prayer Archives

What is “Eternal Life”? How does this understanding affect our prayer? Reflections by Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts

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What is “Eternal Life” and why is it so important for us to understand and live it’s meaning?

Msgr. Esseff breaks open the “magnificent” Chapter 17 of John’s Gospel. He helps us to understand the “eternal” prayer of the heart of Jesus. How does this affect our prayer, especially in our appreciation of “contemplative”

prayer and contemplation? How does this affect our understanding of “time”? Msgr. Esseff discusses Purgatory in a way that takes this into account. What is death in this world? What is true life in this world?

Be sure to visit Msgr. Esseff’s website : “Building a Kingdom of Love”

Pope Benedict on Prayer 24 – Silence is Indispensable for Prayer

Vatican City, 7 March 2012 (VIS) – During his general audience this morning Benedict XVI concluded a series of catecheses dedicated to the prayer of Jesus. Today he turned his attention to the theme of alternating words and silence which characterised Christ’s earthly life, above all on the Cross, and which is also significant in two aspects of our own lives.

Addressing the 10,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope explained that the first of these aspects “concerns accepting the Word of God. Interior and exterior silence are necessary in order to hear that Word”, he said. Yet, “our age does not, in fact, favour reflection and contemplation; quite the contrary it seems that people are afraid to detach themselves, even for an instant, from the spate of words and images which mark and fill our days”.However, “the Gospels often show us … Jesus withdrawing alone to a place far from the crowds, even from His own disciples, where He can pray in silence”. Moreover, “the great patristic tradition teaches us that the mysteries of Christ are linked to silence, and only in silence can the Word find a place to dwell within us”.

“This principle”, the Holy Father went on, “holds true for individual prayer, but also for our liturgies which, to facilitate authentic listening, must also be rich in moments of silence and of non verbal acceptance. … Silence has the capacity to open a space in our inner being, a space in which God can dwell, which can ensure that His Word remains within us, and that love for Him is rooted in our minds and hearts, and animates our lives”.

The Pope then turned to focus on the second important aspect of the relationship between silence and prayer. “In our prayers”, he said, “we often find ourselves facing the silence of God. We almost experience a sense of abandonment; it seems that God does not listen and does not respond. But this silence, as happened to Jesus, does not signify absence. Christians know that the Lord is present and listens, even in moments of darkness and pain, of rejection and solitude. Jesus assures His disciples and each one of us that God is well aware of our needs at every moment of our lives”.

“For us, who are so frequently concerned with operational effectiveness and with the results … we achieve, the prayer of Jesus is a reminder that we need to stop, to experience moments of intimacy with God, ‘detaching ourselves’ from the turmoil of daily life in order to listen, to return to the ‘root’ which nourishes and sustains our existence. One of the most beautiful moments of Jesus’ prayer is when, faced with the sickness, discomfort and limitations of his interlocutors, He addresses His Father in prayer, thus showing those around him where they must go to seek the source of hope and salvation”.

Christ touches the most profound point of His prayer to the Father at the moment of His passion and death, Pope Benedict said. And citing the Catechism of the Catholic Church he concluded by noting that “His cry to the Father from the cross encapsulated ‘all the troubles, for all time, of humanity enslaved by sin and death, all the petitions and intercessions of salvation history are summed up in this cry of the incarnate Word. Here the Father accepts them and, beyond all hope, answers them by raising His Son. Thus is fulfilled and brought to completion the drama of prayer in the economy of creation and salvation'”.

IP#139 Paula Huston – Simplifying Your Soul on Inside the Pages

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Here is the book for Lent (and any other time of the year for that matter), “Simplifying Your Soul: Lenten Practices to Renew Your Spirit” is “simply” wonderful! Paula Huston has such a gentle way of helping us to penetrate into what our hearts so we can draw closer to what we truly long for…a deeper relationship with God…the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. A Benedictine oblate, Paula, draws from the best of the monastic traditions and helps us to apply those practices in our modern day circumstances. I have to believe that Sts. Benedict and Scholastic would be overjoyed how this 21-century daughter of the church has responded to their initial teachings offered so a long ago. NOT TO BE MISSED…HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

You can find it here

From the book description:

Our temptation in this era of self-fulfillment is to dismiss humility as a relic of the unsophisticated past. Yet for centuries, Christians have considered it a key component of a healthy spiritual life, and the journey toward humility to be one and the same as the journey toward Christlikeness.

