Before the 1960s, mental prayer took place behind the closed doors of a personal prayer life. However, as the charismatic movement began to spread amongst Catholics, communal charismatic style prayer became more and more popular, not least because of unusual phenomena, from speaking in tongues to slaying in the spirit. When criticised as a deviation [...]
The first Christians were called the “saints” because they tried, and so many of them succeeded, in living saintly lives. That this fact converted a vast numbers of pagans in such a short time is as historically undeniable as it is inexplicable to secular historians. St Paul insists that once we are baptised into Christ, [...]
The sacred College of Cardinals during the General Congregation of Monday, April 28th last, has set the date for the beginning of the conclave: May 7, 2025. Given the gravity of the situation, I ask that those who will complete the Novena on May 5th next, immediately begin a second Novena, continuing to pray the [...]
How could a small “heretical Jewish sect” of little consequence convert the vast pagan empire of Rome, created and sustained by the greatest military power the world has ever known, and in such a short time? In the early Church, once a person heard the good news and expressed belief in Christ, baptism followed almost [...]
Every Alleluia that we omit during Lent we make up for during the Easter season. By my count, on an ordinary weekday, we friars typically employ the word Alleluia about 13 times in our common prayers. When Lent comes, we omit all of these Alleluias. Then, in what may seem like a dramatic overcorrection, on [...]
It is only in mystical contemplation that our weak human love is so purified that it enables this love to mix, mingle and merge with the love of the Holy Spirit. Then, suffused and surcharged with this love we will not only be able to enter into the mystical body of Christ but into Christ’s [...]
Now, in Passiontide, Christ becomes all the more visibly, our companion. We walk with him and see him face and overcome our own worst fears, we see him take on, in us and for us, the pain the frailty, the fear the failure, and the death itself that haunt and shadow our life. We stay [...]
Meditation is a means to an end; contemplation is that end. It is our eternal destiny which we will enjoy with all we have known and loved in this life, and those whom we have never known, but who have loved Christ from the beginning. When most readers hear the expression “mystical spirituality” they usually [...]
The first Christians were urged to pray constantly, and this prayer became known later as the “prayer without ceasing”, “Pray constantly; and for all things give thanks to God, because this is what God expects you to do in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:17–18). The Morning Off ering and its implementation is the place where [...]
In the prayer that leads from meditation to contemplation, the deep human desire for love that has always been there is gradually transformed. It is set alight by reflecting and ruminating on love – God’s love. This love is made visible to us as we see it embodied in Jesus Christ, and as it is [...]
Begin your meditation by primarily using the Gospels to centre your whole attention on the person of Jesus so that knowledge can gradually turn to love. Affective Prayer begins when the sparks of love that are generated there begin to lead upwards and into the Risen Christ. After the Protestant Reformation, a new terminology began [...]
Prayer is a process of continual inner conversion that involves gently trying to turn, open and surrender the heart to God. As the process is practised, the heart is made accessible to the heart of God, and his love shafts down to purify and empty it so that Christ can come to birth again in [...]
Day in and day out, Mario sat begging for alms. Whether in the heat of a Roman summer or during the humid wintry days, he would sit patiently outside the seminary gate atop the Janiculum Hill. Every morning as I left for class, the routine was the same: “Buongiorno, Mario. Tutto bene?” With a kind [...]
Whatever other methods of prayer we may at times find helpful, we must never forget and always turn back to the Scriptures as the Christian prayer book par excellence. Lectio Divina – Divine Reading In vocal prayer, despite the time given to brief moments of silence, we have been doing most of the talking. However, [...]