Automatic translation from Italian, under review.
Text of the Point of Light for November (downloadable) 2022.pdf
Dearest brothers and sisters,
I would like to meditate with you on an aspect of love that we cannot do without if we want to walk swiftly on the “way of Love”: the spiritual and prayer life, seen in its personal and communal dimensions.
Mindful of Jesus’ words: “Where two or more are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20), we are called to be ever more in communion with Jesus in our midst and with the whole of humanity in need of salvation.
Spiritual life
The spiritual journey of the way of Love is a path of holiness that is at once personal and communal; it tends to lead to union with each of the three divine Persons, bringing us to live, in communion with Mary, our relationship with God-Trinity not only as individuals, but also as a community, as a living Church.
Loving God by doing his will must be the mainstay of our life.
In the school of the Gospel we learn to enter into communion with God, among ourselves and with others.
The commitment to live the commandment of mutual love given to us by Jesus makes us one among ourselves in him; the sharing of experiences on the Word of God nourishes and deepens this unity, bringing about a continual personal and communal conversion.
The sharing of the lights and insights received on the Word of God, mutual listening, and communion of souls give us a new understanding of the Gospel, focusing us ever more on the presence of Jesus in our midst when we are united in his name (cf. Mt 18:20).
Nor is it possible to walk the path of holiness without encountering the reality of suffering, as Jesus says in the Gospel: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Lk 9:23).
Jesus himself, on the cross, took upon himself every pain and sin of ours, even to the experience of feeling abandoned by the Father; to live each of our sufferings by uniting it to his passion therefore transforms every trial of ours into a paschal passage.
Thus we learn to make the choice of Jesus crucified and forsaken, alive and present both in the wounds of the Church and of today’s society, and in our personal limitations and in our very infidelities to him.
The Virgin Mother shows us the way; indeed, she herself becomes the way for us, and we learn to look at the Church and the world with the eyes of Mary, who did not leave Jesus alone on Calvary; with her and in her we are called to recognize and love Jesus present in every suffering of ours, of others and of all humanity; in communion with her we love every neighbor we meet with a mother’s heart, with her heart, seeing in each one Jesus himself, the only Son.
Love for others and among ourselves, then, far from distancing us or distracting us from union with God, deepens our life of prayer, whose goal is not only our personal relationship with God within us, but also with Jesus among us gathered in his name. The Holy Spirit works in us and among us, sanctifying us personally and together.
The experience of mutual and continual charity (cf. 1 Pt 4:8) establishes among us a Trinitarian relationship, by virtue of which we love one another, in some way, as the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit.
Life of prayer
The choice of Love as the principle, end and means of every action gives our life a contemplative, communional and apostolic character.
The evangelical “pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5:17) is a light and a goal always to be pursued, in fidelity to God and to his grace. The Gospel often shows us Jesus immersed in prayer in a secluded place. For us too it is important to devote a certain time each day to explicit prayer; lack of fidelity to it can lead us to live superficially.
Respecting a certain rhythm of life is fundamental for progressing on the way of Love.
The commitment to live the will of God in the present moment, the use of short invocations, such as those of the “Marian yoga”[1], and interior silence are all effective aids to true inner recollection; they educate us, in fact, to an attitude of loving attention to God and to his living Presence at work in us.
Offering to God every action of ours, saying: “For you, Jesus! With you, Mary!” spurs us to walk in explicit communion with Jesus and Mary.
It is important, however, to have moments in the day when we leave every activity and every interior preoccupation in order to gather ourselves in God.
The daily and weekly rhythm may be given by morning and evening prayer, personal meditation and prayer, the rosary, Mass… Over the course of the year we can set aside times for the monthly retreat and the annual exercises.
Each one is to pray according to a program of life suited to his or her own vocation and to the duties of one’s state, but for everyone, in one way or another, the duty to pray is imperative; to do this, certain necessary conditions must be taken into account. First of all, even though we must learn to pray everywhere, this does not take away from the fact that Jesus himself urges us to withdraw to a suitable place: “When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you” (Mt 6:6).
Another condition for praying well is to be attentive to the position of the body, choosing the one that helps us most to recollect ourselves, given the inseparable unity of body and soul.
Keeping interior silence is then indispensable for entering into communion with God and listening to his voice, which speaks to us through our conscience.
The forms of prayer can be various: vocal, mental, contemplative; all are interwoven in a journey of growth and deepening of the spiritual life.
Well-made vocal prayer can lead to contemplation; in any case, when we pray vocally it may at times not be necessary to pay attention to the meaning of every word; what matters is to love. This may be the case with the Rosary, as we repeat the Hail Marys.
Meditation aims to bring us to the conversion of our mindset, attuning it to the Gospel; it should not consist in reflecting a great deal, but in loving, spending time with God in trusting abandonment.
There are various methods of praying; at the beginning it is important to learn some of them in order to learn how to meditate.
Whatever method is adopted, it is always a matter of choosing a subject, often taken from the Gospel or from Scripture; after reading or examining the theme it is good to spend time in meditation; reflection should give way to loving dialogue with God, up to a sort of affective prayer, concluding with a practical resolution for the day.
As we advance on the path of prayer, God can act with the initiative of his grace and lead us to a prayer of simple loving gaze, even to contemplation, but this is not in our power; we can only dispose ourselves for it, always knowing how to return to meditating and praying as we know how, should the impulse of grace cease. In this field prayer may also go through times of dryness and darkness through which God may lead us to purify us; what matters is to let ourselves be led by him, docile to his grace, knowing that on the way of love, reaching union with God coincides with living in profound communion of life and purpose among ourselves and with others. We walk on the path of holiness together, and this sanctifies us personally and communally. To the fuga mundi (flight from the world) of former times, which also produced saints, there now succeeds love for Jesus in our midst, the Holy One among us, who makes us sharers in his holiness as persons and as a community.
Our relationships with one another, mutual correction and promotion, interpersonal communion make us ever more a living Church; our union with God, nourished by love for Jesus crucified and forsaken, is thus inseparable from love for Jesus among us and in every neighbor we meet.
Prayer brings us into the heart of Christ and of his mystical Body; we could conclude by saying that love for God goes hand in hand with love among ourselves and with others.
Sr. Nunziella
SLOGAN: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5,17)
[1] Scopelliti Sr. Nunziella, Itinerario di luce, Ed. Paoline, 2018, pp. 49-56.