Word of God
171. God’s heart is in His Word. The Book of Macabees describes a letter Areios the King of Sparta sent to Jonathan the High Priest. He offered friendship and assistance to the Jews but Jonathan who was the High Priest responded beautifully in this way: “we need none of these things, for we have the holy books of scripture in our hands to comfort us” (I Macabees 12,9). Scripture was enough to comfort them in the midst of their many tribulations. St. Paul said the same thing to the Romans, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15,4). Paul is saying: Scripture strengthens our hope and comforts us when we encounter life’s trials.
The saints looked on Scripture as the source of their support. The early Fathers of the Church, Jerome, Augustine, Ambrose, etc. did not possess theology manuals. The Bible was their only book.
St. Jerome said without knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures life was worth very little. “In Scripture,” St. Gregory the Great writes, “we must see the heart of God.” St. Augustine: “There is no sickness of the soul Sacred Scripture cannot cure.” St. Charles Borromeo was asked why he never took walks in the garden and answered: “My garden is Sacred Scripture.” The saints found life and comfort in Scripture. God’s Word pierces our soul like a sword; it meets all our needs.
172. The Word of God is useful, alive and heart-warming. In itself Sacred Scripture is the apex of excellence and supremely useful for us and our ministry. St. Paul says as much in his letter to Timothy: “All Scripture is God-inspired and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (II Timothy 3,16). How very important Sacred Scripture is for us and everyone else! This is the whole thing in a nutshell: it is the Word of God, it is alive and it is heart-warming. St. Jerome wrote, “The Holy Bible is so comfortable in our hands that we often fall asleep with this book in our hands.”
Reading Sacred Scripture awakens the love of God in our hearts. Lord, Your words are fire and as fire they bring us warmth. Look at the disciples of Emmaus who walked along the road with the Lord and did not recognize Him: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24,32). Our Lord’s words are fire!
On the Fifteenth Centenary of St. Jerome’s death, Pope Benedict XV wrote the encyclical Spiritus Paraclitus. He states that all of Sacred Scripture is divinely inspired and should be studied for our devotion and preaching. Some years earlier Pope Leo XIII published the encyclical Providentissimus Deus to promote the study of Sacred Scripture which he defined as divinely inspired. Let us bear in mind that since Sacred Scripture is the “Word of God” we should both respect and study it. Our own library is especially rich in the area of Sacred Scripture. In the missions too you will have a small library.
173. Reading and studying Sacred Scripture. How should we approach and use Holy Scripture? Above all we must read and study it carefully: “You diligently study the Scriptures […]. These are the Scriptures that testify about me” (John 5,39). Therefore you must not read the Bible casually – stop and think about what you are reading; read a few verses at a time and then pause. St. Augustine tells us that the words of Scripture have marvelous depth. They are like a bottomless well – it takes an effort to draw up water, but the effort is sweet and comforting. Those who think that with the Bible alone they will understand everything are mistaken. God reveals Himself to the simple and hides Himself from the proud. We must study Sacred Scripture with humility, simplicity and loyalty to Church teaching. The Imitation of Christ tells us: “Anyone who wants to understand and savor the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ must make his life like Christ’s.” We can certainly engage in interpretation but our criteria must be from reliable sources.
Other requirements for reading Holy Scripture profitably are purity of life and prayer: pray while you read and ask the Lord for enlightenment. Great respect for the Bible is another requirement; St. Charles Borromeo always uncovered his head and knelt when he ready the sacred text. Finally we must read it in the same spirit with which it was written. If we satisfy these requirements we will derive great profit from Sacred Scripture.
174. Our book. Sacred Scripture will make all those who study it and prepare for good works perfect. It is a source of all grace and virtue – it provides everything we need to become saints. It is a genuine treasure, a storehouse of remedies, in which we find all we will need. There are remedies for everything; we will find all that is useful for ourselves and others. When you confront a specific problem or worry about the future – read the Holy Scripture and you will find comfort.
