải ăn dưới roi vọt, ngay cả khi nó không đói, đặc biệt khi người ta tự chọn cho nó những thức ăn dưới áp lực đó”.</div>
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Chính trong thời gian tại sở sáng chế ở Bern, không bị áp lực và sự lôi cuốn của bộ máy hàn lâm, Einstein mới có đủ sự yên tĩnh và bình tĩnh để phát triển, kiến tạo những ý tưởng mới của ông. Ông kể: “Bởi vì nghề nghiệp hàn lâm đặt một người nghiên cứu trẻ vào một loại tình huống bắt buộc là phải sản xuất các bài nghiên cứu khoa học với số lượng gây ấn tượng - một sự cám dỗ dẫn đến sự hời hợt mà chỉ có những cá tính mạnh mới có khả năng cưỡng lại được”.</div>
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Einstein rất ghét việc chạy theo thi cử và thành tích: “Thời còn đi học của tôi, ngay khi ngày thi được công bố, tôi bị dồn vào một áp lực đến nỗi tôi có cảm giác mình không phải bước vào một kỳ thi mà bước lên một đoạn đầu đài. Trí óc của tôi sau những kỳ thi (cử nhân) hoàn toàn bị tắc nghẽn một thời gian cho hoạt động nghiên cứu và phân tích khoa học. Khả năng trí óc của tôi hoàn toàn bị cạn kiệt bởi phải học thuộc lòng những thông tin vô bổ”.</div>
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Sau một năm ông mới bắt đầu lại công việc khoa học. Giáng sinh năm 1917, tờ Berliner Tageblatt đăng một bài báo của Einstein, tựa đề “Cơn ác mộng”. Thi cử đối với ông là ác mộng. Ông đã đề nghị xóa bỏ các kỳ thi tú tài, vì nó vô ích và có hại, vì khi thầy cô đã biết rõ học lực của một học sinh trong nhiều năm liền thì không cần thiết phải thi nữa.</div>
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Ông cũng không xây dựng một trường phái nào, không muốn áp đặt tư duy cho ai. Ông nói với tư cách là người thầy với trái tim rộng mở: “Tôi không bao giờ dạy học sinh, tôi chỉ cố gắng tạo ra những điều kiện để chúng có thể học”.</div>
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Người “lữ hành cô đơn”</div>
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<span style="color: #686868; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #fafafa; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #030303; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Giá trị lớn của cuốn sách Einstein (Nguyễn Xuân Xanh, NXB Tổng Hợp TP.HCM xuất bản tháng </em></span></span></span><span style="color: #686868; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #fafafa; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #030303; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">2-2007) là trình bày sinh động quá trình tư duy, phương pháp luận, tố chất của con người Einstein để dẫn đến những phát minh đó.</em></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #686868; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #fafafa; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #030303; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Bạn đọc không nhất thiết phải am hiểu về vật lý lý thuyết hoặc thuyết tương đối để đọc cuốn sách này. Bạn đọc trẻ có thể học được từ cuốn sách những đức tính quí báu cho cuộc đời mình, đó là sự lao động trung thực, đức tính hoài nghi những chân lý được coi là vĩnh hằng, sự yêu tự do tư tưởng, sự đấu tranh không khoan nhượng trước những giáo điều không hề được thực tế chứng minh, sự dấn thân vì chân lý, vì hòa bình, vì tương lai của nhân loại.</em></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #686868; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #fafafa; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #030303; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Những đức tính như óc tò mò, trí tưởng tượng, sự kiên trì, tinh thần không chịu khuất phục trước bất kỳ quyền lực áp đặt nào, đó là những bài học sinh động mà bạn đọc có thể tìm thấy qua những phát biểu, những ví dụ sinh động trong cuộc đời của Einstein.</em></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #686868; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #fafafa; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #030303; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Cuốn sách ra mắt bạn đọc đúng lúc khi đất nước ta đang rất cần trí tuệ, sự sáng tạo, khả năng suy nghĩ và hành động tìm tòi cái mới, đột phá để vươn lên trong cạnh tranh toàn cầu. Vì vậy, nó là một đóng góp rất có ích cho công cuộc cải cách kinh tế, đổi mới giáo dục hiện nay.</em> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #686868; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #fafafa; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #030303; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">TS Lê Đăng Doanh</span></span></span></div>
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Trong chuyến đi Mỹ năm 1921, tại Boston, Einstein được đưa cho bảng câu hỏi Edison để trả lời, người ta muốn xem ông trả lời đúng đến đâu như một trắc nghiệm thông minh. Đến câu hỏi về vận tốc âm thanh, ông trả lời: “Điều đó tôi không biết. Tôi không muốn làm nặng nề trí nhớ của tôi với những sự kiện như thế, những thứ mà tôi có thể tìm thấy dễ dàng trong bất cứ từ điển bách khoa nào”.</div>
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Ông cũng không đồng ý với quan điểm của Edison cho rằng kiến thức quan trọng hơn giáo dục đại học. Ông trả lời: “Đối với con người, kiến thức không quan trọng lắm. Để có kiến thức con người không cần đến đại học.</div>
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Cái đó người ta có thể học từ sách. Giá trị của giáo dục đại học không nằm ở chỗ học thuộc lòng thật nhiều kiến thức mà ở chỗ tập luyện tư duy, cái mà người ta không bao giờ học được từ sách giáo khoa”.</div>
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Einstein cho rằng tệ nạn xấu nhất của chủ nghĩa tư bản là “làm què quặt cá nhân”. “Cả hệ thống giáo dục chúng ta đau khổ vì tệ nạn này. Một thái độ cạnh tranh quá đáng được khắc sâu vào sinh viên, anh ta được huấn luyện để tôn thờ sự thành công hám lợi như một sự chuẩn bị cho sự nghiệp tương lai”, Einstein nói. Đạo đức đối với ông là tiêu chuẩn hàng đầu: “Một tính cách tốt và vững vàng có giá trị hơn khả năng hiểu biết và sự uyên bác”. Nền tảng của tất cả mọi giá trị của con người là đạo đức.</div>
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Einstein cho rằng mục tiêu (của nhà trường) phải là sự đào tạo nên những cá nhân tự hành động và tư duy nhưng biết nhìn thấy trong việc phục vụ xã hội nhiệm vụ cao cả nhất của cuộc đời. Einstein từng phát biểu: “Tôi tin rằng sự sa sút khủng khiếp trong tư cách đạo đức của con người trước nhất có liên quan đến sự máy móc hóa và sự làm mất đi tính chất cá nhân trong cuộc sống của chúng ta - một sản phẩm phụ bất hạnh của sự phát triển tinh thần khoa học - kỹ thuật. Lỗi của chúng ta”.</div>
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Trong quan hệ giữa cộng đồng và cá nhân, Einstein đặt nặng vai trò của cá nhân: “Bởi vì tất cả những gì vĩ đại và cao cả đều được tạo ra bởi cá nhân trong sự phấn đấu tự do”. Chính cá nhân tạo ra tài sản văn hóa cho nhân loại.</div>
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Ông nói: “Có thể dễ dàng nhận thấy rằng tất cả những tài sản vật chất, tinh thần và đạo đức mà chúng ta nhận được từ xã hội xuất phát từ những nhân cách đơn lẻ qua vô số thế hệ. Chỉ cá nhân đơn lẻ mới tư duy và qua đó mới tạo ra những giá trị mới cho xã hội”. Einstein chứng kiến trong thế kỷ 20 vô số cá nhân phải chịu số phận nghiệt ngã trước sự khước từ của xã hội, của số đông, của chính quyền đại diện họ.</div>
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Chính số đông đã để mình chịu khuất phục dễ dàng trước các quyền lực chính trị, để đẩy nhau vào nỗi bất hạnh, trong khi “một số ít người không tham gia vào cách suy nghĩ thô bạo của số đông, vẫn sống theo lý tưởng tình yêu con người, không bị ảnh hưởng bởi những đam mê của họ thì phải chịu một số phận bi thảm hơn nhiều: họ bị ném ra khỏi xã hội và bị đối xử như những kẻ bị hủi nếu họ không chịu làm những hành động mà lương tâm họ chống lại, và im lặng hèn nhát về những gì họ thấy và cảm nhận”.</div>
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Einstein vốn sống cô đơn. Bất cứ ở nơi nào, Thụy Sĩ, Prague, Berlin hay Princeton, ông đều có cảm giác là người xa lạ và ngoài cuộc. Ngoài cái cô đơn do khoa học, Einstein còn nỗi cô đơn riêng của một người không lúc nào thuộc hẳn vào thế giới này. Ông vẫn là người “lữ hành cô đơn” không bến đỗ trên đường đi tìm chân lý của mình, con đường ông đi sẽ đưa ông về một chân trời vô định và chỉ còn một mình ông trên đó.</div>
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NGUYỄN XUÂN XANH <em style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">biên soạn</em></div>
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hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-17353428648320176532012-10-19T16:33:00.005+07:002012-10-19T16:36:01.259+07:00Học làm người<br />
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" /></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">Có những khoảnh khắc làm ta rưng rưng nước mắt khi nhìn thấy những người nghèo khổ, thiếu thốn cả những gì cơ bản nhất. Cái dư thừa của người này, thậm chí với họ chỉ là… rác, nhưng với người nghèo thì có thể là điều họ khao khát. Quả thật, “một miếng khi đói bằng một gói khi no”… Miếng ăn thêm khi chúng ta no là miếng ăn của người nghèo khổ. Nếu vậy thì chúng ta thiếu nhân đạo! Một danh nhân đã xác định: “Chỉ những ai có lòng thương người thì mới xứng đáng nhận danh hiệu con người”. Câu này đáng để chúng ta suy ngẫm và xem lại chính mình!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">Trong một liên hoan phim ngắn tại Berlin (Đức), khi xem phim ngắn </span><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Chicken à la Carte</em></strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"> (có thể xem ở </span><a href="http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #414f5b; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">đây </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">), cả ban giám khảo và khán giả đã xúc động khi thấy người cha nghèo ngăn đứa con gái thò tay lấy miếng thịt gà. Thật ra những miếng thịt gà kia chỉ là những cổ, chân, cánh,… </span><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">bị gặm dở</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"> mà người cha đã </span><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">lấy từ thùng rác</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"> của một nhà hàng sang trọng và đem về cho vợ con ăn.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"> </span><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Xem clip phim này tại <a href="http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a%20la%20Carte" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #414f5b; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">đây</a></strong></div>
