"Sacred Heart of Jesus, I Adore You. Sacred Heart of Mary, Pray for Us."
I started praying this prayer back around Pascha. Hard to describe how it came about. Read about the sacred heart devotion, and it's stuck with me, really penetrated my soul. So I've been praying this every day. Interestingly, in the last 3 1/2 months, I've only had one migraine I couldn't blame on my own over exertion or over exercise.
"Nothing is more necessary than adoration." Got this from a Merton quote, he was quoting something called "rules for recluses." This line, like that Sacred Heart prayer I've been praying, just keeps coming back to me. It really is true. Contemplation is not the goal of contemplation. Centering prayer, mindfulness, meditation, all these things exist to bring us to an awareness of the Presence of Christ, with us right now in the present moment. And when we truly sense that in our hearts, we should be overcome with adoration. Even adoration isn't the end. That should bring us to praying "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done." And so we return from the mountain or desert to the world to do Christ's will: love profously. That is the real goal of the Christian life. However we are human, so we can only love so much before our hearts need re-energized. How? Back to contemplation, silence, solitude, stillness...to bring us to adoration and restore our desire to do His will.
In a perfect place, one could do this simultaneously. Apparently Brother Lawrence, Mother Teresa, Mother Maria Skobtsova, and other saints could. But even the Desert Fathers and Mothers needed to retreat. Balance: that's what it's all about, figuring out the balance necessary for me to live my purpose.
This is what happens when one gets up at 3 in the morning and prays silently in the woods...
I started praying this prayer back around Pascha. Hard to describe how it came about. Read about the sacred heart devotion, and it's stuck with me, really penetrated my soul. So I've been praying this every day. Interestingly, in the last 3 1/2 months, I've only had one migraine I couldn't blame on my own over exertion or over exercise.
"Nothing is more necessary than adoration." Got this from a Merton quote, he was quoting something called "rules for recluses." This line, like that Sacred Heart prayer I've been praying, just keeps coming back to me. It really is true. Contemplation is not the goal of contemplation. Centering prayer, mindfulness, meditation, all these things exist to bring us to an awareness of the Presence of Christ, with us right now in the present moment. And when we truly sense that in our hearts, we should be overcome with adoration. Even adoration isn't the end. That should bring us to praying "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done." And so we return from the mountain or desert to the world to do Christ's will: love profously. That is the real goal of the Christian life. However we are human, so we can only love so much before our hearts need re-energized. How? Back to contemplation, silence, solitude, stillness...to bring us to adoration and restore our desire to do His will.
In a perfect place, one could do this simultaneously. Apparently Brother Lawrence, Mother Teresa, Mother Maria Skobtsova, and other saints could. But even the Desert Fathers and Mothers needed to retreat. Balance: that's what it's all about, figuring out the balance necessary for me to live my purpose.
This is what happens when one gets up at 3 in the morning and prays silently in the woods...
posted by Athanasios at
1:44 AM
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