and invites us to live: “A year dedicated to rediscovering the great value and absolute necessity of prayer in personal life, in the life of the Church and in the world.”
A great “symphony” of prayer; above all, to recover the desire to be in the presence of the Lord, to listen to him and worship him. Pope Francisco.
The more we pray, God is “more” God in us.
God does not change. He is the definitively full and, therefore, Immutable. He is, therefore, unalterably present in us, and does not admit different degrees of presence. What really changes are our relationships with him according to the degree of faith and love. Prayer makes these relationships denser; a deeper penetration occurs, endearing of the I-thou through affective experience and joyful knowledge, and the resemblance and union with him become deeper each day.
What happens with a torch in a dark room. The more the torch shines the better the “face” of the room is seen, the room becomes “present”, although the room does not change.
Any of us can experience that the deeper the prayer, God feels closer, present, patent, and alive. And the more the glory of the Lord’s face shines upon us (Ps 30), the events are wrapped in a new meaning (Ps 35) and history becomes “populated” by God; In a word, the Lord makes himself vividly present in everything. There is no game of chance, but a helmsman who conducts events with a sure hand.
When one has “been” with God, he becomes more and more “Someone” for whom and with Whom difficulties are overcome, the repugnancies are overcome – and these are exchanged into sweetness—; sacrifices are accepted with joy; love is born everywhere. The more you “live” God, the more you want to be with Him, and the more you “are” with God, God is increasingly “Someone.”
The circle of life opened.
And to the extent that the contemplative man advances in the mysteries of God, God stops being an idea and becomes Transparency and begins to be Freedom, Humility, Joy, Love, and progressively transforms into an irresistible force and revolutionary that takes all things out of place: where there was violence, he places gentleness; where there was selfishness, love and completely changes “the face” of man.
God becomes more and more the All, the One and the Absolute, as in a whirlwind in which man in his entirety is taken and dragged away, while he is. that the whole man is taken and dragged away, while he is purified and the selfish impurities are burned by the fire…God ends up transforming the contemplative man. in a torch that burns, burns and shines (Jn 5:35).
Taken from the book “Show Me Your Face” chapter one by Father Ignacio Larrañaga.