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">Chuyện kể rằng Ðại sư Tinh Vân có một đệ tử, sau khi tốt nghiệp đại học liền đi học Thạc sĩ, rồi lại học Tiến sĩ. Sau nhiều năm dùi mài kinh sử, đệ tử đó hoàn thành luận án tiến sĩ nên vô cùng mừng vui. Một hôm đệ tử đó về vinh qui bái tổ và thưa với ngài Tinh Vân: "</span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bạch Sư phụ, nay con đã có bằng Tiến sĩ rồi, con còn phải học những gì nữa không?</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">Ngài Tinh Vân điềm nhiên trả lời: "Học làm người". Học làm người là việc học suốt đời chẳng thể nào tốt nghiệp được. Ngài Tinh Vân cho rằng bất luận là sĩ, nông, công, thương là những người ở tầng lớp có học thức và có tiến bộ, </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">hãy chia sẻ với người khác về những điều mình hiểu biết</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">. Nhưng dù là ai thì vẫn cần phải học không ngừng. Phải </span><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">tu thân</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"> trước, rồi mới đủ uy tín </span><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">trị quốc</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">, và sau đó mới khả dĩ </span><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">bình thiên hạ</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">. Đạo Làm Người là đạo quan yếu nhất, dù theo đạo nào và ở cương vị nào thì trước tiên vẫn phải biết Làm Người. Đây là vài “tín chỉ” trong môn “học làm người”:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1. Học Nhận Lỗi</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">. Con người thường không chịu nhận phần lỗi mình, tất cả lỗi lầm đều đổ cho người khác, vì chúng ta cho rằng bản thân mình mới đúng. Thật ra “không biết mình” là lỗi lầm lớn nhất. Đừng nghĩ mình “lớn” thì hoàn hảo và vô tội. Càng lớn càng dễ lỗi lầm vì có thể đổ lỗi cho người dưới. Ðối tượng mà mình nhận lỗi có thể là ông bà, cha mẹ, anh chị em, bạn bè,… và bất kỳ ai trong xã hội, thậm chí là người nhỏ hơn mình và với chính người không tốt với mình. Nhận lỗi như vậy bản thân chẳng mất mát gì, ngược lại còn thể hiện được sự độ lượng của bản thân và được khâm phục. Biết nhận lỗi là một điều rất tốt, là sự tu thân lớn và là một nhân đức.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2. Học Khiêm Nhu</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">. Răng cứng, lưỡi mềm. Nhưng cuối cuộc đời, răng rụng hết mà lưỡi vẫn còn nguyên. Đó là bài học về sự mềm mỏng, khiêm nhu. Được vậy thì đời người mới có thể tồn tại dài lâu, chứ “cứng” thì chỉ thiệt thòi. Tâm hòa là một tiến bộ lớn trong việc tu thân. Có tâm hòa thì mới có nhân hòa. Chúng ta thường hình dung những người cố chấp có tấm lòng và tính cách rất “lạnh”, rất “cứng” như sắt thép vậy. Nếu chúng ta có thể điều hòa hơi thở và tâm tính, dần dần khiến “ngựa chứng” phải thuần thục thì cuộc sống sẽ vui tươi, hạnh phúc và kiên vững.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">3. Học Đức Nhẫn</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">. Nhẫn nhục là loại “cỏ quý”, là “bùa hộ thân” đặc biệt. Biết nhẫn một chút thì có thể làm sóng yên biển lặng. Nhường nhịn không phải là chiến bại. Nhẫn để tiêu trừ điều ác. Nhẫn là biết xử sự, biết hóa giải, dùng trí tuệ và năng lực làm cho chuyện lớn hóa nhỏ, chuyện nhỏ hóa không. Muốn sinh tồn thì phải biết nhẫn để có thể phân biệt đúng – sai, thiện – ác, tốt – xấu, thậm chí chấp nhận nó.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">4. Học Thấu Hiểu</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">. Không hiểu nhau sẽ nảy sinh những thị phi, tranh chấp, hiểu lầm,... Nên thấu hiểu để biết cảm thông và giúp đỡ nhau. Không cảm thông nhau không thể tha thứ cho nhau, không thể có hòa bình. Tâm phẫn xí tắc bất đắc kỳ chính!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">5. Học Khước Từ</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">. Cuộc đời như một chiếc va-li, lúc cần dùng thì xách nó lên, không cần thì đặt nó xuống. Lúc cần đặt xuống lại không đặt xuống, cũng như kéo túi hành lý nặng nề vậy, cuộc đời luôn trĩu nặng. Cuộc đời hữu hạn, biết phục thiện, biết tự trọng và tôn trọng, biết bao dung thì mới làm cho người ta chấp nhận mình, biết khước từ chính mình để có thể sinh tồn.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">6. Học Xúc Ðộng</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">. Nhận ra ưu điểm của người khác thì chúng ta nên hoan hỷ, thấy điều không may của người khác nên biết xúc động. Vui với người vui, buồn với người buồn. Trắc ẩn là lòng thương yêu, là thiện tâm. Trên đời có rất nhiều cảnh thương tâm, nhiều cuộc đời rất đáng thương, vô cảm là độc ác.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">7. Học Sinh Tồn</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">. Ðể sinh tồn, chúng ta phải biết giữ gìn sức khỏe – tinh thần và thể lý. Tinh thần thoải mái thì thân thể khỏe mạnh, và ngược lại. Thân thể khỏe mạnh không chỉ ích lợi cho bản thân mà còn làm cho gia đình, bạn bè an tâm. Đó cũng là biết sống hiếu đễ với người thân.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">Ước mong càng ngày càng có nhiều người “tốt nghiệp” loại ưu với môn “học làm người” từ Trường Đại học Cuộc Đời… </span>hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-72337925802465676002012-10-19T16:15:00.003+07:002020-10-31T21:32:51.801+07:00Bài 5: Học Tập Chữ “Dũng” <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h3>
I – Dẫn Nhập </h3>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Đeo Nhạc Cho Mèo </h2>
Ngày
xửa ngày xưa, đã lâu lắm rồi, gia đình họ hàng nhà chuột rất uất ức khi suốt
ngày bị mèo rình bắt và ăn thịt. Thế là cuộc họp hội đồng chuột được diễn ra nhằm
đưa ra biện pháp chống lại loài mèo. Bàn đi tính lại không sao nghĩ được mẹo gì
hay.<br />
Bấy giờ một con chuột nhắt lên tiếng:<br />
<i>- </i><i>Sở dĩ chúng ta bị chết là vì chúng
ta không biết khi nào mèo đến. Phải đeo nhạc vào cổ mèo, cho phát lên thành tiếng.
Khi ấy, mỗi khi mèo tới gần chúng ta đều nghe rõ và chúng ta sẽ chuồn kịp thời</i>.<br />
Tất cả thống nhất ý kiến của chuột nhắt là sẽ đeo lục lạc vào cổ mèo. Ai cũng vỗ
tay tán thưởng ý kiến này của chuột nhắt. Nhưng đến khi giao nhiệm vụ cao cả là
đeo lục lạc vào cổ mèo thì không có con chuột nào dám đứng ra nhận nhiệm vụ cả
vì ai cũng sợ mèo.<br />
Cuộc họp còn đang sôi nổi thì bất ngờ đâu đó vang lên hai tiếng
“meo meo”. Lập tức họ nhà chuột biến đâu mất hết và cuộc họp giải tán.<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Con Lừa
Can Đảm </h2>
Có một người nông dân nọ có một con lừa già bị rơi xuống giếng. Người
nông dân đã quyết định nên nhanh chóng giúp nó kết thúc sự đau đớn. Anh gọi
thêm mấy người hàng xóm để cùng lấp đất chôn con lừa tội nghiệp.<br />
Lúc đầu, con lừa
thêm phần kinh hoàng vì những gì người ta đang làm đối với nó. Nhưng khi từng tảng
đất được hất xuống giếng liên tiếp theo nhau ập trên vai nó, một ý nghĩ chợt
lóe lên: <i>Cứ mỗi lần một tảng đất rơi đè lên vai, nó lại lắc mình cho đất rơi xuống
và ngoi lên trên</i>.<br />
Mặc cho sự đau đớn ê ẩm phải chịu sau mỗi tảng đất ập xuống,
mặc cho sự bi đát cùng cực của tình huống đang gánh chịu, con lừa tiếp tục chiến
đấu chống lại sự hoang mang, hoảng sợ.<br />
Và không bao lâu sau, cuối cùng dù bị bầm
dập và kiệt sức, con lừa cũng lên khỏi miệng giếng và nhảy nhót vui mừng.<br />
<h3>
II – Nội Dung </h3>
<h4>
1. “Dũng” là gì? </h4>
“Dũng”
là thói quen tập trung ý chí và vận dụng sức mạnh tinh thần vào một mục đích đã
định, quyết tâm vượt mọi trở ngại.<br />
“Dũng” thường đi kèm với “Tự Chủ” và “Cương
Nghị”<br />
<h4>
a/ Tự Chủ: </h4>
Tự chủ là làm chủ lấy mình, khắc phục mọi âu lo, sợ hãi, mọi dục
vọng bất chính của mình.<br />
Người tự chủ là người luôn tỉnh táo trước tình thế
nguy nan, không lộ vẻ lo sợ, buồn bã, cuống cuồng (Con lừa trong câu chuyện dẫn
nhập)<br />
Người tự chủ luôn giữ được thăng bằng để suy nghĩ cẩn thận, trấn áp những
cảm xúc của mình như: giận dữ, sợ hãi, lo âu… nhờ đó luôn sáng suốt giải quyết
mọi tình huống bằng lý trí.<br />
Người không biết tự chủ thì tâm trí mê muội, mặc
cho dục vọng, tính xấu triển nở, vì giận quá mất khôn, lo quá nên rối trí, mừng
quá sinh ảo tưởng…<br />
Nhờ tự chủ, tinh thần càng được phấn khởi, ý chí càng đanh
thép vươn lên và vượt thắng mọi trở lực.<br />
<h4>
b/ Cương Nghị: </h4>
Là khi đã quyết định
thi hành một công việc nào, thì quyết tâm làm và nỗ lực làm tới cùng.<br />
Người
cương nghị trước khi bắt tay vào việc, họ suy nghĩ đắn đo, cân nhắc lợi hại, rồi
sau đó tiến hành công việc cho đến khi hoàn tất chu đáo.<br />
Người thiếu cương nghị
cũng suy nghĩ đắn đo, cân nhắc lợi hại nhưng lúc cần bắt tay vào việc thì phân
vân, vừa muốn vừa thôi.<br />
Kết cục làm dang dở (họ nhà chuột trong câu chuyện dẫn
nhập)<br />
<h4>
2. Vì sao phải giữ chữ “Dũng”? </h4>
Sợ hãi là điều làm con người nhụt chí
không dám làm gì cả.<br />
Sợ hãi có thể làm tê liệt cuộc sống, hành động, suy nghĩ của
con người.<br />
Đặc biệt sự sợ hãi đến từ những lời hăm dọa của kẻ khác như hăm dọa
giết chết, hăm dọa bêu xấu, hăm dọa đánh bất ngờ… dẫn tới những hành động trái
lương tâm.<br />
Trong cuộc sống, công việc, học tập không phải bao giờ cũng được
suôn sẻ thuận lợi. Thay vì ngồi than thân trách phận, ta cần phải học tập chữ
“Dũng”, can đảm đương đầu với khó khăn thử thách để vươn tới thành công (con lừa
trong câu chuyện dẫn nhập)<br />
Chữ “Dũng” rất cần thiết để thi hành “Cần” “Kiệm”
“Liêm” “Chính”. Vì tự bản chất mỗi “con người” đều có 2 phần: phần “con” và phần
“người”.<br />
Chữ “Dũng” giúp ta can đảm bỏ đi những cái thuộc về phần “con” để vươn
tới sự hoàn thiện phần “người” tức là đạt “trưởng thành nhân bản”. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h4>
3. Giữ chữ
“Dũng” như thế nào? </h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dũng cảm không có nghĩa là dám quay tài liệu trong giờ kiểm
tra. Dũng cảm là khi bạn tự làm bài kiểm tra mà không cần tài liệu. Sống trung
thực với bản thân mình là bạn đang sống dũng cảm.<br />
Dũng cảm không có nghĩa là
dám trốn học đi chơi mà không sợ bị phạt.<br />
Nhưng dũng cảm là dám ngồi học một
mình khi tất cả những người khác đều đã đi chơi. Dũng cảm không phải là khi bạn
có những hoài bão to lớn nhưng dũng cảm là khi bạn nỗ lực hết mình vì hoài bão
đó.<br />
Dám nghĩ dám làm, thế mới gọi là dũng cảm. Dũng cảm không phải là khi đèn đỏ
và xe cộ đông đúc, bạn vượt lên còn mọi người đứng lại. Dũng cảm là khi đèn đỏ
và đường vắng, mọi người vượt lên và bạn đứng lại chờ đèn xanh.<br />
Dũng cảm không
phải là bạn dám chỉ trích khi người khác phạm lỗi. Nhưng dũng cảm là biết nhìn
nhận khuyết điểm khi mình có lỗi. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h4>
4. Lời kết </h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Napoleon nói: “Chiến thắng vĩ đại
nhất là chiến thắng bản thân”. Do đó, người dũng cảm nhất là người dám chiến thắng
bản thân mình, tức là người tự chủ và cương nghị. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h3>
III – Liên Hệ Lời Chúa </h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i>Anh
em đừng sợ những kẻ giết thân xác mà không giết được linh hồn. Đúng hơn, anh em
hãy sợ Đấng có thể tiêu diệt cả hồn lẫn xác trong hoả ngục</i>...” (Mattheu 10, 28) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i>Thầy nói với anh em những điều ấy, để trong Thầy anh em được bình an. Trong thế
gian, anh em sẽ phải gian nan khốn khó. Nhưng can đảm lên! Thầy đã thắng thế
gian.</i>” (Gioan 16, 33) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h3>
IV – Luyện Tập </h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Các phương thế siêu nhiên: cầu nguyện, hy
sinh, lãnh các bí tích.<br />
Ngoài các phương thế nêu trên cần rèn luyện ý chí, luyện
tập sự trầm tĩnh và đọc sách nhất là các sách danh nhân và hạnh tích các thánh.<br />
Phương pháp luyện tập sự trầm tĩnh: “Im lặng là vàng”. Lúc bị dao động, ta nên
dừng lại một thời gian tĩnh lặng đừng làm gì cả, đừng ra điệu bộ, giậm chân,
múa tay… Đừng giãi bày tâm sự, đừng quyết định chi cả. Đợi khi tâm não lấy lại
quân bình, ta mới quyết định.<br />
Nên nhớ: “<i>Thời gian là thầy dạy khôn ngoan</i>”<br />
<br />
Trích dẫn từ: <a href="http://giesulove.net/diendan/thao-luan-ve-phong-trao/338-giao-duc-nhan-ban.html">http://giesulove.net/diendan/thao-luan-ve-phong-trao/338-giao-duc-nhan-ban.html</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-26904742422984411982012-10-19T16:14:00.004+07:002012-10-19T16:27:03.253+07:00Bài 4: Học Tập Chữ “Chính” <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
