What is the reason that some believers are so much brighter and holier than others? I believe the difference in nineteen cases out of twenty, arises from different habits about private prayer. I believe that those who are not eminently holy pray little and those who are eminently holy pray much. - James Charles J. C. Ryle (I think most spiritual directors would
agree, as it is prayer that opens one to infused gifts of wisdom and knowledge.) _____ Christianity and Spirituality
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Mal 3:13-20b; Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6 Lk 11:5-13 Jesus said to his disciples:
"Suppose one of you has a friend
to whom he goes at midnight and says,
'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey
and I have nothing to offer him,'
and he says in reply from within,
'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked
and my children and I are already in bed.
I cannot get up to give you anything.'
I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the
loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence. "And I tell you, ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks,
receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
What father among you would hand his son a snake
when he asks for a
fish?
Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven give the
Holy Spirit
to those who ask him?"
Reflection on the Scriptures
This wonderful gospel reading offers the believer what seem like miracles: knock and the door will be
opened, ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find. But when read carefully, what is promised is not what you actually ask for or seek-if you have spent at least a decade on this planet you know that’s not the way it works! What is promised is actually even better than what you had in mind. What is promised is the Holy Spirit, the fullness of the love shared by Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What could be better than that? Immersed in that holy flow I’m sure what we will receive will be
totally aligned with All Goodness, All Love, all perfect answers to our fervent prayer. And if you receive exactly what you asked for, rejoice! Jump for joy because you are one with the will of our amazing Creator! I hope and believe that we have all experienced the explosion of joy on realizing our prayer was answered. Oh sure, sometimes the answer is No, Maybe but Not Yet, or I have a Better Solution, and hopefully we can be ok with those answers and realize they are given in love. Always in
love, no matter how difficult and contrary they feel in the moment. Often I have looked through my retrospectoscope at my life and seen the handwriting of my loving God in all the mistakes and hurdles and crazy moments. And I say “ thank you, God, for being there always,” So let’s enter into conversation with our God, have a real relationship going in our knocking, seeking , asking and prepare to be surprised. To be loved.
-by Suzanne Braddock
St. John of the Cross and the Beginning of Contemplation by James Arraj From St. John of the Cross and Dr. C. J. Jung, Part II, Chapter 3. Inner Growth Books, 1986. Faith is seen as a supernatural way of knowing quite diverse in object and inner dynamism from all natural knowing. No knowledge coming to man through his senses or rational faculties can bring him in contact with God in order that he can know Him as He is. Only faith is the proximate and proportionate means of knowing God in this way. Its proximity is rooted in its divine origin in the gift of grace which
transforms us and elevates our natural powers. We must cling to faith even though this seems to quench our natural modes of knowing. And it is the clinging of the old self to its limited way of perceiving and experiencing that hinder this necessary reliance on faith. It is especially the clinging to spiritual
knowledge, which is good in itself, that creates an obstacle to divine union; the limited lights of spiritual knowledge coming through the natural faculties appear brighter to the soul than the light of faith. In reality the light of faith is much greater, but manifests itself in another way, so it initially appears as darkness to the soul.
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