PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT OF JESUS
On my knees, I have found You, at the break of dawn, invoking Your name—without knowing well what it is, for You always remain within an unfathomable mystery.
On my knees and with my head bowed, I await Your answer to my “whys.” But that no longer matters to me; in Your silence, I perceive Your love which sustains me.
How shall I call You, oh You who have no name? The one who came from the depths of Your solitude, Your Messenger Jesus, told us that You were, and were named, Father. It was great news!
In the quiet evening of eternity, while You were life and expanding fire, I lived in Your mind; You cherished me like a golden dream, and my name was written on the palm of Your right hand. I did not deserve it, but You already loved me without a “why”; You loved me as one loves an only child.
From the night of my solitude, I lift my arms to tell You: oh Love, Holy Father, inexhaustible sea of tenderness, cover me with Your presence for I am cold; and sometimes, everything frightens me.
They say that where there is love, there is no fear; why then do these black steeds drag me toward unknown worlds of anxiety, fear, and apprehension?
Dear Father, have mercy and grant me the gift of peace—the peace of a sunset.
I know that You are the Loving Presence, the Enveloping Love, an infinite forest of arms. You are forgiveness and understanding, security and certainty, joy and freedom.
I go out into the street and You accompany me; I immerse myself in work and You stay by my side; in agony and beyond, You tell me: “Here I am, I go with you.”
Even if I tried to evade Your embrace of love, even if I climbed mountains or stars, even if I flew with wings of light, it is useless… In an inescapable pursuit, You surround me, flood me, and transfigure me.
They tell me that Your feet walked through worlds and centuries behind my fleeting shadow, and that when You found me, the heavens broke into song.
With such good news, You have turned me into a prodigiously free child. Thank You.
Dear Father, You are my Home and my Homeland. In that home I wish to rest at the end of the struggle. You will watch over my sleep once and for all, oh Father, eternally loving and beloved.
Amen.
Prayer 2 E – Father
Dear friend, did you know that you are a marvel come forth from the fingers of God?
From eternity, the Father carried you in His heart; you were already in His mind and in His designs. When the exact hour of your existence arrived, God placed Himself in your mother’s womb and wove you with delicate hands, from the most primitive cells to the complexity of the brain. You are a marvel of His fingers!
God is Father and also Mother. From always and forever, you are freely loved by the Father.
If you truly believe and live this, fear of what? Anguish over what? Sadness for what? Anguish has been buried, sadness banished, the fears blown away by the wind; and now, upon the horizons of your life, the immortal flags of joy, freedom, and peace should begin to wave.
Shalom, dear friend! Alleluia and glad tidings! Because no matter what you have done, no matter how you have been, you are tenderly loved by our dear Father. God the Father is Love, and He cannot do anything but freely love everything He has created.
With this good news, we can live happily and love one another. Because those who feel loved cannot stop loving. It is God the Father who enables us to love!
A Call to Silence
And now, dear friend: Leave your usual worries for a moment, insignificant man; enter for an instant within yourself, distancing yourself from the tumult of your confused thoughts and the unsettling worries that oppress you. Enter into the deepest part of your soul; cast everything away from you except God and that which may help you find Him. Seek Him in the silence of your heart.
Say to the Lord with all your strength, say it to the Lord: “I seek Your face. Your face I seek, Lord.” (St. Anselm — Beginning of Prayer E-6)
Now, Lord, in my entire being I feel peace… and in this moment of sincerity, my entire being prepares to open itself trustingly to You, my Father. But I do not know You. You are Infinite Mystery, a Dimension or Reality in which I am lost. Therefore, send Your Holy Spirit to guide me, to lead me ever further inward, deeper toward You.
In the Interior of Jesus
Now, dear friend, imagine Jesus sitting on the ground, leaning against the trunk of an olive tree or in the silence of the night, under the stars… his face bowed within himself…
With great reverence, and with the essential help of the Holy Spirit, try to enter into his interior, to try to feel and relive what He would feel in those moments of intimacy with God the Father.
With infinite reverence, peer into the interior of Jesus and try to discover what He felt when He said:
- Holy Father, may Your Name always be glorified.
- Holy Father, make me see Your will. (Silence for 30 seconds)
- Holy Father, let not what I want be done, but what You want. (Silence)
- Holy Father, before the world existed, You already loved me. (Silence for 30 seconds)
- You and I, Father, are one and the same. (Silence)
- My Father, You are always in me. You are more “me” than I am myself. (Silence)
- Holy Father, may we all be one, as You and I are one. (Silence)
End by offering your own life, leaving it with total confidence in the hands of your dear Father.
Follow the song: “Father I adore you”