I – Dẫn Nhập </h3>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Người Chính Trực – Kẻ
Gian Hùng </h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Đời Tam Quốc, Quan Vân Trường bị thất thủ thảm bại ở Hạ Bì. Đơn thân độc mã phải phò tá hai người chị dâu là vợ của Lưu Bị qua nương nhờ Tào Tháo. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Đêm đến, Tào Tháo cho ba người ngủ chung một phòng, dụng tâm là muốn cho chị em
loạn luân, chúa tôi phải thất lễ. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Vân Trường một dạ thẳng ngay không để tà tâm
quyến rũ, một tay cầm đuốc, một tay cầm sách Xuân Thu ngồi gác trước cửa mà đọc
đến sáng. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ai nấy đều khen Quan Công là người chính trực. Từ đó mới có câu “ngọn
đuốc Vân Trường” dùng để chỉ những người ngay thẳng không để vật dục cám dỗ
lòng mình. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cũng bởi một đời chính trực, có ân báo ân, thà chết chứ không chịu
nhục mà sau khi ông qua đời, nhân dân đã tôn ông lên bậc thần thánh. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cũng vào đời
Tam Quốc, Tào Thào được mệnh danh là kẻ Đại Gian Hùng, dối cha, lừa chú, bức ép
thiên tử… </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Trong lần xuất quân thảo phạt Viên Thuật, quân Tào đi xa mệt mỏi, thiếu
lương thực. Trong khi đó, quân Viên Thuật kiên quyết cố thủ thành trì, không chịu
ra đánh. Tháo bèn nghĩ ra một cách. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tháo cho người giảm bớt khẩu phần ăn của
binh lính để tạm giải quyết vấn đề lương thảo. Hắn sai người thay đấu lớn bằng
đấu bé vì thế quân lính ăn không được no nên bắt đầu ca thán. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Để ổn định lòng
quân hắn sai người chém đầu viên quan coi lương treo lên trước doanh trại, rồi
phao lên rằng: tên quan này vì tham lam, đã thay đấu lớn bằng đấu bé để chiếm
đoạt phần lương thảo dư thừa. Nhờ đó mà lòng quân được ổn định. Nhưng người đời
sau ai cũng bất bình trước thủ đoạn gian hùng của Tào Tháo. </div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Chuyện Về Loài Dơi </h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ngày xưa, chim và chuột đã từng có một cuộc chiến lâu dài. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chim bay trên trời,
nghĩ rằng mình có khả năng nhìn bao quát mặt đất, nên phải được quyền làm chủ
trái đất. Chuột sống trong lòng đất nên cho rằng đất phải thuộc về mình. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thế là
chiến tranh bắt đầu. Lúc đầu, dơi đứng về phía chim. Nhưng khi thấy phe chim yếu
thế, dơi trốn vào một nơi vắng vẻ, đợi thời. Khi thấy chuột thắng trận, dơi
theo về với chuột. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bị chuột khám phá dơi chối bai bải: “<i>Hãy nhìn cho kỹ, lông của
tôi, răng của tôi, và chân của tôi có đích thị giống chuột không? Loài chim đâu
có thế</i>?” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Từ đấy, dơi theo phe chuột. Ít lâu sau, thấy phe chuột yếu thế, dơi lại
bỏ trốn, nằm một chỗ đợi thời. Khi chim thắng trận, dơi nhập bọn với chim. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bị
khám phá là người của đối phương, dơi lại chối bai bải: “<i>Hãy nhìn kỹ đây, tôi
bay trên trời như các bạn. Loài chuột đâu có cánh như tôi</i>?” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Từ đấy, dơi lại
theo phe chim. Cho đến khi cả chim lẫn chuột cùng biết mình không thể thắng được,
bèn bắt tay nhau nghị hòa. Họ lập một hội đồng quyết định số phận của dơi. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Phe
chuột nói với dơi “<i>Mày theo phe chim, hãy về sống với họ</i>.” Phe chim cũng nói:
“<i>Mày theo phe chuột, bây giờ hãy đi với chuột</i>.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cuối cùng, chẳng bên nào chịu
nhận dơi, và cả hai phe đồng ý quyết định: “<i>Từ nay, mày sẽ bay một mình trong
đêm, và sẽ không được làm bạn cả với những ai biết bay hay biết đi</i>”. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Đó là lý
do tại sao dơi biết bay mà không đậu trên ngọn cây như chim, và chuyên sống
chui rúc trong những hang động tối tăm bẩn thỉu. Khi ngủ, đầu dơi chúi xuống đất,
đít ở trên đầu. Và chuyên kiếm ăn vào ban đêm, như phường trộm cắp. </div>
<h3>
II – Nội
Dung </h3>
<h4>
1. “Chính” là gì? </h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Chính” là không tà, thẳng thắn, đứng đắn đối với mình,
đối với người và đối với việc. "Việc thiện thì dù nhỏ mấy cũng làm, việc
sai thì dù nhỏ mấy cũng tránh". </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bác Hồ dạy: “Chính đối với mình là không tự
cao, tự đại, luôn luôn chịu khó học tập, cầu tiến bộ, phát triển điều hay và sửa
chữa khuyết điểm của mình. Đối với người, phải yêu quý, kính trọng, giúp đỡ,
không nịnh hót người trên, xem khinh người dưới. Phải để việc nước, việc công
lên trên việc tư, việc nhà. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Công việc dù to hay nhỏ đều phải cố gắng hoàn
thành. Phải luôn luôn nhớ “việc thiện thì dù nhỏ mấy cũng làm. Việc ác thì dù
nhỏ mấy cũng tránh”. Tự mình phải chính trước, mới giúp được người khác chính. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mình không chính, mà muốn người khác chính là vô lý.” Người “chính trực” là người
biết sống thẳng thắn, biết sống theo lẽ phải, không a dua nịnh bợ người có quyền
thế để hưởng lợi, không biện bạch quanh co để bào chữa những sai trái của mình,
dám nhìn nhận những lầm lỗi sai trái của mình mà không tìm cách đổ lỗi cho người
khác. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Người chính trực là người biết khen chê đúng ý nghĩa, không lừa mị người
khác, không hứa hẹn bừa bãi những điều mà khả năng mình không thực hiện được,
cũng không phải là hạng người "tay này cho, tay khác lấy lại" mà phải
là người "cho mà không cần tính toán" </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tóm lại, “chính trực” là nghiêm
minh, là thành thật là tín trung, là không thiên vị. </div>
<h4>
2. Vì sao phải giữ chữ
“chính”? </h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bác Hồ dạy: “Cần, Kiệm, Liêm, là gốc rễ của Chính. Một cây không chỉ cần
có gốc rễ, mà phải có cả cành, lá, hoa, quả mới là cây hoàn chỉnh. Một người phải
Cần, Kiệm, Liêm, nhưng còn phải Chính mới là người hoàn toàn...” Sự “chính trực”
luôn đi kèm với sự “chân thật” và “công minh”. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Trong cư xử, giao tiếp, chân
thành là căn bản để được mọi người tín nhiệm và yêu mến. Ai cũng sợ những kẻ </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i>“khẩu phật tâm xà” </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>“bề ngoài thơn thớt nói cười, </i></div>
<i><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>mà trong nham hiểm giết người
không dao” </i></div>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
(Nguyễn Du). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Người chính trực, chân thật, công minh thường được mọi
người khâm phục, quý mến, tín nhiệm và cởi mở tâm tình (Nhân vật Quan Vân Trường
trong câu chuyện dẫn nhập). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Trái lại, người sống lừa dối, xảo trá, gian lận,
thì bị khinh bỉ và xa lánh (Nhân vật Tào Tháo trong câu chuyện dẫn nhập) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lòng
chính trực cho phép chúng ta sống với đời bằng tất cả trái tim mình. Cuộc đời
ta không còn bị lôi kéo vào hàng ngàn hướng đi mâu thuẫn với nhau, mà chỉ còn một
hướng đi duy nhất, đó là hướng đi tới sự lương thiện, hạnh phúc. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Từ nền tảng của
lòng chính trực, ta có thể tạo nên những mối quan hệ dựa trên nền tảng của sự
tin cậy. Một cuộc sống bình an, chẳng có gì đáng lo sợ, giấu giếm sẽ mang lại
cho ta nhiều hạnh phúc (xảo trá, lừa đảo, quanh co kết cục như loài dơi). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Xét
trên bình diện siêu nhiên, phải “chính trực” vì chúng ta được dựng nên theo
hình ảnh Thiên Chúa là Đấng công minh chính trực; phải “chân thật” vì Thiên
Chúa là chân lý là sự thật. </div>
<h4>
3. Giữ chữ “chính” như thế nào? </h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Người ta thường
không giữ được sự công bằng chính trực vì hai lý do: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
+ Nguyên nhân bên trong:
là tình cảm chi phối con người của họ. Tình cảm đó có thể là nhát sợ, yêu
thương, thiên tư… </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
+ Nguyên nhân bên ngoài: là ảnh hưởng của người mà họ tiếp
xúc. Ảnh hưởng đó phát sinh do địa vị xã hội, do trình độ văn hóa, hay do thế lực
kinh tế. Bởi đó người ta nể nang vì giàu sang phú quý, vì quyền cao chức cả, vì
học thức cao… Những biểu hiện lỗi đức “chính trực” là sự dối trá, giả hình, mưu
mô, xảo quyệt, khoe khoang… có thể biểu hiện trong: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
+ Lời nói: nói láo, nói
khoác, thề gian, vu khống… </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
+ Việc làm: làm chứng gian, gian lận trong thi cử,
mua bán gian lận, lừa đảo… Để rèn luyện đức “chính trực” ta cần phải: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
+ Nghe
theo tiếng lương tâm ngay thẳng </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
+ Sống đức tin, nghĩa là tập nhìn con người sự
vật và các biến cố theo cái nhìn của Đức KiTô Như thế họ sẽ không chọn danh vọng
cho mình, chọn giàu sang cho mình, chọn khoái lạc cho mình. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Liên hệ: Đức Giêsu
đã không thể thắng cơn cám dỗ nếu Người chỉ qui hướng về mình. Người sẽ thua ma
quỷ nếu Người tìm vinh danh mình khi hóa đá thành bánh, Người sẽ sập bẫy Satan
khi nhảy xuống từ nóc cao đền thờ để được khen ngợi tung hô. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Người sẽ thất bại
thảm thương khi quỳ lạy ma quỷ để được vinh hoa thế gian. Nhưng không người
luôn lấy Lời Chúa làm đèn soi để chống lại những cám dỗ. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Vì thế, học tập gương
Chúa Giêsu, ta phải luôn nghe theo tiếng Chúa mách bảo qua tiếng lương tâm ngay
thẳng và nhìn mọi sự vật theo tinh thần của Chúa. </div>
<h4>
4. Lời kết </h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i>Trời có bốn mùa:
Xuân, Hạ, Thu, Đông. Đất có bốn phương: Đông, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Tây</st1:city>, <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">Nam</st1:country></st1:place>,
Bắc. Người có bốn đức: Cần, Kiệm, Liêm, Chính. Thiếu một mùa, thì không thành
trời, Thiếu một phương, thì không thành đất. Thiếu một đức, thì không thành người</i>”
(Hồ Chí Minh) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i>Để trở thành một người có lòng chính trực thì bất cứ hành động
nào của bạn cũng đều cần phải xuất phát từ tấm lòng, chứ không phải là hành vi
xã giao, lấy lòng người khác hay giả dối</i>” (Nguồn: Hạnh phúc không khó tìm) </div>
<h3>
III
– Liên Hệ Lời Chúa </h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“ĐỨC CHÚA phán như sau: Hãy tuân giữ điều chính trực, thực
hành điều công minh, vì ơn cứu độ của Ta đã gần tới, và đức công chính của Ta sắp
được biểu lộ.” (Isaia 56,1) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“ĐỨC CHÚA phán như sau: Hãy thực thi lẽ công minh
và điều chính trực; hãy giải thoát người bị bóc lột khỏi tay kẻ áp bức; đừng
ngược đãi ngoại kiều, trẻ mồ côi và người goá bụa; đừng cưỡng bức và đổ máu người
vô tội ở nơi đây.” (Giêrêmia 22, 3) </div>
<h3>
IV – Luyện Tập </h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Trung thực trong khi thi cử.
