Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “Then he came to his senses and said, "How many of my father's hired men have all the food they want and more, and here am I dying of hunger!I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you… "So he left the place and went back to his father. 'While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him.” (Lk 15, 17-20). Everyone will recognise this passage from the parable of the ‘prodigal son’ or the ‘merciful father’ which we will proclaim next Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Lent. Once again throughout the Catholic Church there will resound the Lord’s call to convert our heart and return to his loving mercy.
The Servant of God John Paul II in his second encyclical Dives in misericordia, stated: “Conversion to God is always the fruit of the "rediscovery of this Father, who is rich in mercy. Authentic knowledge of the God of mercy, the God of tender love, is a constant and inexhaustible source of conversion, not only as a momentary interior act but also as a permanent attitude, as a state of mind. ” (DM, n. 13). The itinerary of conversion of heart is one of knowing and praying: we know and we remain in God’s merciful love for us through a ‘stable disposition’ a ‘state of mind’”, which is precisely prayer, or a life of prayer. Like the prodigal son, the men and women of today must come to their senses and rediscover to God and His mercy only then will they arise from their sins and go to Him.
A major difficulty in prayer is to achieve a ‘stable disposition of the heart”. This must be gradually won day by day by allowing enough time for prolonged prayer so we may ‘come to our senses’. To be authentic our prayer must be “prayer of the heart”, not only “superficial” it must come from our inner self. We are often tempted to be superficial putting things of the world before things of God: we cling to the former and fail to enjoy the latter in a sort of “greyness”, which makes us blind to the rays of the love of our heavenly Father.
On our path we find Our Lady who encourages us to pray ever more intensely, as her Son prayed, the prayer of the heart; only if we reach inner self will we reach Him. Unless they come from the heart our words to God are of little use. A friend is such only when he tells me what he thinks. Famous are the words of Saint Augustine who sought God desperately but floated between creatures and Creator: “sero te amavi, pulchritudo tam antiqua et tam nova… Late have I loved you O Beauty so old and so new, late have I loved you. You were within me and I was outside of myself. There I sought you; deformed, I threw myself on the beauty in your creatures” (Confess. 10, 27, 38). If we make an effort to interiorise our Christian life will become spiritually rich. Prayer of the heart pulls us away from other dependencies which can have various names and render life terrible sterile, and makes us dependent on the Lord.
In the desert Jesus shows clearly that the Devil is conquered not with words, but with interior life rich in friendship with God. God lives in us and He deserves all the space of our inner freedom so it may generate free acts of obedience to His will. Prayer of the heart (Saint Teresa d’Avila’s favourite prayer), is essentially a prayer of friendship with God which comes from deep within our soul where we meet Christ and make an act of love: ‘Lord you know everything you know that I love you!’ When Peter comes to his senses and repents of his sins - like Paul, Augustine and countless other brothers and sisters in the faith - he finds waiting for him not an intransigent judge but God the Father of infinite loving mercy “'While he was still a long way off, his father saw him… he clasped him in his arms and kissed him”. Had he known the Lord better Peter would have said not ‘stay away from me a sinner’ but rather ‘come to me because I am a sinner”.
The Blessed Virgin Mary who knows the mercy of God more than anyone, wishes us to experience the tenderness of God all merciful! We therefore make our own the words of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI who frequently calls us to a life of prayer and life of friendship with God: “Dear brothers and sisters, prayer is not an accessory or "optional", but a question of life or death. In fact, only those who pray, in other words, who entrust themselves to God with filial love, can enter eternal life, which is God himself. During this Season of Lent, let us ask Mary, Mother of the Incarnate Word and Teacher of the spiritual life, to teach us to pray as her Son did so that our life may be transformed by the light of his presence.” (Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus del 4 March 2007). (Agenzia Fides 14/3/2007, righe 55, parole 876)
