Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Mary TV Daily Reflection 5/28/2013


deep prayer
(c)Mary TV 2013

J.M.J.
May 28, 2013

Dear Family of Mary!

"Dear children! Today I call you to be strong and resolute in faith and prayer, until your prayers are so strong so as to open the Heart of my beloved Son Jesus. Pray little children, pray without ceasing until your heart opens to God's love. I am with you and I intercede for all of you and I pray for your conversion. Thank you for having responded to my call." (May 25, 2013)

Faithfulness to prayer, commitment to prayer no matter what, is what Our Lady is asking of us in this message. Strong prayer!

Fr. Jacques Philippe, in his book, "Time for God", explains the value of this faithfulness and commitment:

Faith in the Fruitfulness of the life of prayer.

The life of prayer is the source of infinite riches. It transforms us within, sanctifies us, heals us, helps us to know and love God, makes us fervent and generous in love of neighbor. Provided they persevere, those who commit themselves to a life of prayer can be absolutely sure of receiving all this and more...People are often tempted to give up mental prayer because they don't see the results as soon as they would like. This temptation should be rejected immediately by making an act of faith in God's promise, which will be fulfilled when the time is right. "Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruits of the earth, being patient over it until it receives the early and the late rain. You also must be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand" (Jas 5:7-8)

This leads to a very important practical conclusion. Someone who sets out on a life of prayer should aim in the first place at fidelity. What matters is not whether our mental prayer is beautiful, or whether it works, or whether it is enriched by deep thoughts and feelings, but whether it is persevering and faithful. Our first concern, if I may put it that way, should be faithfulness in praying, not the quality of our prayer. The quality will come from fidelity. Time spent faithfully every day in mental prayer that is poor, arid, distracted, and relatively short is worth more, and will be infinitely more fruitful for our progress, than long, ardent spells of mental prayer from time to time, when circumstances make it easy. After that first decision to take the prayer life seriously, the first battle we must fight is the battle to be faithful to our times of mental prayer, come what may, according to a definite plan we have established. It is not an easy battle. Knowing how much is at stake, the devil wants at all cost to keep us from being faithful to mental prayer. He knows that a person who is faithful to mental prayer has escaped him, or at least is sure of escaping in the end. He therefore does everything he can to prevent us from being faithful. We shall return to this point later.

What is important here is that mental prayer that is of poor quality but regular and faithful, is worth more than prayer that is sublime but only now and then. It is faithfulness alone that enables the life of prayer to bear wonderful fruit.

Mental prayer is basically nor more than an exercise in loving God. But there is not true love without fidelity. How could we claim to love God if we failed to keep the appointments we make with him for mental prayer? (Fr. Jacques Philippe. "Time for God". www.scepterpublishers.org . p. 15- 17)

Father Philippe calls this commitment to prayer a "battle". And we all know it is a battle. That is why Our Lady asks us to be "strong and resolute". She knows that our faithfulness to prayer will change everything, and so our enemy will try to stop us. Our battle is a battle of the will. To pray or not to pray!! That is the question! Let us set our faces like flint, choosing to make prayer the top priority in our lives, and then resolutely carry out our choice to pray. God will answer with His love!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2013



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