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I am doing this series of meditations on the “unfreedom” because, in my opinion, it is important that our Christian witness be permeated by that freedom which only the Lord can grant us: “if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free…” (Jn 8:36). Even if we try to live in the Will of God – and this is what every person who has lived a true conversion desires – there may be certain weaknesses that prevent us from fulfilling His Will willingly, completely and immediately. Although not all of us may be affected by each of the weaknesses of freedom that we will discuss in the next meditations, it is important to take note of all of them. Perhaps in this way we can help others whose freedom is restricted by all kinds of fears and other shortcomings. To develop this theme, I take some guidelines from Dietrich von Hildebrand’s book “Our Transformation in Christ”, especially from the chapter called “True Freedom”. Read More

If you are familiar with my daily meditations, you will notice that I try to offer a help to deepen the way of following Christ, based on Sacred Scripture and the authentic teaching of the Church. Occasionally, I interrupt the usual rhythm of the biblical meditations to deal with a theme that I consider important in the form of a “series”. In this way, certain topics related to the spiritual life can be dealt with in greater depth.

On this occasion, I will deal with a topic that – as far as I know – is not often dealt with in the context of the spiritual way. It is the so-called “unfreedom”, which prevents our faith from expressing itself in all its beauty and consequently also obscures our witness of life, which should be an invitation for others to find the way to God. Read More

In today’s meditation I would like to speak again about the Holy Rosary, because today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, and the whole month of October is usually considered to be the “Month of the Rosary”.

The Holy Rosary, also known as the ‘Psalter of the Virgin Mary’, is one of the best-known and most popular prayers in the Catholic Church. In various apparitions, Our Lady insists that we pray it, and there are extraordinary testimonies of its efficacy. Read More

Whoever has been engaged in the prayer of the heart for a long time and practices it regularly, will experience the joy that this prayer really brings to the soul. It becomes easy for us to withdraw into that “inner cell” which has been formed through prayer, precisely at those times when noise gets in the way and we are most exposed to the danger of distraction. But even if our surroundings are not so noisy, we can gladly withdraw to this “inner cell” to be alone with the Lord. With the passing of time, it becomes natural to us. Of course, to get there, we will have to follow the impulses of grace and cultivate interior prayer. Thus, it becomes a good spiritual habit to withdraw to prayer, finding, through it, our home in the Lord. Read More

 

The prayer of the heart-or Jesus prayer-requires a certain preparation. In this regard, let us listen again to Metropolitan Serafim Joanta:

“The dispositions for the Jesus prayer are, as for any other prayer, the following: To be at peace with one’s neighbor, to be free from excessive worries, a certain disposition of the soul, a quiet place…. No one can pray a pure prayer – that is, a prayer that is not tainted by extraneous thoughts, by external impressions of the senses and memories – as long as he is not at peace with his neighbor. The lack of forgiveness and the presence of discord fill us with negative forces that cloud the heart. The same is true of excessive worry. Read More

Those who wish to enrich and intensify their prayer life will find a very valuable practice in the tradition of the Eastern Church: the so-called “prayer of the heart” or “Jesus prayer”.

In order to avoid misunderstandings, it is worth clarifying that this form of prayer is part of the rich treasure of the Universal Church, although it is practiced mainly by the faithful of Orthodoxy. It is by no means a foreign practice that comes from the forms of meditation of other Eastern religions; it is genuinely Christian. It is now being introduced more and more into the Roman Catholic Church as well. Indeed, the prayer of the heart can respond fruitfully to our longing for silence and recollection. Read More

Having reflected on the sufferings of prayer and on Eucharistic Adoration, let us now turn to the various forms of prayer. Although prayer is in itself a simple thing, it is not always easy for us to pray, and even less so to pray well. This too is an art, and in order to learn it, we need to study the various forms and methods of prayer that exist and, above all, to practice prayer fervently. One prayer that is quite widespread and beloved in our Catholic Church, especially in certain circles, is the Holy Rosary. In many of her authentic apparitions, the Virgin Mary tells us how important it is to her that we pray the Rosary. That is why it is worthwhile to meditate on this valuable prayer. Read More

Eucharistic adoration and inner healing

People in general – including we, the faithful – are often wounded within because we have not received enough love or have experienced an abuse of our love. As a result, serious deficiencies can arise in the soul, and the emotional sphere can suffer such a disturbance that it could become closed inwardly.

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Remaining in silence before the Blessed Sacrament, whether the Blessed Sacrament is exposed or simply present in the Tabernacle, has a great effect on the deepening of prayer. Therefore, in the context of these meditations on the theme of prayer, it is fitting that we dedicate two days specifically to Eucharistic Adoration. Read More

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…

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