I am telling you all this so that you will continue to read Sacred Scripture attentively and will become attached to it. It is our book. Whoever reads the Bible will have his spirit renewed. It is not enough to be familiar with the inspired book – we should find delight and nourishment in it. St. Augustine says we should interpret the Sacred Text for our own spiritual benefit and we can do this with a certain liberty since all applications are worthwhile. The inspirations that come to us while reading the Bible may not derive from the text itself but if they are beneficial we should follow them.
Holy Scripture! The more we read it, the more we study it, the more we will love it and find delight in it. In our Congregation Holy Scripture has always held first place and this will always be true. This is our primary study, the source of everything we study in theology, something we must continue to study throughout our lives. In the missions this should be your daily reading and it will become your consolation. When you are troubled read the Bible. You must read and meditate upon it. This is a school that never comes to an end. Let us love Sacred Scripture wholeheartedly – especially the Gospels and the letters of Paul. I want you to become attached to Holy Scripture!
Prayer
175. Pray always without tiring. We cultivate our interior life. Every action, spiritual and material, must begin and end with God. This spirit must accompany us every day of our life – only then will our lives truly belong totally to the Lord. Certainly the primary, most excellent and powerful of all prayers is the Mass. All other prayers point towards the Mass as their center. St. Thomas tells us that prayer elevates the mind, the heart and the whole soul into the presence of God. Should we pray? The Lord urges us to pray: we must “pray unceasingly without tiring” (Luke 18,1). “Watch and pray” (Matthew 26,41). And St. Paul, “pray ceaselessly” (I Thessalonians 5,17). The Lord Himself gives us an example: “In those days Jesus went off to the mountain to pray and passed the night in prayer” (Luke 6,12); “Gripped with anxiety He prayed more intensely” (Luke 22,44). The apostles did likewise: “We, on the other hand, devoted ourselves to prayer” (Acts 6,5).
To live well we must pray. St. Augustine tells us that to learn how to pray well is to learn how to live well. They say that St. Martin’s whole life was a ceaseless prayer: his eyes and hands were always raised to heaven. One who prays will be faithful to his vocation. Perseverance in one’s vocation is a great gift from God – only praying often and well will ensure it. I can affirm from my own personal experience that those who pray keep their vocation. In Msgr. Gastaldi’s time some people complained that seminarians spent too much time in prayer and should devote more time to study. Gastaldi did not agree. He later remarked, “They tell me, my dear seminarians, that I am making you pray too much. No, No! (his voice and gestures would become more emphatic) I am making you pray too little!” I would say the same thing to you: one can never pray enough.
St. Augustine urged his disciples to be devout – to cultivate the spirit of prayer. One might think that a Doctor of the Church, the greatest philosopher and theologian that ever lived, would have urged his followers to study more. But quite the contrary – he urged piety. The saints appreciated devotion and preferred it to everything else; they knew well that “piety is useful in every circumstance.” Piety will unite us to God and everything else will follow; the Lord will give us the grace we need if we pray well. At the moment of his death he said: charity and piety. We know that words said at the moment of death are sacred – they are a last will and testament.
176. The more work you have the more you should pray. Prayer is especially necessary for priests and missionaries. St. Joseph Cafasso said the priest must be a man of prayer. He would make the somewhat slangy but effective statement: Prayer was the priest’s job. If a priest does not pray often he is not a genuine priest. And missionaries? What can they possibly accomplish when they ignore the primary means to remain united with God? And how can we accomplish anything worthwhile if we are not united to God? We can accomplish more in fifteen minutes with prayer than in two hours without prayer. Our words are worthless if God’s grace is not present. Our primary obligation – and never forget it – is not to roll up our sleeves and work but to pray.
St. Joseph Cafasso further said, “It pains me to see priests who have too much work!” The expression “to work is to pray” can be misinterpreted. One who works out of obedience or necessity and does his work for God – prays. This does not free him from the need for real prayer even at the expense of time spent doing apostolic work. Remember the words of St. Bernard: we should be pools as well as channels. A channel allows water to pass without retaining anything for itself. Pools fill themselves up first and then let the extra water pass on to others.