Tôn trọng sự thật, không huênh hoang khoác lác, khoe mẽ về mình; không coi thường
kẻ dưới; không vu khống cáo gian; không đổ lỗi cho người khác. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
BTVN: chép vào tập
và trang trí để luôn tâm niệm "Việc thiện thì dù nhỏ mấy cũng làm, việc
sai thì dù nhỏ mấy cũng tránh"<br />
<br />
Trích dẫn từ: <a href="http://giesulove.net/diendan/thao-luan-ve-phong-trao/338-giao-duc-nhan-ban.html">http://giesulove.net/diendan/thao-luan-ve-phong-trao/338-giao-duc-nhan-ban.html</a></div>
hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-42184815737612299472012-10-19T16:04:00.003+07:002012-10-19T16:27:03.255+07:00Bài 3: Học Tập Chữ “Liêm”<br />
<h3>
I – Dẫn Nhập </h3>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Một Con Người Liêm
Khiết </h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Mạc Đĩnh Chi là người rất liêm khiết, thẳng thắn, giàu sang phú quý đối
với ông không có ý nghĩa gì, cho nên được người đời ca tụng. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Một lần, vào năm
1323, vua Trần Minh Tông cho gọi viên quan nội thị đến nói nhỏ: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Nghe nói các
quan và dân chúng đều biết Mạc Trạng Nguyên là người liêm khiết, thẳng thắn lắm.
Trẫm định thử xem có đúng như thế chăng? Nói đoạn, vua Minh Tông lấy 10 quan tiền
đặt vào tay viên quan nội thị, rồi ghé sát tai thì thầm to nhỏ. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Viên quan nội
thị tâu: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Thần sẽ làm đúng như ý bệ hạ sai bảo. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sáng hôm ấy, Mạc Đĩnh Chi dậy
sớm hơn thường lệ. Trời còn chưa sáng rõ, ông đã tập xong hai bài quyền. Ông
vươn người hít thở không khí trong lành của buổi sớm ban mai. Xong công việc
thường lệ, ông lững thững vào nhà. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Vừa bước lên bậc cửa, bỗng ông kêu lên kinh
ngạc: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Ô kìa! tiền của ai đánh rơi mà nhiều thế kia? Ông nhặt lên đếm, vừa
tròn 10 quan. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ông thầm nghĩ : “Quái ! Đêm qua không có ai lại chơi, sao có tiền
rơi? “. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ông vội vã khăn áo chỉnh tề, vào yết kiến nhà vua: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Tâu bệ hạ, thần
sáng nay có bắt được 10 quan tiền ở trước cửa nhà, hỏi khắp cả mà không ai nhận,
thần xin trao lại để bệ hạ trả lại kẻ mất của. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Vua Minh Tông mỉm cười gật đầu : </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Không ai nhận tiền ấy thì người cứ lấy mà dùng… </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Thưa bệ hạ, tiền này không
ít, người mất của chắc xót xa lắm, nên tìm người trả lại thì hơn. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Nhà ngươi
yên tâm, cứ giữ lấy mà dùng. Tiền thưởng lòng chính trực, liêm khiết của nhà
ngươi đấy. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mạc Đỉnh Chi bấy giờ mới vỡ lẽ ra là nhà vua đã thử lòng ông. Ông
chào tạ ơn trở về. </div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Thứ Gì Là Quý Nhất </h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Đời Xuân Thu, Từ Hãn làm quan nước Tống,
có người mang ngọc quý đến biếu, Từ Hãn không nhận. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Người biếu ngọc nài nỉ: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-
Ngọc này rất quý thưa ngài. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Từ Hãn hỏi: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Ông có thứ gì là quý nhất? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Tôi chỉ
có viên ngọc này là quý nhất, nên mới đem biếu ngài </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Tôi thì thấy lòng thanh
liêm ngay thẳng mới là quý. Nay nếu tôi nhận ngọc này, thì chẳng phải cả tôi với
ông đều mất đi cái quý giá nhất của mình hay sao? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Người biếu ngọc cúi đầu thưa: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Chúng tôi là thường dân mà giữ ngọc báu thì e không tránh khỏi trộm cướp, mà
có khi còn bị hại đến thân. Từ Hãn bèn lưu người biếu ngọc ở lại. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Đoạn tìm thợ
đến dũa ngọc rồi đem bán lấy tiền trao cả cho người chủ ngọc mang về. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tấm lòng
của Từ Hãn vừa liêm khiết vừa nhân hậu. Làm quan mà được như ông thì thiên hạ
được nhờ. </div>
<h3>
II – Nội Dung </h3>
<h4>
1. “Liêm” là gì? </h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Liêm” là đức tính trong sạch, không
ham của người khác, không tơ hào của công (từ điển Vdict.com) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Theo lời dạy của
Bác Hồ thì “liêm” nghĩa là trong sạch, không tham lam, không tham tiền tài,
không tham địa vị, không tham danh tiếng, không tham người khác tâng bốc mình… </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chỉ có một thứ tham là tham học, tham làm, tham tiến bộ. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Liêm” phải đi đôi với
“kiệm” (đã học ở bài trước) vì có “kiệm” mới “liêm” được. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Những kẻ không biết
tiết kiệm, tiêu xài xa xỉ, sẽ dẫn đến tham lam, tham nhận hối lộ, tham được của
người khác biếu tặng. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ta thường thấy chữ “liêm” trong “thanh liêm”, “liêm khiết”…
Ngoài ra, “liêm” còn thường đi với “sỉ”. </div>
<h4>
2. Vì sao phải giữ chữ “liêm”? </h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tham
lam là một điều rất đáng xấu hổ. Dễ dẫn đưa con người đến tội lỗi. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Vì lòng tham
khiến con người ta ra mù quáng, dễ trở thành nô lệ cho tiền tài, danh vọng, địa
vị. Một khi lệ thuộc vào chúng, ta mất đi sự khôn ngoan sáng suốt để suy nghĩ
những điều hợp lẽ đạo. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sách Huấn Ca có viết: “<i>Đã ham tiền không sao công chính
được, chạy theo lợi lộc ắt sẽ lỗi lầm. Bạc tiền khiến cho bao người sa ngã, thế
nào cũng đưa họ đến hư vong. Nó là cái bẫy cho ai say mê nó, hết mọi kẻ ngu si
sẽ sa vào</i>.” (Huấn ca 31, 5-7) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thật vậy, người mà không “liêm” thì cái gì cũng lấy,
không “sỉ” thì việc gì cũng làm. Người mà đến thế là người bỏ đi, không khác gì
giống vật. “Liêm” và “sỉ” là tính rất hay của loài người (Khổng Tử) Nghĩ cho
kĩ, thì “sỉ” cần hơn “liêm”: người không “liêm” làm những việc bất nghĩa, căn
nguyên cũng ở vô “sỉ” mà ra. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thầy Mạnh Tử nói: “<i>Nhân bất khả vô sỉ</i>” nghĩa là
“<i>người thì không thể không biết xấu hổ</i>” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Những hành động bất liêm đều phải dùng
pháp luật để trừng trị, dù đó là người nào, giữ cương vị gì, làm nghề gì. “Một
dân tộc biết cần, kiệm, biết liêm, là dân tộc giàu về vật chất, mạnh về tinh thần,
là một dân tộc văn minh tiến bộ”. Và như thầy Mạnh Tử đã nói “Ai cũng tham lợi,
thì nước sẽ nguy” </div>
<h4>
3. Giữ chữ “liêm” như thế nào? </h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Không tham những thứ không thuộc
về mình, không trộm cắp, không nhận hối lộ, nhặt được của rơi phải trả lại cho
người đã mất. Người “liêm khiết” không mong nhận của đút, cũng không xu nịnh,
chạy chọt, đút lót cho kẻ quyền thế để vụ lợi. Không sử dụng của công vào những
mục đích cá nhân. Người “liêm khiết” còn là người không thích xu nịnh, không
ham được người khác tâng bốc, biết tự hào một cách khiêm tốn đúng với giá trị của
mình. </div>
<h4>
4. Lời kết Linh mục Gaston Courtois đã giải thích về đức thanh liêm: </h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Thanh liêm, một đức tính ít gặp, nhưng rất cao quý, vì nó là vàng ròng để rèn
đúc tâm hồn vị thủ lãnh chân chính” Tuy lời ngài nói lên nhằm cổ vũ trực tiếp
các thủ lãnh, nhưng suy rộng ra cũng có thể hiểu ngài nói về mỗi chúng ta, nếu
ta muốn trở thành một “người”, thì ta phải quyết tâm rèn luyện đức tính này vậy. </div>
<h3>
III – Liên Hệ Lời Chúa </h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Tài sản quân bất chính sẽ như dòng suối cạn, sẽ như sấm
nổ giữa cơn mưa” (Hc 40,13) “Của phi nghĩa nào lợi ích chi, sống công chính mới
cứu ta khỏi chết”. (Khôn ngoan 10, 2) </div>
<h3>
IV – Luyện Tập </h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mỗi khi nhặt được của rơi,
em đem trả lại, hoặc nộp cho cơ quan có trách nhiệm để họ trả lại cho người đã
đánh mất.<br />
<br />
Trích dẫn từ: <a href="http://giesulove.net/diendan/thao-luan-ve-phong-trao/338-giao-duc-nhan-ban.html">http://giesulove.net/diendan/thao-luan-ve-phong-trao/338-giao-duc-nhan-ban.html</a></div>
hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-61887046266708278392012-10-19T15:53:00.000+07:002012-10-19T16:27:03.256+07:00Bài 2: Học Tập Chữ “Kiệm” <h3>
I – Dẫn Nhập </h3>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Một Que Diêm </h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Thấy
Bác tìm đóm châm lửa, Hào (Doãn Trọng Hào) nhanh nhẹn rút bao diêm trong túi
mình ra, lấy một que định quẹt lửa mời Bác. Bác liền giơ tay ngăn lại: Chú để
dành diêm mà nhóm bếp, Bác châm lửa ở trong lò cũng được. Ngừng một lát Bác hỏi
Hào: Chú có biết phải qua tay bao nhiêu người mới làm ra một que diêm hay không
? Vì vậy, mỗi người khi dùng một que diêm, chúng ta phải nghĩ đến công sức của
bao nhiêu người. Tất cả chúng ta cần thấm nhuần lời dạy ấy. Bác đã dạy chúng ta
bài học sâu sắc về đạo lý làm người... Phải tiết kiệm từ vật nhỏ. Phải cần kiệm
để xây dựng xã hội…” Chén Cháo Bằng Cơm Nguội Khi còn ở Việt Bắc, có một buổi
Bác đi công tác về muộn, về qua văn phòng, Bác nghỉ lại một lát vì mệt. Đồng chí
Hoàng Hữu Kháng (bảo vệ của Bác) nói với bà Liên (người giúp việc cho Bác): “
Hôm nay Bác mệt không ăn được cơm, cô nấu cho Bác bát cháo”. Bác đang nằm nghỉ
nghe thấy thế liền nhỏm dậy bảo bà Liên: “Cô nấu cháo cho Bác bằng cơm nguội, vừa
chóng chín, vừa tiết kiệm được gạo, khỏi bỏ phí cơm thừa”.<br />
<h3>
II – Nội Dung </h3>
<h4>
1. “Kiệm”
là gì? </h4>
“Kiệm” là dành dụm, không hoang phí, có chừng mực. Ta thường gặp cụm từ
“tiết kiệm” trong đó “tiết” có nghĩa là giảm bớt, kìm hãm, hạn chế, dằn lại.