The beauty of the Lenten season is that it encourages the development of a humble heart. Structured as an individual Lenten retreat, Simplifying the Soul presents daily readings from Jesus and the desert fathers and mothers, along with a meditation focused on a specific activity that can be carried out that day. Many of these activities come straight out of Catholic tradition, but others are adaptations of old wisdom woven into contemporary life (cleaning out a junk drawer, walking instead of driving, etc.) All are designed to lead to conversion of heart and a transformed life.

“Teach Us How To Pray” – A series on prayer with Msgr. John Esseff Episode 3 – Morning Prayer – Discerning Hearts

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Msgr. Esseff teaches the importance of the Liturgy of Hours. He breaks open each portion of Morning Prayer. The Hymn, the psalm, the canticle, again the psalm … we sing praise to God with this section of Morning Prayer. Then God speaks to us in the reading. Then we respond to

with the a short psalm. Then he helps us to appreciate the power of the Benedictus. That is followed by the intentions of the Church. Concluding with the great Our Father. We then bless the Lord and give Him thanks. Jesus unites the world in our prayer of praise to the Father when we enter into the Divine Office.

Be sure to visit Msgr. Esseff’s website “B uilding A Kingdom of Love”

Pray the Liturgy of Hours

Morning PrayerMid-morningPrayerMid-dayPrayerAfternoon PrayerEvening PrayerNight PrayerOffice of Readings

Pope Benedict on Prayer 23 – We never fall from God’s embrace

Vatican City, 15 February 2012 Vatican Radio-

In his catechesis in Italian, to a packed Paul VI audience hall, the Holy Father said “In our school of prayer last week I spoke about Christ’s prayer on the Cross, taken from Psalm 22 “My God, my God why have you forsaken me”. Now I would like to continue to meditate on the prayers of Jesus on the cross in the imminence of death and today I would like to focus on the narrative that we encounter in the Gospel of St. Luke. The Evangelist has handed down three words of Jesus on the cross, two of which – the first and third – are explicitly prayers to the Father. The second one consists of the promise made to the so-called good thief crucified with him, answering, in fact, the thief’s prayer, Jesus reassures him: “Truly I tell you today will be with me in Paradise” (Lk 23 , 43). The two prayers of the dying Jesus and the acceptance of the repentant sinner’s supplication to Him are suggestively entwined in Luke’s account. Jesus both prays to the Father and hears the prayer of this man who is often called latro poenitens, “the repentant thief.”

Let us dwell on these three prayers of Jesus. The first pronounced immediately after being nailed to the cross, while the soldiers are dividing his garments as sad reward of their service. In a way this gesture closes the process of crucifixion. St. Luke writes: “When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left. [Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”] They divided his garments by casting lots “(23.33 to 34). The first prayer that Jesus addresses to the Father is one of intercession: He asks forgiveness for his executioners. With this, Jesus in person carries out what he had taught in the Sermon on the Mount when he said: ” But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you ” (Lk 6:27) and also promised to those who can forgive, “then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High ” (v. 35). Now, from the cross, He not only forgives his executioners, but speaks directly to the Father interceding on their behalf.

This is attitude of Jesus’ finds a moving ‘imitation’ in the story of the stoning of St. Stephen, the first martyr. Stephen, in fact, coming to an end, “knelt down and cried with a loud voice:” Lord, do not hold this sin against them”. That said, he died “(Acts 7.60). It was his last word. The comparison of the prayer for forgiveness of Jesus and that of the martyr is significant. Stephen turns to the Risen Lord and calls for his murder – a gesture clearly defined by the expression “this sin” – is not imputed against those who stone him. Jesus addresses the Father on the cross and not only asks for forgiveness for his executioners, but also offers a reading of what is happening. In his words, in fact, the men who crucify him “know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). He gives that ignorance, “not knowing” as the reason for the request for forgiveness from the Father, for this ignorance leaves the way open to conversion, as is the case in the words that the centurion spoke at Jesus’ death: ” This man was innocent beyond doubt”(v. 47), he was the Son of God”. It is a consolation for all times and for all men that the Lord, both for those who really did not know – the killers – and those who knew and condemned him, gives ignorance as the reason for asking for forgiveness – he sees it as a door that can open us up to repentance “(Jesus of Nazareth, II, 233).

The second prayer of Jesus on the cross as told by St. Luke is a word of hope, is His answer to the prayer of one of the two men crucified with Him. The good thief before Jesus returned to himself and repents, he feels himself to be before the Son of God, who reveals the Face of God, and prays: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (v. 42). The Lord’s answer to this prayer goes far beyond the supplication, he says: ” Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (v. 43). Jesus is aware of entering directly into communion with the Father and of reopening the path for the man to God’s paradise. So through this response gives the firm hope that the goodness of God can touch us even at the last moment of life and that sincere prayer, even after a life of wrong, meets the open arms of the good Father who awaits the return of his son.

