Prayer for the "Cospirazione delle Contemplative" (why DOES everything sound better in Italian?):
Father,
creator and ruler of heaven and earth,
you made man in your likeness
to subdue the earth and master it,
and to recognize the work of your hands
in created beauty.
Grant that your children,
thus surrounded on all sides by signs of your presence,
may live continually in Christ,
praising you through him and with him.
Amen.
~ from Christian Prayer, Sunday, Week II, Evening Prayer
For me, this sums up what we are about: acknowledging God as Father and Creator; acknowledging the beauty in which we are immersed, as a gift of His love; living a life of thanksgiving and offering this eucharistic attitude through and with Christ, as a continual praise of His glory.
More "unpacking" of this when I have more time.
Father,
creator and ruler of heaven and earth,
you made man in your likeness
to subdue the earth and master it,
and to recognize the work of your hands
in created beauty.
Grant that your children,
thus surrounded on all sides by signs of your presence,
may live continually in Christ,
praising you through him and with him.
Amen.
~ from Christian Prayer, Sunday, Week II, Evening Prayer
For me, this sums up what we are about: acknowledging God as Father and Creator; acknowledging the beauty in which we are immersed, as a gift of His love; living a life of thanksgiving and offering this eucharistic attitude through and with Christ, as a continual praise of His glory.
More "unpacking" of this when I have more time.
posted by KathrynTherese at 4:56 PM
5 Comments:
An intriguing phrase, "eucharistic attitude"..I'm gonna think on that.
FMN, congrats on the victory!! Well done!!
KT, I kinda like the French language, too -- it always looks as if they are saying the word, "Smooch".
(Did you just try that?)
I'll tend to the cheesecake while you "unpack"..
;-)
ROFL!
Well, to come back to the prayer, I think how you see it all, Kathryn, is why this part of Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar's reflection touched me so deeply.
http://www.tcrnews2.com/
Brideconquest.html
(no spaces)
You yourself are the holy heart of the nations, holy because of me, but unifying the world for me, making my Blood circulate throughout the body of history. In you my redemption ripens, I myself grow to my full stature, until I, two-in-one with you, and in the bond of the two-in-one flesh - you, my Bride and my Body - will place at the feet of the Father the Kingdom which we are. The bond of our love is the meaning of the world. In it all things reach fulfillment. For the meaning of the world is love.
When is the last time someone in the modern world scooped any of us up for the greater glory of God -- ever prepared to help transform us, but never not loving us, and considering us a worthy lovely offering-to-be? It's very rare in human life..or at least in mine -- it came only from priests who dare to know our ugliest us and not look away. Yet we ought to do this for one another. That particular reflection (when I stop weeping!) makes me want to bear a standard that says, "I am His. So are you."
Oh heavens, after I posted, I happened to be clicking around in Gabrielle's links and found this -- apparently I didn't know what was the heart of Carmel theology which is what you spoke of, Kathryn:
Teresa considered that her vocation and her mission was prayer in the Church and with the Church, which is a praying community moved by the Holy Spirit to adore the Father in and with Jesus "in spirit and in truth" (Jn 4:23). . . .
http://www.op.org/Domcentral/
study/aumann/teresasgr.htm
(no spaces)
Although a beautiful gift and way of life, I'm thinking it (the part in bold) is way too ambitious for such as me, but I'll look forward to all that everyone has to say.
But it's not "too ambitious," honora... It is precisely what we are made for - to pray "through Him, with Him, in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit." This IS praying "in Spirit and Truth."
It is, of course, too far above us, too far beyond our capacities, too much for us to do on our own. But that's precisely the point - we don't pray on our own. The Holy Spirit prays in us, because "we know not how to pray as we ought." Yet, the Father is pleased when we come to Him as His children and present our needs before Him. And so, we dare to pray, but always "through Christ Our Lord."
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