Listen to what St. Paul has to say: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow” (I Corinthians 3,6-7). We are not the ones who accomplish something – it is the Lord; if He does not bless our work it is all in vain. It hurts me to hear someone say: “I can’t pray I have so many preaching engagements!” This individual may be preaching but he is really crying in the wind. Look at St. Joseph Cafasso – did he ever omit reading his breviary, praying the rosary or making meditation because he had too much to do? If he found no time during the day he would pray at night. This is how he composed those magnificent sermons and intense prayers to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
It Is so very easy to confuse our ”rior’ties! First of all we must become saints: first prayer and then good works for others. Let us love prayer. Pray and pray well. Never think that time devoted to prayer is time wasted. There are those who say “Nowadays we need action, action!” You should work but there is far more need of prayer than of work. We need God’s spirit. This is true in the missions as well: we will not be working alone out there. The more work you have to do the more you should pray. Some individuals no longer pray and use their work for others as an excuse – but in reality they are of no use to themselves or others. I am telling you all this because I want you to become men and women of prayer – from morning till night.
177. The Lord will not give us stones for bread. We must pray with the certainty that our prayers will be answered. God is all-powerful and infinitely generous; He both wants and can give us grace – we need only ask for it. One who knows how to pray well ties God’s hands and forces Him to give what is asked for. There are those who pray uncertain if their prayers will be answered. “Who knows if God will grant me this favor?” The Lord does not like this kind of feeble faith. We must be confident and insist: “I want it.” We must snatch favors from the Lord with our faith. We must have the sort of confidence that makes us appear bold, or even a bully – demanding miracles. The Lord will not be offended by this.
We must pray with humility. If we approach the Lord like the Pharisee and say: “Look at what I have given up, the sacrifices I have made, etc.” we will come away empty-handed. When praying our attitude must be one of humility: “Father, I deserve nothing – but I call on the merits of Your Son and ask you to grant the grace I need.” Our requests for favors must pass through the stream of Our Lady, the River of the Lord and into the ocean that is the Father.
We must persevere and not lose heart if God does not answer our prayers immediately. We knock on the door and if it isn’t opened we knock harder and if that doesn’t work we break down the door! The Lord teaches us to do this in the parable of the man who continues to annoy his neighbor during the night until he gives him bread (Cf. Luke 11,5-9).
Usually when you make a novena to the saints the favor is not granted immediately. Apparently the saints do not hear the first time you ask. If you make a second novena the saint begins to listen; if you make a third novena the saint will respond and grant the favor. If we are not granted the favor we prayed for we must never think that a syllable or a word of our prayer has fallen into the void. Prayer is never wasted time. Prayer is absolutely necessary if we are to accomplish anything worthwhile.
178. Praying the Liturgy of the Hours. St. Benedict called the Liturgy of the Hours the Work of God; for St. Bonaventure it is an imitation of the heavenly choir. The angels and saints raise their voice in unceasing praise of God in heaven and through the Liturgy of the Hours so the Church proclaims His praise here on earth. The Hymn for the Dedication of a Church says this so well: “In the heavenly dwelling place – praise sounds eternally – and with unceasing song – the One and Triune God is exalted. – We join our praise to theirs, imitating beloved Zion.”
When we pray the Liturgy of the Hours we must make the sentiments expressed our own. When we pray the psalms we should bear in mind the words of St. Augustine: “If the psalm sighs, sigh; if it prays, pray; if it rejoices, rejoice; if it hopes, hope; if it fears, fear.” How beautiful the Church’s words are! They are the words of the Holy Spirit. We would need entire days to relish them properly. I remember when I was a seminarian I resolved to read all the psalms from the first to the last during my vacation. I managed to do this – and found there was always something new to learn. Anyone approaching ordination should read the psalms through and try to understand them in depth.
We should follow the timetable the Church sets out for reciting the Liturgy of the Hours and never postpone prayer because we have too much work. To pray at the appropriate time is a sweet burden. Regarding place – we should if possible recite these prayers in church, the house of prayer. After Mass the Liturgy of the Hours is the best of prayers. Praising God is one of our primary concerns – it is something we will continue doing for all eternity.
