Prayer 5: Don Orione about prayer

From the writings of Don Orione

Prayer

I cannot tell you how much good that quarter of an hour's stop during the course of life and that silent meditation did me. From that the thought was born of writing you a letter on silence. From that the idea was born of making use of an hour of complete silence each day. Half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening. And if God gives me the grace, I want from now on more seriously to nurture my spirit in the school of silence, and to give my life, every day and every year, the word, the repose and the comfort in Christ of silence: my strength will be in silence and in hope!*
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Silence opens the fountains of the soul, silence makes our spirit work in us, more than many years of reading. It gives impulse to our inner being and illuminates both the soul and the body. The hours of silence are, for the most part, a prayer; a prayer which gives a great moral power and makes fruitful, both these hours and one's whole life.
How many seeds of our spirit does silence cause to bear fruit! How many truths does it cause to shine in the mind, in a splendour that is both gentle and vivid!
(14 February 1922 Letters I page 180)

Let us remember that the great means for achieving salvation is prayer, and St.Alphonsus has left us a wonderful book about it; let us remember that we cannot attain to perfection or obtain any true virtue for ourselves, unless by means of humble, fervent and continuous prayer.
It is in the morning, before any distraction and communication with men, that we must pray and listen to God. The first hour just for God! God then speaks, God ploughs the soul, God works in us, moulds our spirit: God gives life, God gives light, and the splendour of God is over us; in meditation we feel that we breathe in God, in meditation we feel the touch of God. It is when a great desire arises in us; the will to reform ourselves; and our whole interior being is filled with submission and love of God, and our whole exterior with modesty, gentleness, peace.
But to feel this we must, from the morning itself, in the very early morning,* humbly throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus, in silence and solitude, and set aside at least half an hour per day: it is then that God, in talking to us, becomes our Master.
And in meditation do not doze or be distracted; two weaknesses, which must be tackled head-on and conquered, with Divine help, or we will make no progress. When the book of the Apocalypse says: "And silence came over the heavens for half an hour," I think that the sacred text is revealing a very significant fact in the heaven of souls. But, in order to meditate well, the presence of our souls and the presence of God are necessary; and we must be able to establish silence within ourselves, true silence, both external and internal. Then the religious, getting up, turns to the treacherous water, to the torrent of passion of the day, and says: You will not drag me in! And then, lifting up his heart to the Crucifix: You alone must speak to me, oh Lord. You alone must speak to me!* I will follow you, I will be yours, oh Lord: the day of my life will be for you, it will be love of God and of men!
Meditation must be prepared the evening before, so that, on waking in the morning, we can find it alive in our spirit and in our heart. We must get this right as well; the points will be read after the evening Rosary.
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And let us place every hope and trust in Our Lord, making our will and its good purposes stronger in God, because without God we cannot be raised up. Without God the social bonds themselves are chains, the fruits of science and the arts are impoverished; and life, even if it is led in a Religious House, if it is not a truly religious life, is not a life of God, and would become a bore or a martyrdom, or worse!... God alone is the foundation of what remains, of what has an eternal value: God is the goal of all good, the grandeur of life, the breath of the soul, and the greatest comfort of His servants is to hope in God.
(8 December 1922 Letters I page 261 ff.)


You, my dear sons, need to pray more, and to work harder in your practices of piety and to cultivate more deeply the spirit of piety and humility and sacrifice!
I tell you this on my knees... and I beg you not to be offended, but to accept this prayer of mine in the Lord. I am writing this after greatly praying for you, each of you. We owe charity firstly to ourselves; we must pray more, cultivate more piety, humility, dependence, docility of spirit, and the religious spirit. Woe to us, if the fount of devotion dries up in us! Woe to us, we are lost, if the fount of piety and humility dries up in us, or begins to dry up! For this, even for this, I am happy and I want you all to do the Sacred Spiritual Exercises every year, and do them well! And, if you have not yet done them, do them, and in the best way possible.
And now I go on to recommend moderation and work.
Prayer, work and moderation are three most precious pearls, that must radiate from the face and from the life of every Son of Divine Providence. Prayer, work and moderation: these are what will cause our dear Congregation to flourish. Prayer, work and moderation,* which means: piety, sacrifice, mortification!
Prayer, work and moderation!* which mean union with God, labouring for Souls, mortifying the body and its passions, and fasting. Prayer, work and moderation!* which mean the whole life of the Sons of Divine Providence! In these three virtues lies our whole life!
There is no other life for us.
There is no other way for us to become holy.
There is no other way or better way to love and serve God: to imitate Jesus Christ, truly to serve the Holy Church and the Pope.
There is no other or better way to imitate Our Lady, to be truly devoted to her, really to love her!
There is no other way to serve and save Souls!
There is no other way to be true, holy Religious.
(7 February 1923 letters I page 269)