Nghĩa chung, “tiết kiệm” là việc hạn chế đúng mức, chi tiêu dè xẻn, không hoang
phí, không xa hoa trong việc sử dụng tiền của, sức khỏe, thời gian. Tiết kiệm
không phải là bủn xỉn, hà tiện, gặp việc gì đáng làm cũng không làm, đáng tiêu
cũng không tiêu. Tiết kiệm mang nghĩa tích cực chứ không tiêu cực.<br />
<h4>
2. Vì sao phải
tiết kiệm? </h4>
Mỗi thứ của cải chúng ta làm ra phải tốn bao nhiêu mồ hôi và sức lao
động: để có được hạt gạo thơm, người nông dân đã phải cật lực làm lụng, cày bừa,
chăm bón như thế nào? Để làm ra được một cái bàn, cái ghế phải mất bao nhiêu
công sức… để có tiền cho các em ăn học cha mẹ đã phải vất vả đêm ngày… Những của
cải, tiền bạc do chúng ta dùng mồ hôi công sức làm ra chúng ta phải biết quý.
Chỉ có những kẻ ăn không ngồi rồi, hưởng thụ từ thành quả của người khác mới
không biết tiết kiệm. Ở tuổi các em, các em chưa làm ra tiền bạc, do đó chi
tiêu dè xẻn còn là cách các em thể hiện sự trân trọng những công lao, khó nhọc
của bố mẹ; quý trọng từng hạt gạo là cách các em thể hiện sự trân trọng đối với
người nông dân… Do hậu quả của tội đem lại, lao động của con người không phải
lúc nào cũng thuận lợi dễ dàng (bài trước).<br />
Do đó, phải biết tiết kiệm, để dành
phòng khi thiếu thốn. Nhà thơ Tố Hữu có viết: “Dọn tí phân rơi, nhặt từng ngọn
lá Mỗi hòn than, mẩu sắt, cân ngô Ta nâng niu gom góp dựng cơ đồ”...<br />
Tục ngữ có
câu: “<i>Buôn tàu bán bè không bằng ăn dè hà tiện</i>”.<br />
Không chỉ nghèo mới cần tiết
kiệm, mà cả giàu cũng cần tiết kiệm. Người nghèo tiết kiệm sẽ đỡ nghèo đi, còn
người giàu tiết kiệm sẽ càng giàu hơn lên. Ngạn ngữ phương Tây có một câu rất
chí lý: “Kẻ nào không biết quý những đồng tiền lẻ, sẽ không có những đồng tiền
chẵn”. Một tí phân, một ngọn lá, một hòn than, một mẩu sắt, một cân ngô thì
chưa là gì, nhưng nhiều tí phân, nhiều ngọn lá, nhiều hòn than, nhiều mẩu sắt,
nhiều cân ngô thì sẽ thành khối tài sản có giá trị, đủ sức “dựng cơ đồ” với “những
đồng tiền chẵn”. Có những thứ không phải cứ làm là có, cứ có tiền là mua.<br />
Đó là
những tài nguyên thiên nhiên có giới hạn như điện, nước, xăng dầu… nếu xài quá
mức sẽ có lúc cạn kiệt.<br />
Do vậy, phải biết quý trọng và sử dụng cho hợp lý. Thời
gian và sức khỏe là những thứ không thể dùng tiền mua được. Đối với lứa tuổi học
sinh, việc tiết kiệm thời gian và sức khỏe của bản thân là điều rất cần thiết.
“<i>Thời gian là vàng bạc</i>”, mỗi giây mỗi phút chúng ta để trôi qua một cách lãng
phí sẽ không bao giờ lấy lại được. Sinh thời, để tiết kiệm thời gian, Bác Hồ dạy:
“<i>Ai mang vàng vứt đi là người điên rồ. Ai mang thời giờ vứt đi là người ngu dại</i>”
Cần biết tiết kiệm thời gian và sức khỏe để dùng vào những việc chính đáng như
học tập, thờ phượng, rèn luyện đạo đức… tránh hao phí quá nhiều thời gian và sức
khỏe vào việc vui chơi giải trí. Như vậy, đức tính “Kiệm” giúp cho ta biết sống
đủ, sống không nô lệ vật chất, không nô lệ dục vọng. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h4>
3. Tiết kiệm như thế nào? </h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bác Hồ thường căn dặn mọi người phải thực hành tiết kiệm, tiết kiệm sức lao động,
tiết kiệm thì giờ, tiền bạc, phải tiết kiệm từ cái to đến cái nhỏ, không xa xỉ,
hoang phí, không bừa bãi, phô trương hình thức. Tiết kiệm tiền của Tiêu xài điều
độ, đừng làm ít xài nhiều, ăn tiêu quá độ, hoang phí. Cần định mức chi thu rõ rệt:
lập sổ chi thu cho minh bạch. Dùng đồng tiền cách phải lẽ, không bủn xỉn, hà tiện,
nhưng để thỏa mãn nhu cầu cần thiết và để dành lúc túng thiếu. Về của cải: nhà
cửa, đồ dùng, quần áo, điện nước, thức ăn uống… </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Đối với của tư: liệt kê đồ
dùng cá nhân, sử dụng đúng mức, giữ gìn cẩn thận để đồ dùng được lâu bền; tiết
kiệm tiền mua sắm; ăn mặc giản dị, không sa hoa, chạy theo mode… </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Đối với của
công: sử dụng tiết kiệm điện nước ở nhà thờ, nhà giáo lý, nhà trường, thư viện,
nơi công cộng… </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Đối với đồ ăn thức uống: tiết kiệm công sức của người làm ra lúa gạo.” Tiết kiệm
sức khỏe Sức khỏe là cái quý báu của con người. Vì thế, cần bảo vệ sức khỏe bằng
sự điều độ. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Về ăn uống: cần ăn uống thức ăn bổ dưỡng, sạch sẽ, tránh những gì
có hại cho sức khỏe. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Về ngủ nghỉ: tránh thức khuya hoặc ngủ nướng. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Về làm
việc: làm việc chừng mực, đúng giờ, đúng việc, tránh đam mê, làm ráng… khi mệt
mỏi cần giải trí, tạm nghỉ. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Siêng năng tập thể dục Tiết kiệm thời gian Làm việc
đúng giờ giấc, giờ nào việc nấy, phải biết sắp xếp thời giờ cho hợp lý. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h4>
4. Lời
kết </h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Cần và Kiệm phải đi đôi với nhau, như hai chân của con người. Cần mà không
Kiệm, thì “làm chừng nào xào chừng ấy”. Cũng như một cái thùng không có đáy, nước
đổ vào chừng nào, chảy ra hết chừng ấy, không lại hoàn không” (Hồ Chí Minh) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h3>
III
– Liên Hệ Lời Chúa </h3>
“Một người thợ say sưa sẽ không giàu có được, Kẻ coi thường
lợi nhỏ sẽ rơi vào nghèo túng” (HC 19,1) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h3>
IV – Luyện Tập </h3>
Tập chi tiêu hợp lý: hạn
chế ăn quà vặt, chơi game, mua sắm; ăn mặc giản dị; không bỏ thức ăn thừa mứa…
Tập tiết kiệm thời gian: hạn chế nói chuyện phiếm làm mất thời giờ của mình và
người khác; tập trình bày ngắn gọn, súc tích; lập thời gian biểu cho những công
việc phải làm. Tập giữ gìn sức khỏe: tập thể dục mỗi sáng, ăn ngủ đúng giấc. </div>
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BTVN: Lập sổ chi thu như mẫu dưới </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
BTVN: Chép và tập bài hát Việc Gì Làm Hôm Nay
Việc gì làm hôm nay, ta hãy làm ta quyết làm, việc gì làm hôm nay đừng để đến đến
ngày mai. Việc gì làm hôm nay không bao giờ trở lại. Việc gì làm hôm nay ta quyết
làm là làm cho xong. Ơ… một ngày đã qua, một ngày đã qua, ta đã làm gì, ta đã
làm gì. Ơ… bạn bè anh em tự hỏi lương tri ta đã làm gì cho ngày hôm nay.<br />
<br />
Trích dẫn từ: <a href="http://giesulove.net/diendan/thao-luan-ve-phong-trao/338-giao-duc-nhan-ban.html">http://giesulove.net/diendan/thao-luan-ve-phong-trao/338-giao-duc-nhan-ban.html</a></div>
hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-26828024023365754772012-10-19T15:41:00.001+07:002012-10-19T16:27:03.252+07:00 Bài 1: Học Tập Chữ “Cần”<br />
<h3>
I – Dẫn Nhập </h3>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Sói Già Và Ba Chú Heo Con </h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ngày xưa, ở một khu rừng
nọ, có ba chú heo con sống quây quần vui vẻ trong một ngôi nhà nhỏ bên cạnh
dòng sông. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Năm ấy nước sông dâng cao hơn mọi năm, căn nhà cũ của ba chú heo bị
ngập nước lâu ngày nên sụp đổ. Chú heo anh cả bèn nói với 2 em của mình rằng :
- Hai em ạ! chúng ta đều đã lớn, không thể cứ sống chung với nhau trong một
ngôi nhà mãi được, chúng ta phải xây dựng cho mình một căn nhà và cuộc sống
riêng. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hai em hãy tìm vật liệu ưng ý mà dựng nhà, làm cho chắc vào, Lão Sói độc
ác sẽ không để yên chúng ta đâu! Chú heo thứ 2 vốn lười biếng, ham ăn nên sẵn
những cây Lau Sậy mọc gần bờ sông, Heo ta mang về dựng cho mình một túp lều.
Căn nhà chỉ dựng xong trong vòng 2 ngày. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Buổi tối nằm trên ổ rơm lót giữa lều
ngửa mặt hít mùi Lau sậy tươi thơm phức, mút cây cà rem sô-cô-la chú ta lấy làm
khoái lắm! Chú heo út thì cẩn thận hơn, chú vào rừng tìm những cành cây khô và
bẻ những nhánh Thông để làm sườn nhà. Chú nhặt những miếng ván mục từ căn nhà
cũ làm vách, cửa thì ghép bằng những cành lá đủ loại. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Phải mất 5 ngày chú heo
út mới làm xong căn nhà của mình. Căn nhà của chú heo út trông xinh xắn và có vẻ
chắc chắn với mái nhà lợp bằng những cành lá Thông thơm nức mùi nhựa non. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chú
heo cả chăm chỉ và cẩn thận hơn cả, chú hì hục móc đất từ bờ sông lên đóng
khuôn, phơi khô làm gạch, làm ngói. Chú lại vào tận rừng sâu tìm những thân cây
to bị mưa bão làm gãy mang về làm sườn nhà, mái nhà lợp ngói xếp chặt vào nhau,
mưa to đến mấy cũng không thấm nước được. </div>
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Mất gần tháng trời căn nhà mới hoàn tất. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mùa Đông đã đến, Lão Sói hung ác mấy ngày rồi chưa có gì bỏ vào bụng. Lão nhớ tới
ba anh em nhà heo sống ở bìa rừng, thịt các chú heo non thì ngon phải biết! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lão
lần ra ven rừng, tới căn nhà cạnh bờ sông của chú heo thứ 2: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Mở cửa cho ta
nào, bé heo ơi! Ngoài trời lạnh lắm, cho ta vào sưởi ấm một tí nào, bé cưng! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chú heo con nhìn qua khe hở vách nhà thấy một khuôn mặt dữ tợn với 2 cái tai
dài, những cái răng nhọn, thè cái lưỡi đỏ lòm ghê gớm: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Không không! Tôi không
mở cửa đâu! Ông đi nơi khác đi! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Mở cửa ngay, không thì ta sẽ cho mi một trận!
