Patrick
Br.
Wednesday
Community Chapter Talk 24 September 2014
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PRAYER
We
know from Scripture that Christ’s relationship with His Church and with the
faithful individual soul is a spousal one. When a young couple meet and are
drawn together they talk a great deal in the phase of getting to know each
other, but gradually as their relationship deepens, their communication becomes
less verbal until, when they are an elderly married couple, they are content to
be in each other’s company with precious few words spoken and yet their
relationship is much stronger into the deep.
Jesus
invited Simon Peter to put out into the deep. What can we understand and learn
from this invitation? I would suggest it is an invitation to put out into the
deep “of prayer”, not only for ourselves but for others, to contemplate the
face of Christ.
Water
has been used as the theme or symbol for taking a risk in our search for deeper
union with God, a letting go and letting God. We often talk of being in deep
water when we are in some kind of trouble, being swept away by powers greater
than our own, or of jumping in at the deep end, which can sometimes be an act
of faith when we speak of prayer without words or images and no apparent fruit.
This type of prayer is like facing the sun as it shines on us. It is sun that
tans our skin and whether we see it or not, we are changed.
Simon
Peter’s net reminds us of the enormous catch of fish that he cught after he had
faithfully cast out into the deep and the Gospel of Luke goes on to tell us how
God will give us good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over
and poured into the lap, when we give generously.
We
recall that Jesus also invited Peter to put out into the deep when He asked to
come to Him across the water of prayer. Christ also wants us to come to Him
across the water of prayer. Water and desert are both silent, vast and lonely
places. They are profound symbols for entering into the depths of prayer, which
can also be silent, empty and lonely for we are entering deep and unknown territory.
Water and desert are used throughout the Old and New Testaments to signify the
call to live and act in faith, to turn to God so that he might fill us with an
overflowing measure of love. With regard to water, we can think of Noah’s ark
setting forth upon the mighty waters of the flood, negotiating uncharted
waters, relying entirely on faith that God would eventually bring him to safety
as promised. Likewise, when we go into the darkness of contemplation, we too
must trust that God will guide us.
Ezekiel
speaks of the cedar tree which he tells us has grown tall, nourished by the
deep springs of water. We can understand this to mean that our lives are
enriched by the nourishment of prayer, that our faith can grow tall. The man
wading through the water up to his knees is also part of Ezekiel’s vision of
the river which makes the land fruitful.
In the
life of Jean Vanier by Kathryn Spink, she tells of Jean’s brother who became a Cistercian monk of Orval and had
the reputation of great holiness. She suggests that he was the powerhouse of
prayer behind Jean’s immensely fruitful apostolate, breaking completely new ground,
with mentally disabled and handicapped. Jean’s parents lives are in the process
of being examined with a view to possible canonisation. I don’t think Jean’s
apostolate would have been as successful without that backing.
It
was said recently that a comparison can be made between the mystics and antiaircraft
guns. The mystics have the range to contact the enemy planes which are out of
range of the others. What power must have gone out from that little Carmelite
convent of Lisieux. Talking about wars it was revealed to a seer that was the
prayers of Teresa of Avila that saved Spain from involvement in the last war. I’ll
finish with a quote from the recent letter of the Father General. It is
essential to recover the mystic dimension of the heart, or rather at the source
of our vocation. Mystical does not mean escape from reality but being aware of
the total reality and consequently placing the centre of our life and heart a
relationship, an experience of God.
