The Message

So far, in these notes on prayer, we have looked at five subjects:

1. Prayer, Hearing Is Believing
2. A Place To Pray
3. In His Presence
4. First Principle
5. Passage

These subjects are connected to a new series, on the New Evangelization. In order to evangelize, one must "know" and "understand" the Message they are proclaiming. Here, knowing flows directly from a personal experience of the Message encounter in prayer. Understanding of the Message is rooted in the heart, as one is deeply moved and their life is transformed by what they hear.

It is good and necessary to study scripture from an academic perspective, drawing on the rich resource of knowledge handed on through knowledgeable and dedicated scholars. But when one is taught by the Spirit in prayer, not only do they know about the Lord, they "know" the Lord as one whom they have met personally.

There is a beautiful and inspiring example of this in the gospel story of the two disciples encountering the risen Lord on the Road to Emmaus.    

• They know Jesus as the holy man of God from Galilee.
• They have heard him teach, saw his works of power and are deeply impressed.
• They number themselves among his followers.
• Their expectation about Jesus, like the others, has been crushed by his Crucifixion.
• They even have heard reports that he may still be alive.

Yet, it is not until they encounter him personally, that their faith becomes a true work of grace, not a product of man's doing. “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?”

Only Grace can set our hearts burning within us, when the Spirit opens the scriptures. "...... Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures ......" It is from this experience of grace that the true evangelist springs forth.

What do I hear?

In the account of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, there is a particular sequence of events that serves as a helpful model for our prayer experience.

1. They are reviewing the events leading up to Jesus Crucifixion. We have a passage of scripture that we are pondering for our prayer. So we:

• ... retell the event in our own words, as if recounting it to someone else.
• ... who do I see, who stands out to me, who draws my attention, why?
• ... what are they doing, what are they saying, is it anything like what I would do?
• ... what impresses me, what repulses me, what puzzles me about the event?
• ... of the dialogue, describe what I hear in my own words ... what do I agree with, what do I disagree with?

2. Jesus enters into their discussion, things change.

• ... here I invite the Lord to enter my prayer, to speak to me, to guide and direct the course of what will follow in this prayer.
• ... now I speak to the Lord ... I redirect, what I have been considering, to the Lord, telling him how I see things, what moves me, what stumps me about this text.

3. Now Jesus speaks, they listen!

• ... am I listening or am I still trying to figure things out? (Be quiet myself)
• ... what new thoughts are emerging ... no mater how unusual?
• ... back to quiet, to listening.

4. "Were not our hearts ..."

• ... rather than answers, I look to my heart ... what is moving, changing the way I feel?
• ... what is uplifting, encouraging, inspiring, drawing me to it?
• ... do I feel encouraged to meet what challenges?

5. They urged Jesus, "stay with us ..."

• ... when a certain text stands out, we should stay with it, returning to the text as often as it continues to speak to us; even if we have been following a set outline of texts.

6. “They recounted what has happened … and how he was made known to them          

     in the breaking of the bread.”

• When Grace is at work, positive feelings remain with you, continuing to speak to our hearts, especially in places and at times when Grace is near, especially during the Eucharist.
• As we share what has been told to us, we see how others are moved by what we say.

The New Evangelist

We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God. And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms. 1Cor. 2:12