Nhanh lên nào con heo ngu ngốc kia! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lão Sói dữ tợn gầm lên, chú heo con sợ hãi
cố ép chặt thân hình giữ lấy cánh cửa Lau Sậy, nhưng chỉ với một hơi thổi mạnh
của Sói, những cành Lau sậy đã rụng tơi tả và chẳng mấy chốc căn nhà đã bị thổi
tung! </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chú heo con vội vã lao như bay về phía căn nhà của chú heo út ở gần đó: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-
Út ơi! út ơi! mở cửa cho anh vào với, nhanh lên nào, Lão Sói độc ác đang đuổi
anh nè! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chú heo thứ 2 vừa vào nhà, chú heo út nhanh nhẹn đóng cửa lại: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Anh
yên tâm đi, vào nhà em rồi thì Sói chẳng làm gì được anh em mình đâu! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sói bị đứng
ngoài trời lạnh lẽo, mắt long lên sòng sọc vì tức: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Mấy con heo nhãi ranh kia,
mở cửa ngay cho ta vào, bằng không thì đừng có trách nhé! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Không đâu ông Sói
ơi! Chúng tôi chẳng mở cửa cho ông đâu! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lần này, Lão Sói già thổi thật mạnh vào
căn nhà của chú heo út, một lần, hai lần, tới lần thứ ba thì căn nhà rung rinh
mạnh rồi đổ ụp xuống. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hai chú heo con phóng như bay trên con đường dẫn tới nhà
anh cả trong lúc Sói còn đang bị vướng trong đống cành cây gỗ mục. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Anh ơi!
Anh ơi! Cứu chúng em với, Sói ăn thịt chúng em mất! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Heo cả mở cánh cửa đón 2 em
vào nhà. Trong nhà có bàn ghế và cả một lò sưởi ấm áp tỏa hơi nóng, lửa cháy đỏ
rực. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Hai em nghỉ đi cho khoẻ, để anh tính cho, Lão Sói sẽ chẳng làm gì được
đâu! </div>
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Lão Sói chạy rượt hai chú heo con về tới nhà heo cả thì mệt bở hơi tai, thở
hổn hển, lưỡi thè dài cả ra ngoài: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Mở... mở cửa! ... mở cửa cho ta, lũ heo
ngu ngốc kia! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Còn lâu! Chúng tôi không đời nào mở cửa cho ông đâu! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Ta mà
vào được thì cả 3 đứa chúng mày ta nuốt tất! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lão gầm lên hung tợn rồi dùng hết
sức mình tông vào cánh cửa. Cả thân hình của lão bị bật tung trở lại, đau ê ẩm
mà cánh cửa thì trơ trơ. Lão nhào đến dùng những móng vuốt nhọn cào cấu lên lớp
cửa gỗ, nhưng chẳng ăn thua gì, móng vuốt bị gãy, tay chân rướm máu mà căn nhà
vẫn y nguyên! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sau một hồi điên cuồng tấn công chung quanh, Lão chợt nảy ra một
ý: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Ta leo vào nhà bằng lối ống khói thì bọn chúng không biết được! Vào nhà rồi
ta sẽ ăn thịt cả 3 đứa, lại chiếm luôn căn nhà làm chỗ ở thật là một công đôi
chuyện! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sói ta nghĩ thầm, rồi thận trọng leo lên cây Sồi cạnh nhà, Sói từ từ bò
lên mái nhà, tiến dần tới ống khói lò sưởi. Ở trong nhà, qua một cánh cửa nhỏ ở
vách tường, chú heo cả đã nhìn thấy tất cả. Chú thì thầm gọi 2 em tới, cả 3 đặt
lên bếp một cái nồi thật to, đổ đầy nước, vừa cố sức đẩy thật nhiều củi to vào
bếp lò đang đỏ rực, vừa quạt cho lửa càng cháy mạnh lên. Chẳng mấy chốc nồi nước
đã bắt đầu sôi. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lão Sói hung ác đang cố hết sức nhẹ nhàng tuột dần xuống ống
khói lò sưởi, hơi nóng bốc lên cùng với khói làm mắt Sói cay xè, lão tuột tay
té ngay vào nồi nước đang sôi ùng ục trên bếp. Thế là xong đời Sói già hung ác! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hai chú heo em đã nhận ra: vì làm biếng mà suýt chút nữa đã làm hại chính mình,
2 chú ở chung với anh cả chờ qua mùa Đông để học cách xây nhà. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Khi mùa Xuân tới
cả 2 chú heo em cùng dựng cho mình một căn nhà cũng chắc chắn như căn nhà của
anh cả ở gần nơi đó. Từ đó ba anh em sống yên ổn vui vẻ, nếu hôm nay vẫn chưa dọn
đi thì có lẽ là 3 chú heo con vẫn còn đang sống ở đó đấy! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h3>
II – Nội Dung </h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h3>
1. “Cần”
là gì? </h3>
“Cần” là chuyên cần, chăm chỉ, siêng năng. Một người chuyên cần là người
siêng năng, ham làm việc và làm đến nơi đến chốn.<br />
Thí dụ: Một thiếu nhi chuyên
cần là người học giáo lý đầy đủ khi đến lớp, bài vở ghi chép cẩn thận, tham dự
thánh lễ đầy đủ, cầu nguyện mỗi ngày, thường xuyên lãnh nhận các Bí tích…<br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<i><b>Trái
với chuyên cần là lười biếng. </b></i><br />
Người lười biếng là người thích ở không, ngại
làm, sợ khó nhọc nhất là trong việc đạo đức, việc bổn phận.<br />
Người lười biếng là
người ơ hờ, trễ nãi, lừng khừng, không thiết tha với công việc.<br />
Người lười biếng
là người làm cẩu thả, làm cho qua chuyện, không đến nơi đến chốn. Thí dụ: Một
thiếu nhi lười biếng là người đến lớp không thuộc bài, không làm bài tập về
nhà, bỏ tham dự thánh lễ, bỏ đọc kinh cầu nguyện…<br />
<h3>
2. Giá trị của lao động </h3>
<h4>
<span style="font-size: small;">a.
Lao động là gì? </span></h4>
Lao động là việc làm có ý thức của con người nhằm làm chủ thiên
nhiên tức là cải biến thiên nhiên, nhằm nuôi sống bản thân, đồng thời tạo ra những
giá trị tinh thần hay vật chất cho xã hội. Lao động là điểm khác nhau cơ bản giữa
người và động vật: loài vật không biết lao động mà chỉ hoạt động theo bản năng,
hoặc được huấn luyện như con ong kiếm mật, con trâu kéo cày…<br />
<b><i>Có 2 loại lao động
chính:</i></b> lao động chân tay và lao động trí óc.<br />
Cả 2 loại lao động trên đều cần
thiết cho xã hội, kết hợp chặt chẽ với nhau để sản xuất ra của cải ngày càng
nhiều, càng nhanh, càng tốt cho xã hội.<br />
Ngoài ra còn có lao động nghệ thuật như
ca vũ, hội họa, điện ảnh…cũng rất cần thiết cho xã hội vì có tác động cổ võ, động
viên.<br />
<h4>
b. Tại sao phải lao động? </h4>
Mỗi người khi sinh ra đều có nghĩa vụ lao động.<br />
Thật vậy, trừ những người tàn tật, già cả, bệnh
hoạn thì tất cả mọi người trong xã hội đều có nghĩa vụ lao động.<br />
Giá trị nhân bản
của lao động Ca dao tục ngữ nói:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>“Tay làm hàm nhai” </i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>“Có làm thì mới có ăn </i></div>
<i><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Không
dưng ai dễ đem phần đến cho” </i></div>
</i><br />
Như vậy, mọi hình thức lao động từ buôn bán, sản
xuất, trồng trọt, xây dựng (lao động chân tay)… cho đến việc học tập, nghiên cứu
(lao động trí óc) của con người đều nhằm mục đích mưu sinh.<br />
Dần dần, theo sự
phát triển của xã hội, con người đã nâng giá trị của lao động lên tầm cao mới,
không chỉ dừng lại ở mục đích mưu sinh mà còn nhằm làm tốt hơn, làm đẹp hơn.
Lao động từ đó trở nên có nghệ thuật, có kỹ thuật hơn rồi tiến tới lao động có
tính cách khoa học tiên tiến như hiện nay.<br />
Do đó, giá trị nhân bản của lao động
nằm ở 2 mục đích: mục đích sinh tồn và mục đích văn hóa.<br />
Xét về phương diện cá
nhân, lao động giúp cho con người, nhất là người thanh thiếu niên trưởng thành
hơn về quan điểm của mình và rèn luyện nhiều đức tính tốt.<br />
Xét về phương diện tập
thể, lao động tạo điều kiện xây dựng xã hội ấm no, tốt đẹp hơn. Giá trị siêu
nhiên của lao động Nhiều người cho rằng lao động là hậu quả và hình phạt của tội
lỗi và kết luận nếu không phạm tội thì con người đã không phải lao động.<br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Quan
niệm sai lầm này cần phải được loại bỏ. </i></b><br />
Sáng Thế Ký đã ghi lại: “<i>Đức Chúa là
Thiên Chúa đem con người đặt vào vườn Êđen để cày cấy và canh giữ đất đai</i>” (St
2, 15). Như vậy, trước khi con người phạm tội Thiên Chúa đã muốn con người lao
động để tiếp nối công trình sáng tạo của Ngài.<br />
Thực ra cái mà tội lỗi đem lại
không phải là lao động, nhưng là tính chất cực nhọc vất vả của nó: “<i>ngươi sẽ phải
cực nhọc mọi ngày trong đời ngươi, mới kiếm được miếng ăn từ đất mà ra. Đất đai
sẽ trổ sinh gai góc cho ngươi, ngươi sẽ ăn cỏ ngoài đồng. Ngươi sẽ phải đổ mồ
hôi trán mới có bánh ăn</i>”. (St 3, 17-19) Qua lao động, dù là lao động tay chân,
hay lao động trí óc, con người được kêu gọi cộng tác với Thiên Chúa để cải tạo
thế giới.<br />
Để giải thích quan niệm trên, E. Krebs đã viết: “<i>Gia-Vê Thiên Chúa,
sau khi dựng nên loài người đã nghỉ ngơi ngày thứ bảy để giao phó cho họ tiếp tục
thực hiện chương trình sáng tạo của Ngài đã có tự đời đời</i>”.<br />
Nói như thế vẫn
chưa đủ, tuy Thiên Chúa nghỉ ngơi, nhưng Người vẫn hoạt động và quan phòng tất
cả những công trình tay Người tác tạo.<br />
Được dựng nên theo hình ảnh Thiên Chúa,
mỗi người chúng ta cũng mang đặc tính hoạt động như Người. Giá trị cứu độ của
lao động Trong lao động, chúng ta được liên kết với sức mạnh sáng tạo của Thiên
Chúa đến nỗi chúng ta không còn là dụng cụ, nhưng là sức hoạt động của Thiên
Chúa nối dài. Đừng lầm tưởng là nhận định đó chỉ thể hiện trong những công tác
lớn lao mà thôi, song trái lại, nó thể hiện trong bất kỳ công việc nào dù là những
công việc bé nhỏ, đơn sơ nhất.<br />
Qua lao động, chúng ta góp phần cứu rỗi chính
chúng ta và toàn thế giới. Vì khi lao động ta cầu nguyện, liên kết với Chúa để
việc ta làm được nâng đỡ bởi sức mạnh sáng tạo của Thiên Chúa. Nhờ lao động, ta
có khả năng tin tưởng, yêu mến nhiều hơn, phát triển tài năng Chúa ban (nén bạc
Chúa trao) để sinh ích lợi cho nhiều người.<br />
<h4>
3. Tác hại của thói lười biếng </h4>
Liên
hệ câu chuyện dẫn nhập. “Nhàn cư vi bất thiện”. Lười biếng dễ đưa ta đến những
thói xấu như lừa gạt, trộm cắp…<br />
Kẻ lười biếng không có cái ăn, sẽ trở thành kẻ
ăn bám xã hội, hoặc trở thành kẻ trộm cắp, bị mọi người khinh chê.<br />
Xét về mặt
siêu nhiên, kẻ làm biếng từ chối lao động, tức là từ chối cộng tác vào công
trình sáng tạo của Thiên Chúa.<br />
Kẻ lười biếng bê trễ việc tham dự thánh lễ, rèn
luyện các nhân đức, bỏ cầu nguyện… sẽ ngày càng xa cách Chúa hơn.<br />
<h4>
4. Lời kết </h4>
Làm việc là quy luật chung trong trời đất. “Chim có cánh để bay, người có tay để
làm”, “có sức người sỏi đá cũng thành cơm”. Có chuyên cần làm việc thì các tài
năng Chúa ban (nén vàng) mới có cơ hội phát triển.<br />
<h3>
III – Liên Hệ Lời Chúa </h3>
“Hỡi
người biếng nhác, ngươi còn nằm đó tới bao giờ ? Chừng nào ngươi mới ngủ dậy ?
