GETHSEMANI (MATTHEW)
"Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane,
and he said to his disciples,
'Sit here, while I go yonder and pray.'
And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee,
he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
Then he said to them,
'My soul is very sorrowful,
even to death;
remain here, and watch with me.'
And going a little farther
he fell on his face and prayed,
'My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me;
nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.'
And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping;
and he said to Peter,
"So, could you not watch with me one hour?
Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation;
the spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak.""
(Mt 26:36-41)
AGONY IN THE GARDEN (LUKE)
"And he came out, and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives;
and the disciples followed him.
And when he came to the place he said to them,
'Pray that you may not enter into temptation.'
And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw,
and knelt down and prayed,
'Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me;
nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.'
And when he rose from prayer,
he came to the disciples
and found them sleeping for sorrow,
and he said to them,
'Why do you sleep?
Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.'"
(Lk 22:39-45)
PRAYER IN THE GARDEN
"An intense prayer,
a sorrowful/painful prayer,
a hope-filled prayer."
(Msgr Javier Echevarria, Letter)
"Intense": involving an effort of
the will,
the mind,
the memory,
the imagination,
the external senses,
the passions ["Let your heart react!].
"Sorrowful" because it includes the burden of every man.
"Hope-filled" because prayer is powerful.
THE POWER OF PRAYER
"Prayer is God's weakness
and man's strength."
(Jaime Card. Sin)
"Sola est oratio que Deum vincit."
(Tertullian, De oratione, chap. 28-29)
POWER OF THE ROSARY
"Every group that gathers to recite the Rosary
is a gift for the Kingdom of God."
(John Paul II, Address to American Bishops, 10 June 1988)
OMNES QUAERUNT TE!
"And in the morning,
a great while before day,
he rose and went out to a lonely place,
and there he prayed.
And Simon and those who were with him pursued him,
and they found him and said to him,
'Every one is searching for you.'
(Mk 1:35-37)
APOSTOLATE NEEDS IT
"An apostle who does not pray regularly and methodically
will necessarily fall into lukewarmness ...
and he will then cease to be an apostle."
(St Josemaria, The Forge 121)
MENTAL PRAYER (I): THE LORD'S PRAYER
"Look at the Tabernacle,
then--unhurriedly--say the Our Father.
You will have enough material [for prayer].
You say: Our Father, who art in heaven ...
Think about it slowly,
insistently,
and you will see how God helps you."
(St Josemaria, advice to Felisa Alcolea)
MENTAL PRAYER (II): THE PSALMS--WORD BOTH OF GOD AND MAN
"The Psalter is the book in which the Word of God becomes man's prayer."
(Catechism of the Catholic Church 2587)
THE PSALMS
"Your prayer ought to be liturgical.
How I wish that you would take fondness at reciting the Psalms
and the prayers of the missal,
instead of private or particular prayers."
(St Josemaria, The Way, 86. --jmom translation)
"I will no longer annotate any Psalm,
because then I would have to annotate all of them.
In every one of them one can find nothing but wonders,
wonders that the soul perceives when God is served."
(Critical edition of The Way, p 295)
THE PSALMS
"In their prayed poetry, the Psalms display the whole range of human experiences,
which become prayer and song in the presence of God."
(Joseph Card. Ratzinger, Spirit of the Liturgy, p 139)
PSALMS: SAMPLE 1--LIFT UP YOUR HEARTS!
"Ad te, Domine, levavi animam meam"
"To thee, O LORD, I lift up my soul. "
(Ps 25:1)
PSALMS: SAMPLE 2--OPEN MY EYES
"Respice et exaudi me,
Domine Deus meus.
Illumina oculos meos"
(Ps 13:4)
"Ego ad te clamavi,
quoniam exaudis me, Deus;
inclina aurem tuam mihi et exaudi verba mea."
(Ps 17:6)
PSALMS: SAMPLE 3--SUPPLICATION
"Usquequo, Domine, oblivisceris me in finem?
Usquequo avertes faciem tuam a me?
