Aug 12 2009
Prayer of the Heart
In Chapter XI of Contemplative Prayer (by Thomas Merton, with an Introduction by Thich Nhat Hanh), Merton writes:
What is the purpose of meditation in the sense of “the prayer of the heart”?
In the “prayer of the heart” we seek first of all the deepest ground of our identity in God. We do not reason about dogmas of faith, or “the mysteries.” We seek rather to gain a direct existential grasp, a personal experience of the deepest truths of life and faith, finding ourselves in God’s truth….
We wish to gain a true evaluation of ourselves and of the world so as to understand the meaning of our life as children of God redeemed from sin and death. We wish to gain a true loving knowledge of God, our Father and Redeemer. We wish to lose ourselves in his love and rest in him. We wish to hear his word and respond to it with our whole being. We wish to know his merciful will and submit to it in its totality.
Sister Donna has recently discovered prayer of the heart, and her joy and enthusiasm is contagious, as you will see in this video. She has put together a 6-part YouTube series (the introduction to which is the second video in this post), based on St. Teresa of Avila’s The Way of Perfection. [Note: Although she mentions St. Therese of Lisieux's 'little way' in the first video here, her series is actually based on St. Teresa of Avila's writing.] So we will be taking a little journey here at Contemplative Haven with Sister Donna! If you would like to read the chapters that Sister Donna is highlighting in her videos but do not have a copy of The Way of Perfection, you can read it online at Catholic First.
4 Responses to “Prayer of the Heart”
-
# Con 12 Aug 2009 at 4:53 pm
I’m looking forward to Parts 2-6 later today (if they are all as brief, or I’ll split them up). As happens when one wants to pray better, someone or something starts up — for the length of Part 1, the neighbours’ condos were mowed and then I sneezed 30 times. I heard the whole thing, tho’, with the laptop against my ear. The very second it was over, the lawnmowers went away and I stopped sneezing..I am beginning to catch on, eh? 
I was surprised to hear that it was Pope Paul VI who canonized her in 1970 as a Doctor of the Church. That in itself pleases me no end.. one sees the hand of the Holy Spirit in all this, and I hardly feel worthy to explore it, but I will. Thank you so much for posting this.
-
# gabrielleon 12 Aug 2009 at 5:07 pm
C, these 2 vids are an interview and an intro. I’ll be posting the series (Parts 1 thru 6) over the next few weeks, so I can reread the appropriate Chapters of The Way of Perfection and maybe do some commentary on Sister’s videos. I hope you enjoy them!
-
# Con 12 Aug 2009 at 6:14 pmOh, I know, G — I went to Sister Donna’s site! You find the greatest stuff!! I look forward to your going into more depth with it all.
-
# gabrielleon 16 Aug 2009 at 1:11 amMe too! I received a sweet little email from Sister Donna! I will ask her tomorrow if I can share a little bit of it.
