Liturgy October 13
(The Crosier) makes a daily meditation and practices other forms of personal prayer (Profile of the Congolese Crosier).
The tradition of prayer speaks of various kinds of personal prayer. There is vocal prayer, in which a person uses words to speak with God. There is meditation, in which a person exercises the mind to better understand the divine mysteries. Finally, there is contemplation, a prayer without words or thoughts, a simple experience of resting in God. (A special form of contemplation is mysticism, which an experience of “absorption” into God.) It is said that Christian prayer normally arrives at simple contemplation. If someone disciplines his or her life-style at every level of body and heart, the person prepares in some indirect way for contemplation. To pray well, the Christian regularly chooses a time, place and posture to create a space of solitude for God. The person must pay attention, having patience to wait for the approach of God. Listening can happen with the help of repetitive prayer, attentive reading of the Scriptures, etc. But the goal is to encounter God and once a person senses of the presence of God, the person lets go of every other activity to simply rest in God, heart to heart. It is a moment of mutual availability, the celebration of love. It is the grace of “the one thing necessary.”
Even if the river is deep, when you throw a rock into it, it goes to the bottom. (Toma)
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