179. Meditation warms the heart. We must reawaken within ourselves an ardent love of God and we can do this through praying properly and practicing daily meditation – a fire that will warm our soul. I hope to convince all of you of the importance of meditation (mental prayer); meditation should become a habit that you practice well and with relish. It is absolutely necessary if we hope to foster devotion, grow in the love of God and avoid sin. St. Alphonsus wrote that all the saints became saints by practicing mental prayer – it is therefore the shortest route to holiness. It is also necessary if we are to do good for others; it is written: “Blessed is the man … whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers” (Psalm 1,2-3).
We would make a distinction between meditation in the broad sense of the word and formal meditation. Everyone can practice this first sort of meditation at any time during the day. “How much I love your law, O Lord; I spend the whole day meditating on it” (Psalm 119,97). Even simple people can meditate: when they are on their way to the field and say “O Lord, I thank you for the good weather!” or while they are working “O Lord, I am doing this for You” or when from time to time they think of the Lord. This type of meditation is accessible to all and it is this type the saints recommend it to everyone. A farmer once came to tell me his daughter had decided to become a nun. I told him I would pray that the Lord would grant him the grace to make this sacrifice. He said,
“Yes, pray for me, I need prayers and I don’t ever pray. I go around all day with my head in the air.” Within a few minutes what he said revealed such deep faith and feeling that I realized he often thought of God. This was not formal meditation but it was nonetheless genuine as is praying slowly and thinking of each word. This is the kind of meditation you can practice whatever else you may be doing. This is the kind of thinking that keeps us in the presence of God.
For ordinary Christians this general type of meditation is enough. We, however, are committed to formal meditation as well and this involves reading a passage slowly, thinking about it and exercising our will and affection to make practical decisions. We choose the passage that has made the strongest impression and think about it – at the same time making acts of love, thanksgiving and praise. Meditation is the work of the mind but it affects the heart. It is not enough just to think about something our affection and intention must be involved. Meditation must engage our total concentration; we must place ourselves in the presence of God. We begin by reading the passage that struck us; it is not necessary to meditate on each single word – it is probably better to focus on one point; the heart finds nourishment and chews it over and over – just like a cow. We conclude our meditation by making resolutions – few and practical – and asking the Lord to help us keep them.
This morning, for example, I meditated on the parable of the good seed and the weeds. I thought: my heart is a field – is there good seed sown in it? Yes but unfortunately there are probably weeds as well. Weeds can be malice or some other imperfection; weeds can be a reluctance to obey. O Lord – how many weeds there are! Grant me the grace to root them out immediately – let me not tarry, let me weed the field immediately. And then the good seed may be weak and feeble. Oh if it were only beautiful and healthy. Whatever I do today – I want it to be good seed, therefore I will avoid this occasion or that temptation. We must be committed to meditation and never omit it; if we really delight in meditation we will always find the time. St. Alphonsus tells us that a day without meditation is a day wasted.
180. Milestones during the day. Mental prayer alone is not enough – we must also practice vocal prayer and manifest externally what we feel within. When we are filled with the love of God and genuinely enthusiastic showing these feelings through vocal prayer is the most natural thing in the world. Vocal prayer is as necessary as external worship, the support and logical consequence of internal worship. When Jesus tells us in the Gospel to pray, He is talking about vocal prayer as well as mental prayer.
How do we practice vocal prayer? First of all we must not simply say the words. Isaiah, speaking for the Lord, reproved the Jewish people: “These people approach me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29,13). To say the Our Father over and over again without grasping its meaning is pointless. Prayer requires concentration and feeling. We must know we are saying and both understand and follow the meaning: we must speak to God heart to heart.
Vocal prayer can be individual or common (with others). Common prayer has strength and the Lord listens to it willingly – He told us as much in the Gospel. We must be committed to common prayer; we must join in prayer with the community. All those who are in the missions unite themselves to us in this prayer and so it is the body of the Institute wich prays in union with the Church. We must prefer common to private prayer; our private prayers should be few and sincere.
