Prayer by Br. Patrick

Chapter Sermon

Patrick Br.

Wednesday Community Chapter Talk 24 September 2014

+++++++++

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.