Episode 52: O Mother, in your holy heart / deeply inscribe each name / and as a sign that we are yours / write it with blood and flame. / In love and childlike gratitude / your name shall also be / deeply inscribed within my heart / for all eternity. - "Oneness with Mary" Prayer by Fr. Joseph Kentenich
How can we better pray like the Blessed Mother, "taking all things and pondering them in our hearts"? What does St. Teresa of Avila mean when she writes, "Contemplative prayer in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking the time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us"? Tune in to this episode as author and host Julia Monnin* shares a few thoughts about these questions while reflecting on Fr. Kentenich's "Oneness with Mary" prayer and the teaching in the Catechism of the Catholic Church found in paragraphs 2705–2707.
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"Meditation is above all a quest. The mind seeks to understand the why and how of the Christian life, in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking. The required attentiveness is difficult to sustain. We are usually helped by books, and Christians do not want for them . . . (CCC, 2705). To meditate on what we read helps us to make it our own by confronting it with ourselves. Here, another book is opened: the book of life. We pass from thoughts to reality. To the extent that we are humble and faithful, we discover in meditation the movements that stir the heart and we are able to discern them. It is a question of acting truthfully in order to come into the light: 'Lord, what do you want me to do?' (CCC, 2706). There are as many and varied methods of meditation as there are spiritual masters. Christians owe it to themselves to develop the desire to meditate regularly . . . But a method is only a guide; the important thing is to advance, with the Holy Spirit, along the one way of prayer: Christ Jesus" (CCC, 2707).
*Learn more about Julia's books, podcasts, and blog at theworldisnoisy.com
