Kindle Notes & Highlights
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January 1 - March 1, 2024
“Man achieves the fullness of prayer not when he expresses himself, but when he lets God be most fully present in prayer.”
The Holy Spirit has the leading role in the drama that unfolds in our listen-response relationships with God.
the Holy Spirit is the substance shared between the Father and the Son. Inviting the presence of the Holy Spirit into our prayer is the first tip of this book, because without it, our prayer would lack the necessary substance to be what it ought to be. What the switch is to a light, the Holy Spirit is to our prayer. To invite is to invoke, summon, call upon, or make an appeal.
As we invite the Holy Spirit into our prayer, we are inviting what is infinite in value. I have prayed for others while lacking confidence (faith) in what God would do for the one for whom I was praying. But to pray in the Spirit, who is the unmeasured gift, is to pray with confidence in the fact that God withholds nothing in our requests.
Our Lord’s praying in the Spirit was a prayer of closeness — this is why Saint Paul teaches that all good prayer begins with the cry, “Abba, Father!” (Rom. 8:15).
Some of my best intercessory prayers have occurred when I went for a walk to be alone with God. God likes to go for walks and join you for yours: God walked in the garden in the cool of the day (see Gen. 3:8).
other-centered love is the necessary ingredient in the virtue of humility. The humble soul understands that he is no more or less important than his neighbor, so he never places himself first in the company of the other.
Now, if you feel it is unreasonable to pray for the person who has persecuted you, remember the reason behind the Cross: atonement for sin. Unite your prayer with the heart of Christ on the Cross, and what initially appeared to be unreasonable prayer has its reason: the salvation of souls, including your own soul (see Phil. 2:12) and the soul of the person who is persecuting you.
Here, great insight is gained by considering the deeper meaning of salvation and vulnerability. The word “salvation” is derived from the Latin word salvare, meaning “to save.” It’s root salve, translates as “balm,” as in a healing balm that restores. The word “vulnerable” is derived from the Latin vulnerare — the root of which translates as “wound” — what one receives when being struck. During His Passion, our Lord made Himself vulnerable by being struck. He takes on our wounds by becoming the wounded, and as He does, He becomes the healing balm (salve) that restores us to the purity of our
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Often, when someone has asked for our prayers, they have done so out of brokenness. To pray for someone’s brokenness out of our own brokenness is a powerful expression of solidarity and of the heart’s merciful gaze upon the other’s soul.21
in contemplation we discover the most personal form of prayer as it embodies praying from the heart, where we encounter God in silence, submission, and love. In contemplation, we first gather up the heart and “recollect our whole being under the prompting of the Holy Spirit” (CCC 2711). This recollection situates us “in the dwelling place of the Lord which we are and awakens our faith in order to enter into the presence of him who awaits us” (CCC 2711). The recollected soul is then able to behold the One we know loves us, engaging in “the intense gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus” (CCC 2715).
If we are in the habit of “rushing to the next thing,” we don’t engage in intercessory prayer as we ought.
Don’t be generic before God! He desires to know the details of what is in our hearts — this is not for His sake (He already knows the details) but for ours.
Ambiguities are impersonal. Details are personal.
In his first weeks in prison, Archbishop Van Thuan struggled to come to grips with the misfortunes that had beset him. One night, as he sought the Lord’s counsel, he heard Him speak from the depths of his heart. Alone in my prison cell, I continued to be tormented by the fact that I was forty-eight years old, in the prime of my life, that I had worked for eight years as a bishop and gained so much pastoral experience and there I was isolated, inactive and far from my people. One night, from the depths of my heart I could hear a voice advising me: “Why torment yourself? You must discern between
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A friend is a person with whom you share your heart and who shares his heart with you. Friendship builds upon vulnerability, the willingness to open our hearts to those we trust. We confide in friends who will look out for our best interests and respond accordingly. The deeper a friendship goes in willingness, vulnerability, and personal entrustment, the more pronounced its growth.
He desires to be not just our friend but our best friend,
This “paying attention” happens in proximity and silence.
We draw near to Him physically when we visit the Blessed Sacrament; we draw near to Him mystically when we contemplate the Spirit’s clandestine movements in our hearts. Friendships grow when friends communicate in proximity.
When we walk in the presence of God, we carry within us a presence that can be a source of consolation to others when we pray with them in proximity. Practically speaking, the most surefire intercessory prayer is praying with our friend before the Blessed Sacrament — this is proximate prayer, par excellence!
How can we enter into Christ’s most powerful love language? By fasting.
If we receive a request that we find particularly difficult, then that’s the kind of intercessory prayer that needs fasting. Why? Because fasting changes things, even supposedly insurmountable things.
We should be aware of the spiritual warfare that manifests itself in intercessory prayer.
fervent prayer that is persevering when resolution is not immediate. Persevering fasting changes things! Ultimately, fasting as a practice is at its best when the Holy Spirit leads us. Only then can it be an offering of “reverent submission” (Heb. 5:7) — for reverence is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
In Saint Teresa’s vision of prayer, she saw the heart as an enclosed garden into which the soul invites Jesus as a true friend. The more we pray to Jesus as an intimate friend, the more we water the garden of our hearts.
Saint Teresa was very strong on this point. She tells us that the devil does not want us to fast, even causing us to fear it. She writes, “Our human nature often asks for more than what it needs, and sometimes the devil helps so as to cause fear about the practice of penance and fasting.”
It is especially fruitful to pray our petitions into the Eucharistic prayer of epiclesis — the prayer of invocation of the Holy Spirit upon the bread and wine in the Liturgy. As the Holy Spirit transforms the bread and wine on the altar into the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, we ought to pray that the Holy Spirit transforms the person or situation we have placed on the altar.
chant the Divine Office.
sing the Litany of the Saints.
Saint Kateri is the patron saint for people who are ridiculed for their piety. Let us call upon her intercession if we ever find ourselves exiled for pursuing holiness and praying for others in a world that downplays the power of intercessory prayer.
When others ask us to pray for them, we initially respond by internalizing their requests and praying for them on a regular basis, as we have explored. However, at times, God may want greater commitment, even giving the whole of our lives to someone, as Samwise did and as Mary did — even if it involves climbing up rocky-edged mountains.
Often, the very things that distract you are the very things you need to pray for! Allow your distractions to become an entry point to reengaging with your intercessory prayer. God meets us exactly where we are and walks with us exactly as He is. Pray about whatever is distracting you, and it will lead to greater intercessory prayer!
One soul’s devotion to intercessory prayer can have a major unforeseen impact.