“no matter how hard the trial, difficult the problem, heavy the suffering, we never fall from the hands of God”

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“Teach Us How To Pray” – A series on prayer with Msgr. John Esseff Episode 2 – The Psalms and Prayer – Discerning Hearts

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Msgr. Esseff offers his second lesson in “Teach Us How To Pray”.

He speaks of the importance of Morning and Evening prayers in our lives. The Holy Spirit inspires us to pray and the Church teaches prayer through the Liturgy of the Hours.

Msgr. Esseff goes on to teach on the Psalms. Those who pray the psalms offer powerful praise to the Father. Who actually praises? In the deepest level of our heart, it’s actually Jesus who praises the Father in us when we pray the Psalms and the Father loves us in return. What is essential is that we listen to what God says to us in prayer…Listen.

Pray the Liturgy of Hours

Morning PrayerMid-morningPrayerMid-dayPrayerAfternoon PrayerEvening PrayerNight PrayerOffice of ReadingsBe sure to visit Msgr. Esseff’s website: Building a Kingdom of Love

“Teach Us How To Pray” – A series on prayer with Msgr. John Esseff Episode 1 – Discerning Hearts

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Prayer is assumed as something we know how to do, but do we? The Church has been constantly teaching her children throughout the ages. The Mass, of course, is our central act of prayer. But to truly deepen our prayer, even our worship in the Mass, we must appreciate who God is. God is a Trinity, He revealed Himself to us. He is Three Persons in One God. We experience and express their relationship when we pray “Glory be to the Father, Glory be to the Son,

Glory be the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be world without end”. When we pray “Glory be to the Father”, He really hears us…He is present, He is truly with you. What does that mean when we pray? It is a relationship. The same is true in relation to the Son and the Holy Spirit. Msgr. Esseff, in this first lesson on prayer, breaks this open in a very deep and important way…the importance of Trinity and presence. Msgr. Esseff also begins an introduction to the importance of the Liturgy of the Hours and the Psalms.

Be sure to visit Msgr. Esseff’s website: “Building A Kingdom of Love”

Pope Benedict on Prayer 22 – The cry of Jesus from the Cross

Vatican City, 8 February 2012 (VIS) – The prayer of Jesus at the moment of His death, as narrated by St. Mark and St. Matthew was the theme of Benedict XVI’s catechesis during his general audience, held this morning in the Paul VI Hall.

“In the structure of the narrative”, the Pope said, “Jesus’ cry rises at the end of three hours of darkness, which had descended upon the earth from midday to three o’clock in the afternoon. Those three hours of darkness were, in their turn, the continuation of an earlier period which also lasted three hours and began with the crucifixion. … In biblical tradition darkness has an ambivalent meaning: it is a sign of the presence and action of evil, but also of the mysterious presence and action of God Who is capable of vanquishing all darkness. … In the scene of Jesus’ crucifixion darkness envelops the earth, the darkness of death in which the Son of God immerses Himself, in order bring life with His act of love”.”Insulted by various categories of people, surrounded by a darkness covering everything, at the very moment in which He is facing death Jesus’ cry shows that, along with His burden of suffering and death apparently accompanied by abandonment and the absence of God, He is entirely certain of the closeness of the Father, Who approves this supreme act of love and of total giving of Self, although we do not hear His voice from on high as we did in earlier moments”.

Yet, the Holy Father asked, “what is the meaning of Jesus’ prayer? The cry addressed to the Father: ‘my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'” He explained that “the words Jesus addresses to the Father are the beginning of Psalm 22, in which the Psalmist expresses the tension between, on the one hand, being left alone and, on the other, the certain knowledge of God’s presence amongst His people. … The Psalmist speaks of a ‘cry’ to express all the suffering of his prayer before the apparently absent God. At moments of anguish prayer becomes a cry.

“This also happens in our own relationship with the Lord”, the Pope added. “In the face of difficult and painful situations, when it seems that God does not hear, we must not be afraid to entrust Him with the burden we are carrying in our hearts, we must not be afraid to cry out to Him in our suffering”.

“Jesus prays at the moment of ultimate rejection by man, at the moment of abandonment. However, He is aware that God the Father is present even at the instant in which He is experiencing the human drama of death. Yet nonetheless, a question arises in our hearts: how is it possible that such a powerful God does not intervene to save His Son from this terrible trial?”

