Vocal Prayer and Meditation
one
But we must begin with asking: What is prayer?
a. St. Teresa of Avila, the great master and teacher of prayer defines prayer this way: “Mental prayer…is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; its means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.”
i. Prayer is Friendship with God
b. What does friendship take?
i. It takes time
ii. Talking
iii. Listening (which means knowing, understanding, and loving God)
iv. And then just being together
c. This corresponds to the three major expressions of prayer defined by the Catechism (2699):
i. Vocal prayer - speaking to God;
ii. Meditation – listening to God;
iii. Contemplation – just being with the One who we know loves us
two
The friendship of prayer begins with Vocal Prayer
a. The Catechism (2700) says: Through his Word, God speaks to man. By words, mental or vocal we speak to God
i. Vocal Prayer just means speaking to God silently our out loud
b. Examples of vocal prayer are:
i. The Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be; the prayers of the Mass; the Divine Mercy Chaplet, novenas and other formal or written prayers
ii. The most important vocal prayer is just speaking to God straight from the honesty of your own heart, as one friend to another.
c. The most important thing we need to tell people is this
i. Any one can speak to God and He will listen and answer
ii. It does not matter how good or bad they their lives have been;
iii. It does not matter what their religion is;
iv. It doesn’t even matter whether they are a believer or an atheist.
v. Any person can have immediate contact with God by speaking with him;
vi. He hears every person
vii. He answers every prayer
1. God wants to speak to every person!
d. People object saying, “God never speaks to me.”
i. This is not true I say
1. God speaks to everyone
ii. The question is this:
1. Do we know how to listen?
three
There are two necessary things to hear God – the first is silence
Mother Teresa said: “In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with Himself. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence.”
“We must improve our prayer and, flowing from that, our charity toward others. It can be difficult to pray when we don’t know how, but we can help ourselves through the use of silence. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence. This silence takes a lot of sacrifice, but if we really want to pray, we must be ready to take that step now. Without this first step toward silence, we will not be able to reach our goal, which is union with God.
We forget that in the silence of the heart God speaks, and from the fullness of the heart we speak. Only when we have heard him in the silence of our hearts, only when we have learned to listen to God in the silence of our hearts, only then can we say: I pray. There is no either/or about prayer and love. We can’t say we have either prayer or love: There is no prayer without love and no love without prayer.
The fruit of silence is prayer.
The fruit of prayer is faith.
The fruit of faith is love.
The fruit of love is service.
The fruit of service is peace.”
According to Mother Teresa, peace, service, love, faith and prayer all find their origin in silence.
Do you spend time in silence?
four
Before we can hear God, we need to know where He speaks
a. Jesus is the Word of God
i. And God says everything we need to know through Jesus
b. All that Jesus wants to tell us is to be found in His Word which is comprised of three things:
i. Scripture
ii. Tradition
1. the writings of the saints
iii. Magisterium
1. The official teaching of the Catholic Church
2. The Catechism one great example and the best synthesis of the whole Word of God
c. But the best place to begin to listen to God is by reading the four Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
i. In these we find the life and words of Jesus
ii. When we read them He speaks to us
d. Have you ever taken one of the Gospels and read it chapter by chapter?
i. Or take the Gospel for each day of the Mass
1. Read it
2. Think about it
3. Jesus is speaking to you
five
The Second Necessary thing to Listen to God is Daily Meditation
a. Meditation is like having coffee with a friend
i. Set a specific time and place conducive to a leisurely intimate conversation
ii. Talk and share
iii. Listen and understand
iv. Just enjoy the time together
b. Teresa of Avila gives us three simple steps to meditation
i. Read or listen to something from the Word of God found in Scripture, the writings or lives of the Saints or the teaching of the Church
1. As soon as something strikes you – stop reading
ii. Reflect or think about what struck you
1. Try to Understand the passage; observe what is going on or being said and ask questions.
2. Apply it to your life
3. Speak with Jesus about this in a frank and honest way
4. Draw conclusions that fit your life
iii. Resolution: Every Meditation should end by choosing something practical and concrete to remember or to do that day based on your meditation
God wants a deep friendship with you.
Talk to him from the heart each day
Make time to listen to him by reflecting in silence on His Word
He is there
He will answer