"Praying Jesus in the heart" by Viviana Rispoli (hermit)
Sometimes we pray with our lips but our mind is distracted. Sometimes we pray with our mind but our heart is distant. True prayer, true listening, is instead carried out in our hearts with all the attention of our being.
The Gospel of St. Luke tells us that Mary meditated in her heart the Word of God and Jesus teaches us what we must do to make an effective prayer…. "When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. "
We have lost, or perhaps some of us have never found, the mystery that hides within us and that lives in it…. "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you" says Jesus. We are sometimes so oppressed and disheartened precisely because, as St. Augustine experienced, we seek out what is inside us instead.
I believe that many of us lack an interior education because a true experience of God is often lacking, we are filled with theological lessons, theories, words and big words, but we are not educated to seek in simplicity the presence of God in silence of our heart, to let the words of Jesus which are Spirit and Life resound within us, we are not educated to speak "in spirit" to our God ...
Here is what the ancient desert monks handed down to us on this subject, true masters of prayer: it is a matter of descending with our minds into our hearts and in this secret place to pray to the Lord God without letting ourselves be distracted by anything. No matter how long we manage to remain in this state of deep attention, the important thing with the Lord is to be truly there, with all of ourselves! We can immerse ourselves in him whenever we want, whenever we need to find strength, consolation and life ... but also whenever we want to say "I love you" or a simple "thank you" ... Praying like this is beautiful and easy, and yes can do it anywhere
Help us Lord to seek you and pray to you in our hearts every day, you are the living God, the God of all consolation and joy; make each one of us experience and adore your holy and lively presence within himself often ... always.