Our Congregation prescribes several vocal prayers to be recited in common. Why are these prayers spread throughout the day? Because they help us sanctify the day and keep us mindful of God’s love as we perform our daily tasks. St. Paul urges us: “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3,17). Vocal prayers are milestones that mark our journey through the day; they make us reflect on what we are doing and keep us close to God. We must be determined to say these prayers carefully and not hurriedly; we must say these prayers with interior and exterior devotion. There is never any justification for hurried prayers. If vocal prayer is recited slowly and with devotion it becomes mental prayer.
181. A spirit of prayer. We know that Jesus told us to pray always (Cf. Luke 18,1); we must be enveloped in a spirit of prayer just as our bodies are enveloped in clothes. We pray in the morning and evening and at various times throughout the day; these are acts of prayer and this habit creates a spirit of prayer.
How is it that after so many days, months and years of performing these acts of devotion we are still so far from perfection? We are not just saying this to be humble – it is the truth. There can be only one answer: either we do not pray well or we derive no benefit from our prayers. In a field or vineyard it is not enough to plant good seed carefully – we must tend the plants until they are ready to be harvested. We must see our devotions as gardens where we gather bouquets of flowers that perfume the whole day.
We must live in a spirit of recollection; we must avoid dissipation and practice the presence of God. Dissipation is like a wind that blows away everything in its path. Certainly it takes time and effort to cultivate a spirit of recollection – but it is something we must do. It will be even more difficult in the missions given the many works you have to perform. A spirit of recollection is absolutely necessary if we are to derive any benefit from what we do. Otherwise our devotional practices are isolated events, oases in the midst of a desert. When it is impossible to keep our mind fixed on God we must refer all our actions to Him and then everything will become a prayer. This is what a spirit of prayer consists of – it will be supremely helpful for our inner life.
Missionaries ought to be capable of preserving a spirit of recollection everywhere; they should be able to move from study or work to prayer; they also are to be close to God through continual or frequent thoughts of Him; in short they must pray together and be totally committed to prayer. Without this spirit they will never be good missionaries. They may deceive themselves and think they are good missionaries – but they are not. Happy are those who manage to make progress in the interior life with a spirit of recollection and prayer.
182. In the presence of God. Our ideal is to live permanently in the presence of God – one of the most effective ways of becoming a saint. The Lord told Abraham: “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless” (Genesis 17,1). Many of the patriarchs were praised because they walked in the presence of God. Enoch “walked with God” (Genesis 5, 22). Among his contemporaries, Noah was a just and blameless man who “walked with God” (Genesis 6,9). What wonderful praise! Each step they took was in the presence of the Lord. When we walk in the presence of God we do things well, perfectly.
It is absolutely necessary that we live, breathe and lose ourselves in God. “I keep my eyes fixed on the Lord” (Psalm 25, 15). I like this expression so much – it is something to commit to memory. Let us keep our eyes ever fixed on God just as God’s eyes are continually fixed on us. God sees me! The angels and saints rejoice in heaven “because they continually see the face of my Father” (Matthew 18,1). Even though we cannot see Him with our bodily eyes if we are accustomed to living in His presence we will enjoy heaven on earth. The Lord Himself is heaven.
One way to live in the presence of God is to reflect on His immensity: “In Him we live, we move and we exist” (Acts 17,28). On our own we cannot take a step without God. St. Ambrose tells us: “God is without, God is within, God is everywhere.” Another way of living in His presence is to think about the Lord Jesus Christ present in our churches. He is in the Blessed Sacrament with His real presence and we are really present before Him – distance means nothing to Him. Awareness of Jesus’ presence in the Blessed Sacrament must become a habit for us. He looks at me and I look at Him – our looks meet in love. Another way to live in the presence of God is to think of His indwelling within us: “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14,23). St. Paul writes: “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?” (I Corinthians 3,16). What an extraordinary and comforting thought. We are truly the temple of God!
St. Joseph Cafasso had many little cards printed which he distributed everywhere. On the card was written “God sees me!” St. Joseph Cottolengo had already done this in the Little House of Providence. We must repeat often to ourselves, “God sees me!” Never forget that we are in the presence of God. This in no way impedes our work. One can be totally focused on work and totally focused on God. Remember if we want to energize our daily activity we must grasp these methods. They are things that make an impression, they are things that delight us. Try it and you will see that it is heaven.