Usquequo ponam consilia in anima mea,
dolorem in corde meo per diem?"
"How long, O LORD? Wilt thou forget me for ever?
How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul,
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?"
(Ps 13:2-3)
MENTAL PRAYER (III): THE GOSPELS
"After considering the Gospel I had previously annotated,
the Lord gave me such momentum
that I walked along the street praising and giving thanks
for these Holy Gospels."
(St Josemaria, Cuaderno V, no 679, 1932)
"Truly, I have lived the Gospel of the day."
(St Josemaria, Cuaderno IV, no 416)
[St Josemaria had an extensive document in his own handwriting entitled
Words of the New Testament Repeatedly Meditated On]
MENTAL PRAYER (IV): WHOM SHALL I TELL MY TROUBLES TO?
"You should not speak of the matter with no one else but God;
with men, the least possible....
Give yourself more to piety....
Dear Josemaria, put a lock right away
on your lips,
on your memory,
on your imagination,
on your thoughts,
and on your heart,
and make a very firm resolution of opening them
only when you speak with your friend,
with your only true friend,
with Jesus,
and follow His advice in everything."
(Letter of Gregorio Fernandez Anguisno to St Josemaria,
former spiritual director of the latter in Logrono)
CONSTANT PRAYER
"Those words that struck you when you were praying:
engrave them in your memory
and recite them slowly
many times during the day."
(St Josemaria, The Way 103)
FROM THIRD PERSON TO SECOND PERSON (SAMPLE)
(Second Station)"Offering no resistance, [You give yourself] up to the execution of the sentence.
[You are] to be spared nothing,
and upon [Your] shoulders falls the weight of the ignominious cross....
The people of Jerusalem ... push their way
to catch a passing glimpse of [You, my Lord]...
How lovingly [You embrace] the wood which is to bring [You] to death!"
ASK, SEEK, KNOCK
"Ask, and it will be given you;
seek, and you will find;
knock, and it will be opened to you.
For every one who asks receives,
and he who seeks finds,
and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Or what man of you,
if his son asks him for bread,
will give him a stone?
Or if he asks for a fish,
will give him a serpent?
If you then, who are evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father who is in heaven
give good things to those who ask him! "
(Mt 7:7-11)
ASK IN MY NAME
"Truly, truly, I say to you,
if you ask anything of the Father,
he will give it to you in my name.
Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name;
ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. "
(Jn 16:23-24)
SITTING AT THE LORD'S FEET
"And she had a sister called Mary,
who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.
But Martha was distracted with much serving;
and she went to him and said,
'Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me to serve alone?
Tell her then to help me.'
But the Lord answered her,
'Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things;
one thing is needful.
Mary has chosen the good portion,
which shall not be taken away from her.'"
(Lk 10:39-42)
BEATI OCULI, QUI VIDENT, QUAE VIDETIS!
"In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said,
'I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding
and revealed them to babes;
yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will.' ...
Then turning to the disciples he said privately,
'Blessed are the eyes which see what you see!
For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see,
and did not see it,
and to hear what you hear,
and did not hear it.'"
(Lk 10:21,23-24)
MARY, THE CONTEMPLATIVE
"Mary, besides being the discrete and understanding Mother who stays by us,
is the best Teacher who can lead us to the knowledge of the truth through contemplation.
The drama of present-day culture
is the lack of interiority,
the absence of contemplation.
Without interiority,
culture lacks a heart,
like a body that has not yet found its soul.
What is humanity capable of without interiority?
Unfortunately, we know the answer.
When the contemplative spirit is lacking,
life is not defended
and everything human degenerates.
Without interiority, modern man puts his very integrity at risk.
My dear young people, I invite you to form part of the “School of the Virgin Mary”.
She is the unmatched model of contemplation
and an admirable example of fruitful, joyful and enriching interiority.
She will teach you never to separate action from contemplation."
(John Paul II, Homily, To the Youth, 3 May, 2003, Madrid, Spain)
TEACHER OF PRAYER
"Lovely Lady, dressed in blue
teach me how to pray:
God was just your little Boy,
and you know the way."