God alone. Prayer and union with God that's all that is needed.

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Manila Retreat 4


We come from God, We go to Him, only united to him we find the real meaning of everything
Jesus’ incarnation continues in us today so our purpose in being is to be at the service of that mystery.
Typical of eastern philosophy of life is the attaining liberation through communion with the absolute.
Western idea of religious life is a radical living of the Gospel at the service of the Kingdom of God.
Mixing the two ways becomes the idea of living the continuous awareness of the presence of God as way of fulfilling the Kingdom of God.
The difference between Christianity and other religions is in this: There the union with God is achieved through the effort of our exercises, in Christianity is a gift from a God who lowers himself to join us and bring us up to Him.

Purpose of God’s plan: Eph 1:5-10 Instaurare omnia in Christo.
Gen 1:26-27 Created at God’s image
Humans break this union by their rebellion. God does not abandon them but sends his Son, a process which takes thousands of years of preparation.
Jesus, in a prayer (Jn 17), explains the whole purpose of his coming and what he did. This prayer culminates with the verse 21. “that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me”.
Again Jesus says (Jn 15:5) I am the vine you are the branches, if you are attached to me will bear fruit, without me you will go dry.
VC 1 says: “the eyes of the faithful are directed towards the mystery of the Kingdom of God already at work in history, even as it awaits its full realization in heaven”, and “obedient to the Father's call and to the prompting of the Spirit, have chosen this special way of following Christ, in order to devote themselves to him with an "undivided" heart”. So we are not religious to give the poor material things but to make them have an experience of God.
- In the Gospel we have a first example of a person who was able to enter into the plan of God: Mary. We know well her life, how she was available at the Annunciation, active at Cana and faithful at Calvary. But I want to underline three moments which make us understand how she managed to do what she did. We find these three sentences in the gospel of Luke.
  • Regarding the visit of the shepherd to the crib is said: Lk 2:17-19 “When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart”.
  • Regarding the prophecy of Simeon is said: Lk 2: 33 “And the child's father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him”.
  • After the episode of Jesus in the temple is said. Lk 2: 50-51 “But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart”.
The three episodes of Mary reflecting things in her heart teach us the necessity of a spiritual and mystical understanding of reality which comes from a deeper union with God through prayer and meditation.
The mystic is a person who acknowledges that everything happening comes from God and is for him.
If in our life we have no contact whatsoever with God then we cannot see in the other anything more than the other, and I am incapable of seeing in him the image of God. How often in confession I hear people saying: I cannot forgive, I cannot forget what they have done to me, I cannot speak to them etc. It is all a human effort to solve the problem, the faith has nothing to say in it.
The gospel gives us a report of the call of the twelve. The call takes place on a mountain after a night of prayer (Mk 3,13; Lk 6,12). In the life of Jesus, everything important is preceded by prayer. So vocation is begotten in a prayer of Jesus to the Father. That is why Jesus tells the apostles to pray the Lord of the harvest to send more labourers to his harvest. You cannot make yourself an apostle, it is matter of election from God. It is important the underlying of Mark: “He chose them to stay with him and also to send them” (Mk 3,13).
They must be with Jesus, to recognize his uniqueness and his oneness with the Father to become witnesses of the mystery.
The experience of being closely with him enables them to be with him even when they go to the ends of the earth.
The story of our prayer is a bit different: In formation the prayer is the main part, then we go to the apostolic life and prayer becomes one of the many things, then, the more we get into the activities, the more prayer loses its position and if ever we have to cut something because our schedule is too tight, then prayer is what we cut.
Think of how many times we work hard the whole day and come for prayer to perform a duty. The activities suffocate it. Why is this happening? If prayer is matter of asking the Lord, then I may lose interest because:
  • Things go well anyway, so what to pray for?
  • Things do not improve anyway
  • The community prayers have their own words and often there is no connection with my requests and no space to introduce them except at the moment of the general intercessions.
  • In order to ask I do not really need to go to the chapel and spend time there. I actually feel more prayerful while working than in the chapel because there I feel more the need and so feel more the closeness.
God becomes like a doctor: if I am sick I go to him, if not, then there is no need of him.
But if prayer is a dialogue where my part is not the dominant but the secondary, if he is the one who speaks and I the one who answer or question, then I need to spend time for it. Prayer is at the service of the experience of God. We cannot say we do God’s work or God’s will, if we do not find time to dialogue with Him.
If God is the centre, then prayer is not the answer to my problems, but the opposite is true: the Lord sends inputs (some sentences in the prayer or in the Gospel, some hints from the preacher, some sudden inspiration); our work becomes an answer to it, is influenced by it.
Often we take decisions according to what we feel is needed in the apostolate, but then complain that it is in contrast with our religious and community life. The process we should do is instead that before taking any decision, we should remind ourselves that we are religious. Blessed Katherine Kasper used to say: “God alone; and everything else because of God”.
Of course prayer is also the answer to the problems; we face situations and prayer gives solutions, but be careful in not falling into the magic belief that I pray and God will make my solutions work. No! I pray so God will make me understand his solution and inspire me with the desire of offering all myself, my capacities, my strength to fulfill those solutions, keeping in mind that God’s solutions are never purely material, but mostly spiritual.
This is the meaning of dialogue.
Let us have a look at what Jesus says about prayer:
Mt 6:5-15. Do not show off, do not bubble.
Mt 6,19-21 Store your treasure in heaven
Mt 7:7; Lk 11:9; Jn 16:24. Ask and you will receive
Jn 4:23 Prayer is to be done in spirit and truth
Mt 26:40 Pray that you will not fall into temptation.
How did Jesus pray?
In several moments is noted that Jesus prays in lonely places at night
We have his words during last supper (Jn 17);
In the Getsemani (Mt 26,36-46; Mk 14,32-42; Lk 22, 40-46);
When he says: “I praise you Father for hiding these things to the learned and revealing them to children” (Lk 10:21);
At Lazarus resurrection (Jn 11:41-42);
And finally on the cross.
The Our Father (Mt 6,9-13; Lk 11,2-4) is not a prayer, but a teaching about prayer, a pattern to be followed;

For personal work:
  • Do I have desire for prayer? (practically speaking, when it is time to go for prayer do I arrive on time, early or late?)
  • When I am in the Church do I feel bored, distracted, desire to go out?
  • When I come out of the Church am I happier or is it as nothing has happened?
  • Do I offer to Jesus each and all the things which I do? Do I do things to the glory of God or to praise myself? Is my prayer a way to show to others that I am good?
  • Am I aware of the presence of God in the people around me?
  • Am I able to accept the difficult moments of my day as message from God?
  • How much time do I dedicate to silence and reflection, or do I feel inside the need of noise, music, etc?
  • Which kind of prayer do I prefer? Why?

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