The more you pray, God is ‘more’ God in you
“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6,6)
Dear friend, there’s kind of a vicious circle that you may have already experienced: The less you pray, the less you feel like praying; and the less you feel like praying, the less you pray… And in that drift, it seems like God is moving away from us, and we no longer feel Him close. A coldness starts to invade the soul when we don’t maintain regular contact with Him. Yet, He is always there; it’s us who move away from Him, and we no longer feel His presence. Then, the emptiness that I feel in me, I try to fill it with multiple activities; so that I no longer have time to be alone, in intimacy, with the Lord. In other words, my personal prayer gets pushed aside.
And the opposite is true: the more I pray, the more God is God in me. Although, in truth, God doesn’t change: He can’t be more God or less God. He is always the same; He is immutable and unchangeably present in me.
Dear friend, so that this apparent death of God in you does not happen, and to avoid falling into spiritual atrophy, I invite you right now to turn inward, to revitalize this so essential experience of God in you. For this, I exhort you to practice an exercise of intimate and silent prayer.
Gather your whole being, release the tensions, the chatter and the noises of your mind, and try as much as possible to find silence, especially in your mind and in your heart. Become aware of the presence of God in you. Forget everything… feel peace… serenity… calm.
Also ask for the intervention of the Holy Spirit, saying:
Come Holy Spirit. Sweet guest of the soul. Ignite in my heart the fire of your Love.
Now, go on saying with all your being, the following prayer, pausing to repeat the phrase with which you most identify:
Day after day, Lord of my life,
may I remain before You,
face to face.
With clasped hands, I will stay before You,
Lord of all the worlds,
face to face.
In this world that is yours,
In the midst of the exhaustion,
of the turmoil, of the conflicts,
of the impassioned multiple,
I must remain before You,
face to face.
And when my duty in this world
Is finished,
O King of Kings,
alone and in silence,
I will remain before You
face to face. Amen.
Prayer “Face to Face” (E-65)
Stay for a few minutes in silence, repeating short prayers or any other expression or short phrase that helps you remain quiet and, in the presence, …
Start repeating softly, either out loud or in your mind, a short phrase or word that serves as a bridge. Repeat it rhythmically, using your breath to guide you … For example: “Before You, face to face,” or “My God and my everything,” or “My Lord and my God,” or “You are everything” or “You are with me” … It should be short and preferably always the same.
Remain in that stillness as long as you can, trying to experience the presence of God within you; in this way, you can recover the enchantment with God, which will lead you to regain the enchantment with life, and will also allow you to move away from the sense of an existential emptiness.
You can finish with the following sentence that summarizes Psalm 139:
Psalm 139 (138) is a journey inward, into oneself. It explains very well the experience of God. It is the Psalm of Contemplation. I invite you to read it slowly:
LORD, you probe me, you know me:
I am before You at all times.
You know my thoughts,
Whether I am at work or asleep.
You know full well what I do,
You are familiar with all my ways:
A word is not yet on my tongue,
before You Lord, know all about it.
You fence me in, from behind and in front,
You have laid your hand upon me,
as the air surrounds me, so You encircle me.
I believe Lord, although I cannot understand.
Where can I go to escape your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your gaze?
You are everywhere,
at the edge of the horizon,
at the height of the mountain,
In the depths of the sea.
I cannot hide from your gaze,
because darkness is not dark to You.
Your hand never leaves me for a moment.
When I want to find You,
You await me in my innermost self.
It is You who gave me life,
and who knit me together in my mother’s womb.
From before all time, You know me,
You knew me through and through,
in your works, You were counting on me.
Help me to feel your presence at every moment,
that I may do what is pleasing to You,
and that your vision for my life might be accomplished
Prayer “You Know Me” (The Path-4)
Finish this moment of intimacy with the Lord, little by little. Without too much hurry. Listening to this song will help you:
Let us be silent, brothers, and let the Lord speak.
Let us be silent, brothers, and let silence return,
for we have already lost the gift of listening.
And in this tumult of so many words,
we are unable to hear God.
Let us be silent, brothers, and let the Lord speak.