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| Nunraw foreground, Danskin Reservoir, Lammermuir Hills |
12th Week in Ordinary Time
TUESDAY June 21 – the longest day and shortest night.
First Reading 1 Samuel 1:1-19
Responsory Mt 7:7-8; Mk 11:24
Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.+ For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find, and to those who knock the door will be opened.
V. Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. + For everyone ...
Merton’s writing talent, “growing drama built by choice of words and imagery. I thought those pages to be the most insightful and beautiful rhetoric I had ever read.”
During my first year at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary I was encouraged to keep a journal to develop better skills in writing. I was delighted to learn that Thomas Merton kept a journal. When I heard that some of his monastic experiences had been published in a book, I was anxious to read The Sign of Jonas. Once I laid hands on a paperback copy I would have loved to have devoured the whole book. But to keep focused on my studies, I disciplined myself like it were chocolates. Only after I had done my homework, would I allow myself to read The Sign of Jonas for a half hour. To this day I remember distinctly the evening I came to "The Fire Watch." I remember leaning on the doorjamb between the bathroom and the bedroom overwhelmed by the growing drama built by choice of words and imagery. I thought those pages to be the most insightful and beautiful rhetoric I had ever read.
A Monastic Vision, Cistercian Publications, 2006, D. P. Coughlin p. 188
A Scripture can similarly carry impact as happened with the Night Office First Reading, 1 Samuel 1:1-19. The Bible drama of the prayer of Hannah, the choice of words and imagery is unsurpassable.
In his Commentary St. John Chrysostom (golden tongued) leads us direct back to the Prayer of Hannah.Second Reading
Hannah. Wife of Elkanah of Samuel. and mother of Samuel. She was one of two wives and prob. had not borne a child. She vowed that if she did she would dedicate him to God. This she does. Her song of triumph, natural enough under the circumstances, is echoed in Mary's Magnificat (1 Sam. 2, 1-10—Song of Hannah; Luke 1, 46-55). (Collins Gem Bible).
From a sermon by Saint John Chrysostom (c. 347-407)
As Anna continued praying in the presence of the Lord, says scripture, Eli watched her mouth. The writer bears witness here to two virtues in the woman: her perseverance in prayer and her attentiveness. He refers to the first by saying, She continued, and to the second by adding, in the presence of the Lord; for we all pray, but not all of us pray in the presence of the Lord. Though our bodies may be in an attitude of prayer and our mouths babbling some pious formula, can we really claim to be praying in the presence of God when our minds are wandering hither and thither in home and market-place? Those people pray in the presence of the Lord who pray with complete recollection; who, having no worldly attachments, have removed from earth to heaven and banished all human preoccupations, just as this woman did then. Recollecting herself completely and concentrating her mind, she called upon God in her deep distress.
But why does scripture say she continued praying when actually her prayer was very short? She made no long speeches, she did not spin out her plea to great length, but spoke few and simple words. What then could the writer have meant by saying, She continued? Surely he meant that she said the same thing over and over again: she spent a long time ceaselessly repeating the same words. That indeed is how Christ also commanded us to pray in the gospels. When he told his disciples not to pray like the Gentiles and not to use empty repetitions, he also taught them the right way to pray, showing them that it is not a multiplicity of words but mental alertness that wins us a hearing.
Why then, you may ask, if prayer should be brief, did Christ tell them a parable to show that it should be continuous? There was a widow, he said, who by her persistent requests, by her going to him again and again, overcame a cruel and inhuman judge who neither feared God nor regarded other people. And why does Paul also urge us to keep praying, to pray without ceasing? It is a contradiction to tell us not to make long speeches, and yet to pray continually. No; there is no contradiction — God forbid! The two commands are in complete agreement. Christ and Paul commanded us to make our prayers short, and to say them frequently, at brief intervals. For if you spin out your words to any length you are often inattentive, and so give the devil freedom to approach and trip you up and divert your mind from what you are saying. But if you pray continuously and frequently, repeating your prayer at brief intervals, you can easily remain recollected and fully alert as you pray. That indeed is just what this woman did, not making long speeches but drawing near to God frequently. at brief intervals. That is true prayer, when its cries come from the depths of one's being.
Responsory Ps 88:2,9; 5:2
Let my prayer come into your presence; incline your ear to my cry.
+ I call to you, Lord, all the day long; to you I stretch out my hands.
V. Hearken to the sound of my cries, my king and my God. + I call ...
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