Showing all posts by Elija

Although the Augustinians have their own feast day commemorating the conversion of Saint Augustine, his feast day is a good reason to reflect on his profound conversion. Much like the conversion of Saint Paul, it is a story that never loses its power. That is why we will let Augustine speak for himself today.

St. Augustine had to travel a long way with many struggles. One thing that was particularly difficult for him was to overcome the appetites of the flesh. We will now listen to a passage from Book Eight of Augustine’s Confessions, which gives us a moving insight into the decisive moment of his conversion:

“The very toys of toys, and vanities of vanities, my old mistresses, still enthralled me; they shook my fleshly garment, and whispered softly, do you part with us? And from that moment shall we no more be with you for ever? And from that moment shall not this or that be lawful for you for ever? And what did they suggest to me in the words this or that? What is it that they suggested, O my God? Let Your mercy avert it from the soul of Your servant. What impurities did they suggest!  (…)

Yet they did delay me, so that I hesitated to burst and shake myself free from them, and to leap over whither I was called — an unruly habit saying to me, do you think you can live without them? (…)

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One of the best-known and most widely practiced prayers in our Catholic Church is the Holy Rosary, which is a fundamental part of the lives of many believers.

What is it that makes the Rosary so valuable and recommendable for cultivating and increasing the life of faith?

Unfortunately, in certain circles the Rosary faces many prejudices. For some people, it seems to be nothing more than meaningless “repetition”. For others, it awakens unpleasant memories of times past, when they were forced to pray this prayer in the family or in church. But these prejudices or resistances can be overcome if one tries to more deeply understand the meaning of the Holy Rosary.

• The Holy Rosary is a meditative prayer; it is a classic Christian meditation.

The repetition of the Hail Marys forms a chain that leads to the mysteries of salvation. Many spiritual masters emphasize the benefit of a repetitive prayer, which is capable of recollecting man’s heart and quieting the restless spirit. A calm and recollected spirit can more easily concentrate on the content and essence of prayer. The mysteries of the Holy Rosary, which are the stations of the life of Jesus, settle in our hearts through meditation and repetition, becoming a kind of inner certainty. And this, in turn, leads to greater love and gratitude towards Jesus. It is fundamental to pray the Rosary with the heart; that is, to pray it within ourselves. Again and again the frequent repetitions gently call the scattered spirit back to the true center of prayer.

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Prayer is one of the glories we can already enjoy in this life, for it is a ladder by which God descends to us and we ascend to Him. However, even in our prayer life we are not exempt from the stresses that correspond to our earthly existence and we have to endure all kinds of disturbances. But God, in His wisdom, makes use of it all.

Yesterday we had begun to speak about the so-called “sufferings in prayer”, among which we had mentioned distractions and dryness of feeling. Today we want to continue with some others…

• Aversion to prayer

When an intense prayer life is cultivated, it is possible that there appears an aversion or a dislike to prayer, to the Word of God, and to religious things in general. Everything seems meaningless! This can have different causes. On the one hand, the Devil is always interested in dissuading us from advancing in the spiritual life and he acts by means of suggestions, wanting to influence our thoughts and feelings. On the other hand, reluctance can also come from our human nature, which rebels against the demands of faith and, in one way or another, says: “I don’t want any more”.

This situation must be faced with wisdom. We can simply confess our love to God, tell Him that we do not want such feelings, even though we feel them within ourselves. Here we make a clear distinction: If I do not consent with my freedom to negative thoughts and feelings, I am offering them resistance, even with the “tip” of my will. In this case, the aversion is not consented to, so that it cannot unfold its destructive potential either.

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Given the extraordinary importance of a regular prayer life, we will now begin with two parts from a 2024 series on prayer.

Anyone who seriously undertakes a life of prayer – that is, who does not only pray occasionally or when going through great anguish – will realize that it is not always an easy path; rather, there are sufferings that can make prayer even wearisome for us. Therefore, we will have to fight against the laziness of our human nature, go through processes of purification and, of course, confront various temptations, which want to discourage us. It can even go so far as to make us doubt the meaning of prayer, because it would seem that God does not listen to it and that it does not bring us any satisfaction. Thus, the soul is in danger of throwing in the towel and abandoning these “tiring” dealings with God.

First of all, it should be said that a person must become accustomed to prayer. There may be stages in which we find it easy to pray and we take pleasure in that “coming home” we experience; stages in which we are granted religious feelings that fill us with joy. But, in the long run, it takes discipline and endurance to lead a regular prayer life. Certainly there are exceptions to this, and there may be people who generally find it easy to pray. But normally it is usually as we have just said.

The abbot of a Trappist monastery once said to me, “It is easier to summon monks for work than for prayer!”

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