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PRAYER TIMES, PRAYER METHODS, HOW TO BE ATTENTIVE TO GOD
The main activities of
the Spiritual Exercises are the meditations and contemplations.
Each one lasts for a period of about one hour. The topics for
these prayer times are suggested to the retreatant according to
stages explained by Saint Ignatius. It is possible that God's
lights and movements come to the retreatant at other moments of
the day, not during the meditation or contemplation. Yet the
importance of these prayer times should never be underestimated.
Furthermore, we want to form our young people to seek and
encounter God everywhere, at all times. But we have to form them
to seek God during the meditations and contemplations. We have to
form them to be attentive to God for a long period of time, like
an hour.
We have to remember
that in our familiarity with God, in our communication with Him,
our task is to be attentive to Him, while the Spirit's task is to
unite us with God. How can we maintain our attention to God's
lights and movements, to God's presence during a long period of
time? The hours of prayer are moments of complete surrender to
God, and demand a courageous ascetical effort. By "ascetical" we
mean that we dispose ourselves to be open to His Word. Thanks to
this "ascetical" effort during the long moments of prayer we will
more easily maintain the same attitude of openness to Him during
the whole day, and God can come and talk to us at any time, in the
dining room, on our walks, while taking a nap or writing our
diary.
Saint Ignatius gives
us the Preambles such as making an explicit act of
consecration to God of this time of prayer, taking time to quieten
down, to relax our bodies and bring our hearts into the presence
of God. While we guide our young people through this process of
relaxation, putting ourselves in the presence of God, we should
convey to them, under the guidance of the Spirit, a loving image
of God as our Father and friend, God who has great plans for each
one of us, God who is present in our hearts through the Spirit who
informs us, transforming us into God's children. During the
preambles of the meditations, sitting among them, we have a good
opportunity to help them renew their faith and some elements of
spiritual theology in a practical and direct way, as a colloquy.
The composition of
place. It is important that we build a link between the Gospel
scenes and our present lives, applying the persons Jesus addressed
in His time to each one of us, as we are today, present to Him
also. By the composition of place we help our young people realize
that they are the blind person, the leper or one of the disciples
today, in a spiritual way. We should not present the Composition
of Place in a theoretical, learned and wordy way but in a simple,
living, real way. Maybe they do not realize that they are doing
the Composition of place proposed by Saint Ignatius, but in fact
we have helped them read and meditate the Gospel as the Word of
God who is speaking to them today, who is knocking at the door of
their hearts to bring light and strength to them. This is the
purpose of the Composition of Place.
What we want.
The prayer at the beginning of the meditation has to be present,
somehow, as a colloquy, as a goal we wish to reach, a grace we
wish to receive.
The Topic is
usually a Gospel passage. It has to be presented in a short way,
yet sufficiently clear to help them understand what the passage is
about, and how it applies to them. There are some steps they
should follow if we want them to "be attentive" to God and not be
hopelessly distracted during this long hour. They should have the
book and read the passage several times... trying to understand
what the Gospel says, what it means... applying it to their
hearts, in love, in faith and hope... as they remember who they
are, how they live in the depth of love and faith... Coming more
simply into the presence of God who lives in them and is looking
at them in love... There are different ways to initiate them into
the world of Biblical prayer and, in the way of Ignatius, the main
elements of meditation or contemplation. We can send them to pray
by themselves, wherever they pray best, or we might keep them
together around the altar, or divide them into small families.
They can write simple colloquies. They can pray aloud.
When do we leave them
alone in silence? When do we let them pray by themselves, without
the help of the group or family? It depends on their experience of
mental prayer. It may be their first retreat ever, the first
meditation in the weekend, or their second or third... it could be
the fourth or fifth meditation in a very good group... The
director has to show flexibility and good judgment. But there
should ALWAYS be a time of silence, when we leave them along with
their God. They will certainly feel, very often, empty and unable
to pray. They will often become distracted. It is normal. That is
why we insist on presenting them with a method of keeping our
attention on God, and their following it. If this is done, the
dryness and distractions are also God's grace. It is, then, an
important experience which helps us realize our nothingness and
the impossibility of reaching God by ourselves. In these dry
moments of prayer we are purified internally. We learn to base our
relationship with God on faith, and meanwhile our desires for Him
grow stronger. This is the best preparation for receiving the
visit and the gifts of the Spirit.
We have always to
insist that they implement the means, reading the Word many times,
looking at the crucifix, a holy picture, remembering their life
experiences. They should not expect God to communicate with them
unless they know how to attain inner silence, controlling the
senses, letting the body relax and cooperate in loving faith with
the heart which longs for God.
The colloquy -
The prayer time ends with a colloquy, which is nothing other than
a time to thank God for the lights and movements experienced, or
in the case of dry prayer, for the graces received, for His love
and presence. Offering ourselves, together with our efforts, to
Him, happy to be in His presence, trusting that our sincere
efforts are pleasing to Him.
The review of
prayer. We always have to do this. We should explain the
purpose and how to do it. We can do it as a group or let them do
it by themselves. When the review is done as a group we invite
some of them to share the experience of prayer during the last
hour. On the basis of their sharing we can remind them that the
real outcome of prayer is not the many ideas we have had, but the
gradual transformation of the heart by God's Spirit.
Besides reviewing what
we have done, what word from Scripture has touched us and how, the
lights and movements experienced, as well as the absence of these
visible graces, we have to insist on reviewing how my heart has
changed during this hour? Then we will find out that even some
prayers in "dryness" have had a deep impact in our hearts. We will
discover God's hand touching us. We should help them look at their
patience, humility, deep desire to know and please God. We might
find also temptations, lack of peace, nervousness... This is a
good time to remind them of some rules for discernment of spirits.
Remind them always that we are not seeking God's joy and
consolation but that we wish to come into contact with His very
essence and be in His presence.
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