The Holy Father explained that “it is important to understand that the prayer of Jesus is not the cry of a person who meets death with desperation, nor that of a person who knows he has been abandoned. At that moment Jesus appropriates Psalm 22, the Psalm of the suffering people of Israel, at that moment He takes upon Himself not only the suffering of His people, but also that of all men and women oppressed by evil. … And He takes all this to the heart of God in the certainty that His cry will be heard in the resurrection. … His is a suffering in communion with us and for us, it derives from love and carries within itself redemption and the victory of love.

“The people at the foot of Jesus’ cross were unable to understand, they thought His cry was a supplication to Elijah. … We likewise find ourselves, ever and anew, facing the ‘today’ of suffering, the silence of God – many times we say as much in our prayers – but we also find ourselves facing the ‘today’ of the Resurrection, of the response of God Who took our sufferings upon Himself, to carry them with us and give us the certain hope that they will be overcome”.

“In our prayers”, the Holy Father concluded, “let us bring God our daily crosses, in the certainty that He is present and listens to us. The cry of Jesus reminds us that in prayer we must cross the barrier of ‘self’ and our own problems, and open ourselves to the needs and sufferings of others. May the prayer of the dying Jesus on the cross teach us to pray with love for so many brothers and sisters who feel the burden of daily life, who are experiencing moments of difficulty, who suffer and hear no words of comfort, that they may feel the love of God Who never abandons us.

Pope Benedict on Prayer 21 – We Must Learn To Have Greater Trust In Divine Providence

VATICAN CITY, 1 FEB 2012 (VIS) – This morning in the Paul VI Hall the Holy Father received thousands of pilgrims from around the world in his weekly general audience. As part of a series of catecheses dedicated to the prayers pronounced by Christ, he focused his remarks on Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Mark the Evangelist narrates how, following the Last Supper, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives and readied Himself for personal prayer. “But this time”, the Pope said, “something new occurred; it seemed that He did not want to remain alone. Many times in the past Jesus had moved away from the crowds, even from His own disciples. … However, in Gethsemane he invited Peter, James and John to stay close by; the same disciples who had accompanied Him during the Transfiguration.

“The proximity of these three during the prayer at Gethsemane is significant”, Benedict XVI added. It represents “a request for solidarity at the moment in which He felt the approach of death. Above all it was a closeness in prayer, an expression of unity with Him at the moment in which He was preparing to accomplish the Father’s will to the end, an invitation to all disciples to follow Him on the path of the Cross”.

Jesus’ words to the three disciples – “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here and keep awake” – show that He was feeling “fear and anguish at that ‘Hour’, experiencing the ultimate profound solitude as God’s plan was being accomplished. Jesus fear and anguish comprehend all the horror that man feels at the prospect of his own death, its inexorable certainty and the perception of the burden of evil which affects our lives”.

Having invited His disciples to keep awake, Jesus moved away from them. Referring to the Gospel of St. Mark, the Pope noted that Jesus “threw Himself to the ground: a position for prayer which expresses obedience to the Father’s will, an abandonment of self with complete trust in Him”. Jesus then asks the Father that, if possible, the hour might pass from Him. “This is not just the fear and anguish of man in the face of death”, the Holy Father explained, “but the distress of the Son of God Who sees the terrible accumulation of evil He must take upon Himself, in order to overcome it and deprive it of power”.

In this context, Benedict XVI invited the faithful to pray to God, placing before Him “our fatigue, the suffering of certain situations and of certain days, our daily struggle to follow Him and to be Christians, and the burden of evil we see within and around us, that He may give us hope, make us aware of His closeness and give us a little light on life’s journey”.

Returning then to Jesus’ prayer, the Pope focused on “three revealing passages” in Christ’s words: “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want but what you want”. Firstly, Benedict XVI said, the Aramaic word “Abba” is used by children to address their fathers, “therefore it express Jesus relationship with God the Father, a relationship of tenderness, affection and trust”. Secondly, Jesus’ words contain an acknowledgment of the Father’s omnipotence “introducing a request in which, once again, we see the drama of Jesus’ human will in the face of death and evil. … Yet the third expression … is the decisive one, in which the human will adheres fully to the divine will. … Jesus tells us that only by conforming their will to the divine will can human beings achieve their true stature and become ‘divine’. … This is what Jesus does in Gethsemane. By transferring human will to the divine will the true man is born and we are redeemed”.