Ngủ một chút, chợp mắt một chút, khoanh tay nằm một chút, là cái nghèo sẽ đến
như tên du thủ du thực, cảnh bần cùng sẽ đột nhập như người có vũ trang.” (Châm
ngôn 6, 9-11)<br />
<h4>
IV – Luyện Tập </h4>
Chăm chú nghe giảng bài, học bài và làm bài đầy đủ.
Siêng năng tham dự thánh lễ và thực hiện các việc đạo đức hằng ngày.<br />
BTVN: chép
và tập bài hát Nén Vàng Chúa Trao Chúa trao cho ta, người một nén vàng, người
hai nén vàng, người ba nén vàng. Đừng chôn xuống đất, đừng cất rồi quên, mà đem
sinh lãi, gấp hai ba lần.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Trích dẫn từ: <a href="http://giesulove.net/diendan/thao-luan-ve-phong-trao/338-giao-duc-nhan-ban.html">http://giesulove.net/diendan/thao-luan-ve-phong-trao/338-giao-duc-nhan-ban.html</a></div>
hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-7637917294745054342012-10-19T15:22:00.002+07:002012-10-19T16:27:03.259+07:00Bài mở đầu Tầm Quan Trọng Của Giáo Dục Nhân Bản <br />
<div>
<div>
<h3>
I – Dẫn Nhập </h3>
</div>
<div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Chỉ Có Một Người Thôi </h2>
</div>
<div>
Một nhà nọ trong làng tổ chức đám cưới. Người đến dự đám cưới rất đông. Ông hàng xóm gọi bác làm công đến và bảo: </div>
<div>
- Này, anh đi xem có đông người đi dự đám cưới bên ấy không?<br />
Bác làm công ra đi. Bác để lên ngưỡng cửa một khúc gỗ và ngồi lên bờ tường đợi khách khứa ra khỏi nhà.<br />
Khi họ ra về, người đầu tiên ra khỏi nhà vấp phải khúc gỗ. Anh ta chửi ầm lên rồi bỏ đi.<br />
Rồi rất nhiều người ra về và vấp phải khúc gỗ quái quỷ, họ cũng chửi rồi bỏ đi. Chỉ có một bà lão vấp phải khúc gỗ, liền quay lại đẩy khúc gỗ sang bên.<br />
Bác làm công trở về gặp người chủ. </div>
<div>
Người chủ hỏi: - Ở bên ấy có nhiều người không?<br />
Bác làm công trả lời: - Chỉ có mỗi một người mà lại là một bà lão.<br />
- Tại sao vậy?<br />
- Bởi vì tôi để khúc gỗ bên thềm nhà, tất cả đều vấp phải, nhưng cũng chẳng ai buồn dẹp đi, lũ cừu cũng làm như thế thôi. Nhưng một bà lão đã dẹp khúc gỗ sang bên để người khác khỏi vấp ngã. Chỉ có con người mới làm như vậy. Một mình bà lão là người. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<h3>
II – Nội Dung </h3>
<h4>
1. Nhân bản là gì? </h4>
“Nhân bản” là từ ngữ rất thông dụng, nhưng rất khó để hiểu tường tận, vì thế ta có thể tạm hiểu: “Nhân” là người. “Bản” là gốc, là cơ sở, là nền tảng…<br />
Như vậy, có thể hiểu nhân bản là cái gốc của con người, cái cơ sở, nền tảng của con người, cái làm nên con người và phân biệt con người với các động vật khác. Nếu hiểu sâu xa hơn thì nhân bản là thái độ sống, thái độ nhìn đời, thái độ cư xử của một con người.<br />
<h4>
2. Mục tiêu của Giáo Dục Nhân Bản </h4>
Nếu nhân bản là cái gốc của con người, thì giáo dục nhân bản là giáo dục để một người hiểu biết bản tính của mình là người, chứ không phải cây tre, cái ghế… Nếu nhân bản là thái độ sống, thái độ nhìn đời, thái độ cư xử của một người, thì giáo dục nhân bản là giáo dục một bản tính người có thái độ sống, thái độ nhìn đời, thái độ cư xử “hợp qui tắc” như mọi người thừa nhận.<br />
Tóm lại, mục tiêu của Giáo Dục Nhân Bản là giúp con người đạt “trưởng thành nhân bản”. Sự “trưởng thành nhân bản” có thể nhận thấy được từ bên ngoài qua: tác phong tốt đẹp, suy nghĩ chín chắn, khôn ngoan, ý chí tự chủ, tâm tính quân bình, cư xử hài hòa, vị tha…<br />
<h4>
3. Tầm quan trọng của Giáo Dục Nhân Bản </h4>
Một em bé mới sinh ra, nó chưa biết mình là người. Nhưng nó lớn trong một nhân cách gia đình: cha mẹ tốt, anh chị em tốt, ông bà tốt thì đứa bé sẽ dễ thừa hưởng những cái tốt. Em bé cũng lớn lên trong một nhân cách xã hội: bạn bè, lối xóm, môi trường xung quanh… tốt hay xấu đều ảnh hưởng trên đứa bé. Chúng ta đã nghe nói đến nhiều trường hợp những đứa trẻ bị bỏ rơi trong rừng từ khi mới sinh. Khi những trẻ đó lớn lên không biết nói tiếng người, thậm chí là không đi mà bò bằng tứ chi như thú rừng, mang nhiều tập tính của thú rừng…<br />
Như vậy, rõ ràng không phải ai khi sinh ra cũng đều là “người” cả, mà phải được thừa hưởng một nền giáo dục, được rèn luyện để trở nên “người” như bao “người” xung quanh. Nền giáo dục đó chính là Giáo Dục Nhân Bản. Ở trường học, điều đầu tiên, khi đón nhận trẻ, người ta phải ý thức ngay rằng, “Tiên học lễ, hậu học văn”. Nhờ Giáo Dục Nhân Bản, qua việc tập luyện các đức tính tự nhiên, con người mới đạt “trưởng thành nhân bản” để xứng đáng là “người” hơn. (Nên biết, không có lý lẽ nào giải thích được một cách thỏa đáng tại sao phải tuân thủ những “quy tắc” này thì mới là “người”. Nhưng những quy tắc này được nhiều “người” qua nhiều thế hệ công nhận, xây dựng và phát triển cho phù hợp với từng thời, vì thế những người không tuân thủ những quy tắc này không được công nhận là “người” như trong câu chuyện dẫn nhập vậy.<br />
Người ta vẫn nói “đạo” là “đường” nhưng cái gì là “đường”? Chẳng có chi là “đường” hết, người ta đi riết thì nó thành đường thôi!) Sự “trưởng thành nhân bản” còn là nền tảng để xây dựng sự trưởng thành của người Ki Tô hữu, qua việc luyện tập các nhân đức Ki Tô giáo. Nhờ đó, họ sẽ đạt mức độ “trưởng thành Ki Tô hữu”, được hoàn hảo, thánh thiện, trở nên giống Chúa Ki Tô, xứng đáng chức vị là con Chúa.<br />
<h4>
4. Lời kết </h4>
Giáo dục nhân bản rất quan trọng và cần thiết cho con người, để xứng đáng là “người”, là “người Ki Tô hữu”, là con cái Chúa. Giáo Dục Nhân Bản nhằm hướng đến “con người trưởng thành” theo một khuôn mẫu lý tưởng, đó là Chúa Giê Su – “siêu người mẫu” của chúng ta.<br />
<h3>
III – Liên Hệ Lời Chúa </h3>
“Ngoài ra, thưa anh em, những gì là chân thật, cao quý, những gì là chính trực tinh tuyền, những gì là đáng mến và đem lại danh thơm tiếng tốt, những gì là đức hạnh, đáng khen, thì xin anh em hãy để ý.” (Thư của thánh Philipphe chương 4 câu 8)<br />
<h3>
IV – Luyện Tập </h3>
Biết ngưỡng mộ khi thấy người khác làm điều tốt. BTVN: Tìm một vài điểm khác nhau giữa con người và loài vật.<br />
<br />
Trích dẫn từ: <a href="http://giesulove.net/diendan/thao-luan-ve-phong-trao/338-giao-duc-nhan-ban.html">http://giesulove.net/diendan/thao-luan-ve-phong-trao/338-giao-duc-nhan-ban.html</a></div>
</div>
hanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885019862729313704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-4611616406922383442012-10-16T17:42:00.002+07:002012-10-16T17:50:46.112+07:00Kết nối iPhone, iPod Touch, hoặc điện thoại Android vào mạng Wi-Fi<h3>
1. Với iPhone/iPod Touch</h3>
Lưu ý: Bài viết này được thực hiện trên phiên bản 4.0 của hệ điều hành iPhone<br />
Đầu tiên bạn tìm và chọn biểu tượng Settings trên iPhone hoặc iPod Touch của bạn.<br />
Trong menu Settings, bạn chọn chức năng Wi-Fi.<br />
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Nếu Wi-Fi của bạn đang thiết lập ở chế độ tắt (Off), bạn cần kích hoạt nó sang trạng thái mở (On).<br />
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Khi Wi-Fi của bạn được kích hoạt, bạn sẽ thấy xuất hiện danh sách các mạng Wi-Fi mà thiết bị của bạn tìm thấy trong phạm vi hoạt động. Với mỗi mạng trong danh sách có kèm biểu tượng chiếc khóa thì mạng đó đã bị khóa và được cài đặt mật khẩu. Còn các mạng không có biểu tượng ổ khóa tức là bạn có thể kết nối được. Bạn hãy chọn chọn một mạng không bị khóa để kết nối.<br />
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Nếu bạn chọn một mạng có biểu tượng chiếc khóa, một cửa sổ xuất hiện sẽ yêu cầu bạn nhập mật khẩu truy cập, bạn chỉ cần nhập mật khẩu vào khung Password, rồi bấm nút Join để kết nối.<br />
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Khi kết nối, tên mạng Wi-Fi sẽ được hiển thị màu xanh với dấu tích vào tên tương ứng.<br />
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Để kết nối vào mạng Wi-Fi với một kết nối ẩn, bạn chọn Other.<br />
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Sau đó nhập tên mạng mà bạn muốn tìm vào khung Name, kiểu an ninh và mật khẩu truy cập, rồi bấm nút Join để kết nối.<br />
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Sau khi kết nối được thiết lập, bạn có thể truy cập vào các trang Web yêu thích của mình thông qua kết nối Wi-Fi của bạn.<br />
<h3>
2. Android</h3>
Lưu ý: Bài viết được thực hiện trên Android 2,1.<br />
Trên Android của bạn, bạn kích chọn biểu tượng Settings.<br />
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Dưới khung Settings>Wireless & networks.<br />
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Tiếp theo bạn chọn Wi-Fi settings, nếu Wi-Fi chưa được bật thì bạn tích vào tùy chọn bên phải của Wi-Fi.<br />
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Khi Wi-Fi được kích hoạt, bạn sẽ thấy danh sách các mạng Wi-Fi xuất hiện trong danh sách.<br />
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Với mạng bị khóa bạn sẽ thấy biểu tượng ổ khóa gắn kèm tên mạng, để kết nối bạn có thể chọn tên mạng không có biểu tượng ổ khóa.<br />
Nếu bạn chọn mạng có biểu tượng ổ khóa, bạn cần phải nhập vào mật khẩu truy cập vào khung WEP hex key rồi bấm nút Connect.<br />
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Khi kết nối được thực hiện, bạn sẽ thấy bạn đang kết nối với mạng Wi-Fi đã chọn.<br />
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Để kết nối với mạng Wi-Fi ẩn, bạn chọn mục Add Wi-Fi network.<br />
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Rồi nhập tên mạng ẩn vào khung Network SSID, chọn kiểu bảo mật (Security), mật khẩu truy cập (Wireless passwoed), rồi bấm nút Save để hoàn tất.<br />
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Bây giờ bạn có thể duyệt web thông qua các router Wi-Fi của bạn hoặc kết nối với các thiết bị mạng khác.<br />
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(Theo howtogeek.com)</div>
icmadminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641225860905813923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7598748817631066771.post-90017355507829042442012-10-16T17:37:00.004+07:002012-10-16T17:37:58.396+07:0015 điều người dùng máy tính nên biết<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Bạn nghĩ mình hiểu biết về công nghệ? Nếu bạn không biết đến và sử dụng một trong 15 sự thật, thói quen và thủ thuật hiệu quả về công nghệ dưới đây, có nghĩa là bạn chưa sống đúng với tiềm năng của mình.</span><br />
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<br /><br /><b>1. Không nên kích đúp mọi thứ:</b> Kích đúp là cách bạn mở một thứ gì đó trong Windows. Tuy nhiên, đây không phải cách bạn có thể sử dụng để mở một đường dẫn trong trình duyệt Web, kích vào các nút trong hộp thoại dialog, hay thực hiện những điều khác. Và nếu bạn thường kích đúp theo phản xạ, bạn có thể vô tình đóng một cửa sổ nào đó quan trọng hoặc đăng kí 2 lần một mẫu đơn. Nếu không muốn nhớ tới điều này cho chính mình, hay nhắc nhở người khác.<br /><br /><br /><b>2. Sử dụng dấu gạch chéo (/) và dấu gạch chéo ngược (\) trong trường hợp thích đáng: </b>Hãy cùng đi thẳng vào vấn đề: / là một dấu gạch chéo và \ là dấu gạch chéo ngược. Dấu gạch chéo ngược được sử dụng trong các đường dẫn file Windows (ví dụ: C:\Program Files\Whatever) trong khi dấu gạch chéo được sử dụng trong các địa chỉ Internet (http://www.quantrimang.com/tintuc.html).<br /><br /><br /><b>3. Ghi lại chính xác thông báo lỗi: </b>Khi máy tính của bạn bị lỗi, nó thường cố gắng thông báo cho bạn lý do – mặc dù chỉ với một chuỗi số hoặc thông báo bạn không hiểu. Hãy cố gấng viết lại toàn bộ lỗi này (hoặc tạo bản chụp màn hình, nếu có thể). Sau đó, bạn có thể tìm kiếm lỗi này trên Google hoặc đưa nó cho người hỗ trợ công nghệ. Trong trường hợp máy tính của bạn không cung cấp thông báo lỗi, hãy truy cập Action Center (trong Control Panel) và xem nó có hiển thị ở View archived messages hoặc View problems to report.<br /><br /><br /><b>4. Cứu sống trở lại những file đã bị xóa:</b> Khi xóa đi một file trong máy tính hoặc thẻ nhớ, bạn không thể xóa sạch file này trên ổ đĩa. Thay vào đó, đây chỉ là loại bỏ thông tin bảng liệt kê để thông báo với máy tính nơi đặt file. Lúc này, máy tính sẽ làm trống rỗng một phần ổ đĩa đã chứa file này, cũng như cho phép bạn copy file khác vào đó. Nếu chẳng may bạn xóa lầm một file nào đó, các công cụ khôi phục file như Recuva có thể giúp bạn tìm kiếm lại những file này, nhưng chỉ trong trường hợp bạn chưa ghi đè lên ổ đĩa file mới.<br /><br /><br /><b>5. Xóa toàn bộ ổ cứng trước khi bỏ/ bán máy tính cũ : </b>Do máy tính của bạn không hoàn toàn loại bỏ các file bạn đã xóa, bạn không thể chỉ định dạng lại ổ đĩa trước khi tái sử dụng hoặc bán chiếc máy tính cũ của bạn, bởi ai đó có thể sử dụng những ứng dụng không phục dữ liệu bị xóa để khôi phục lại các dữ liệu quan trọng của bạn. vì vậy, hãy chắc chắn rằng bạn đã xóa hoàn toàn ổ đĩa của mình trước khi loại bỏ nó.<div align="center" style="color: #9f9f9f; font-size: 11pt;">
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<b>6. Không tích vào các hộp trước khi cài đặt:</b> Có rất nhiều ứng dụng tiện ích ngoài chức năng chính còn đưa cho bạn lựa chọn cài đặt thanh công cụ tìm kiếm và các add-on khác và một số ứng dụng được cấu hình cài đặt một số phần không liên quan trừ phi bạn tích vào hộp thoại rằng bạn không muốn sử dụng chúng. Không chỉ là add-on, máy tính của bạn còn phải chạy những phần mềm, ứng dụng khác mà bạn không biết chúng sẽ gửi đi dữ liệu gì của bạn. Chúng được bao gồm trong ứng dụng bởi chúng trả tiền cho nhà lập trình ứng dụng, không phải bởi chúng thực sự tiện ích. Vì vậy, hãy xem xét cẩn thận về những gì bạn đang cài đặt trước khi kích Install để trình cài đặt này không thay đổi công cụ tìm kiếm của bạn hoặc cài đặt một số ứng dụng bạn không cần tới.<div align="center" style="color: #9f9f9f; font-size: 11pt;">
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<br /><br /><b>7. Cẩn thận với virus ẩn trong file tài liệu Office: </b>Những người sử dụng Microsoft Office kinh nghiệm có thể tận dụng built-in Visual Basic của chương trình này để hỗ trợ tự động các tác vụ phức tạp. Tuy nhiên, những kẻ chuyên tạo ra mã độc có thể sử dụng những công cụ tương tự để tạo ra virus có khả năng gây phiền nhiễu cho công việc của bạn cũng như có thể lây lan và quấy nhiễu đồng nghiệp bạn. Mặc định, Office được đặt Disable với tất cả các macros và thông báo với bạn khi tài liệu bạn đang sử dụng có chứa chúng (để thay đổi cài đặt này, trong Word chọn Word Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings >Macro Settings) và bạn được an toàn.<br /><br /><br /><b>8. Hãy nghi ngờ với những ứng dụng Be skeptical of "cleaning" apps:</b> Các ứng dụng có thông báo không rõ rang về việc nâng cấp hoạt động máy tính của bạn và xóa bỏ những lộn xộn trong máy tính sẽ có "khả năng” gây hại hơn là thực hiện các điều tốt. Để làm sạch hệ thống của bạn, chỉ cần chạy Disk Cleanup (để sử dụng, chọn Start Menu > All programs >Accessories > System Tools) công cụ này sẽ hiển thị với Windows installation và sẽ không làm náo loạn máy tính của bạn.<div align="center" style="color: #9f9f9f; font-size: 11pt;">
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<br /><br /><b>9. Gỡ bỏ các ứng dụng cũ:</b> Nếu bạn thường xuyên tải và cài đặt ứng dụng mới từ Internet, bạn nên thực hiện thói quen "tỉa” bớt bộ sưu tập ứng dụng của mình. Để thực hiện điều này, chỉ cần mở Programs and Features control panel, xem xét danh sách và kích vào Uninstallđể tháo gỡ ứng dụng bạn không cần sử dụng nữa. Ngoài ra, Bạn cũng nên xem qua trongC:/Program Files/ folder để tìm kiếm một số ứng dụng không còn tác dụng gì với bạn. Càng ít lộn xộn trong máy tính, càng ít khả năng máy tính gặp vấn đề.<br /><br /><br /><b>10. Cứu máy trong khi bị chất lỏng chảy vào: </b>Khi máy tính của bạn gặp vấn đề lớn, ví như có nước chảy vào máy tính, bạn sẽ phải ngăn chặn việc mất dữ liệu và giữ cho motherboard không bị cháy. Thay vì hoảng loạn, hãy nhanh chóng tắt nguồn, tháo pin – không cần chờ Windows tắt hoàn toàn. Tiếp đến, tháo gỡ tất cả những thứ gì đang kết nối với máy tính của bạn (dây mạng, thiết bị cắm ngoài) và tháo bỏ những thiết bị có thể tháo như ổ cứng. Nghiêng laptop để nước có thể chảy ra ngoài. Tuy nhiên, bạn cũng phải chú ý cho nước chảy ra theo hướng thuận lợi nhất, nếu không, nước có thể chảy vào máy tính của bạn nhiều hơn. Nếu chất lỏng ở trên bề mặt laptop, bạn có thể thấm nhẹ với vải. Tại thời điểm đó, nếu bạn biết cách tháo máy ra và lau sạch bên trong thì hãy tự làm. Nếu không, hãy mang máy đi sửa.<br /><br /><br /><b>11. Turn down UAC: </b>Cả Windows 7 và Windows Vista đều có chức năng bảo mật là User Account Control, làm mờ màn hình và hiển thị một hộp thoại dialog mỗi khi bạn cài đặt một ứng dụng hoặc thay đổi cài đặt hệ điều hành. Mặc dù chắc năng này tiện ích đối với các ứng dụng lén lút cài đặt hoặc tạo thay đổi trong máy tính của bạn mà bạn không biết, nó vẫn thực sự gây phiền nhiễu. Nếu bạn sử dụng Windows Vista, chọn TweakUAC để biến nó trở nên bớt phiền nhiễu hơn mà không tắt chức năng này đi. Còn nếu bạn đang sử dụng Windows 7, cài đặt mặc định cũng không phải là tồi. Tuy nhiên, bạn vẫn nên vào User Accounts control panel, kích User Account Control settings và thay đổi cài đặt tại đây, để UAC vẫn thông báo cho bạn nhưng không làm mờ màn hình.<br /><br /><br /><b>12. Không sử dụng tài khoản admin: </b>Rất nhiều người sử dụng máy tính có thói quen làm việc sử dụng tài khoản người quản trị - administrator, đặc biệt với Windows XP. Làm như vậy có thể tránh được việc thoát ra, đăng nhập lại nhiều lần mỗi khi muốn cài đặt một ứng dụng hoặc thực hiện một thay đổi. Tuy nhiên, thói quen này lại tạo ra nhiều cơ hội tấn công hơn cho virus và malware. Vì vậy, bạn không nên đăng nhập với tài khoản admin.<div style="color: #9f9f9f; font-size: 11pt;">
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<br /><br /><b>13. Hiển thị bảng Control Panel theo icon: </b>Hiển thị Control Panel theo mục sẽ tiện lợi hơn nếu bạn phải sử dụng nhiều lựa chọn khác nhau, nhưng nó cũng gây khó khăn trong việc tìm kiếm, nhất là khi bạn đang tìm kiếm một chỉ lệnh cụ thể có liên quan tới control panel theo tên. Kích vào Classic view ở bên trái (trong Vista) hoặc chọn Large Icons trong menu View by drop down ở bên phải (trong Windows 7) và bạn có thể truy cập toàn bộ bảng control panel.<br /><br /><br /><b>14. Dọn khay hệ thống: </b>Ứng dụng thường tự đặt chúng trong khay hệ thống (một hang icon ở bên phải thanh taskbar). Hãy bỏ một chút thời gian để thường xuyên loại bỏ chúng. Mở Notification Area Icons trong control panel, tích vào hộp thoại Always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar ở cuối trang để biết được sự lộn xộn trong khay hệ thống. Phải chuột vào mỗi icon của ứng dụng bạn không cần và chọn Close. Điều này sẽ tốt cho RAM của bạn.<div align="center" style="color: #9f9f9f; font-size: 11pt;">
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<b>15. Quản lý cài đặt điện năng: </b>Nếu bạn đang sử dụng một chiếc máy tính xách tay, bạn sẽ muốn tìm hiểu cách thay đổi cài đặt điện năng để máy tính của bạn không lãng phí pin mỗi khi bạn muốn bảo trì máy, máy không chậm khi bạn cần nó chạy nhanh, và máy không "đi ngủ” trong những lúc quan trọng. Mở Power Options trong control panel, chọn một trong số những lựa chọn đã được cấu hình trước có chứa những cấu hình khác nhau. Nếu muốn có cài đặt cao cấp, kích vào Change plan settings > Change advanced settings. Tại đây bạn sẽ thấy lựa chọn cụ thể có liên quan tới pin của bạn, cạc đồ họa, Wi-Fi radio,…</div>
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