When we pray the Our Father “we ask the Lord that ‘your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’. In other words, we recognise that God has a will for us and with us, that God has a will for our lives and, each day, this must increasingly become the reference point for our desires and our existence. We also recognise that … ‘earth’ becomes ‘heaven’ – the place where love, goodness, truth and divine beauty are present – only if the will of God is done”.

In our prayers “we must learn to have greater trust in Divine Providence, to ask God for the strength to abandon our own selves in order to renew our ‘yes’, to repeat to Him ‘your will be done’, to conform our will to His. This is a prayer we must repeat every day, because it is not always easy to entrust oneself to the will of God”.

The Gospel says that the disciples were unable to remain awake for Christ, and Pope Benedict concluded his catechesis by saying: “Let us ask the Lord for the power to keep awake for Him in prayer, to follow the will of God every day even if He speaks of the Cross, to live in ever increasing intimacy with the Lord and bring a little of God’s ‘heaven’ to this ‘earth'”.

Following the catechesis the Holy Father delivered greetings in a number of languages to the pilgrims filling the Paul VI Hall. They included a group of British military chaplains, faithful from Hong Kong and South America, bishops friends of the Sant’Egidio Community from Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as young people and the sick.
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Pope Benedict on Prayer 20 – Christian Unity Requires Individual Conversion: The priestly prayer of Jesus

VATICAN CITY, 25 JAN 2012 (VIS) –

Benedict XVI dedicated his catechesis during this morning’s general audience to Christ’s priestly prayer during the Last Supper, as narrated in chapter 17 of the Gospel of St. John. In order to understand this prayer “in all its immense richness”, said the Pope, it is important to see it in the context of the Jewish feast of atonement, Yom Kippur, in which the high priest seeks atonement first for himself, then for the order of priests and finally for the community as a whole. Likewise, “that night Jesus addressed the Father at the moment in which He offered Himself. He, priest and victim, prayed for Himself, for the Apostles and for all those who would believe in Him”.

The prayer which Jesus prays for Himself is the request for His own glorification. “It is in fact more than a request”, the Holy Father said, “it is a declaration of willingness to enter freely and generously into the Father’s plan, which is accomplished through death and resurrection. …

Jesus begins His priestly prayer by saying: ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify you’. The glorification Jesus seeks for Himself, as High Priest, is to be fully obedient to the Father, an obedience which leads Him to fulfil His filial status: ‘So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed'”.

The second part of Jesus’ prayer is His intercession for the disciples who have followed Him, and His request that they may be sanctified. Jesus says: ‘They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth’. Benedict XVI explained how “To sanctify means to transfer something – a person or an object – to God. This involves two complementary aspects: on the one hand, the idea of ‘segregation’ … from man’s personal life in order to be completely given over to God; on the other hand there is the idea of ‘being sent out’, of mission. Having been given to God, the consecrated thing or person exists for others. … A person is sanctified when, like Jesus, he is segregated from the world, set aside for God in view of a task and, for this reason, available for everyone. For disciples this means continuing Jesus’ mission”.

In the third phase of the priestly prayer, “Jesus asks the Father to intervene in favour of all those who will be brought to the faith by the mission inaugurated by the Apostles. … ‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word’. … Jesus prays for the Church in all times, He also prays for us. … The main element in Jesus’ priestly prayer for His disciples is His request for the future unity of those who will believe in Him. This unity is not a worldly achievement. It derives exclusively from divine unity and comes down to us from the Father, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit”.

By this priestly prayer Jesus establishes the Church, “which is nothing other than the community of disciples who, through their faith in Christ as the One sent by the Father, receive His unity and are involved in Jesus’ mission to save the world by leading it to a knowledge of God”.

Benedict XVI invited the faithful to read and meditate upon Jesus priestly prayer, and to pray to God themselves, asking Him “to help us enter fully into the plan He has for each of us. Let us ask Him to consecrate us to Himself, that we may belong to Him and show increasing love for others, both near and far. Let us ask Him to help us open our prayers to the world, not limiting them to requests for help in our own problems, but remembering our fellow man before the Lord and learning the beauty of interceding for others. Let us ask Him for the gift of visible unity among all those who believe in Christ, … that we may be ready to respond to anyone who asks us about the reasons for our hope”.

At the end of his audience, Benedict XVI delivered greetings in various languages to the pilgrims and faithful gathered in the Paul VI Hall, reminding them that today’s Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul marks the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Addressing Polish faithful he said: “The conversion of the Apostle of the Gentiles near Damascus is proof that, in the final analysis, it is God Himself Who decides the destiny of His Church. Let us ask Him for the grace of unity, which also requires our individual conversion, while remaining faithful to the truth and love of God”.
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