Life of Prayer Emanuela De Nunzio
Since the approval of the Pauline Rule, the thematic relation of the "brave initiatives" in the promotion of justice particularly in the field of public life (Rule n.15 Reg. SFO) has taken a greater and more pressing format in the formative process of Secular Franciscans and in the attention of the Fraternity to all levels. There is no refresher course, no formation text, neither Assembly nor Chapter in which these arguments do not occupy a preponderant, if not exclusive, space. That was probably necessary in a phase in which it was be a matter of giving a jolt to the Secular Franciscan Order in order to let it out it from a stasis, that had lasted a long time, and had obfuscated the dynamism of its origins and the fervor of the social initiatives of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance. A stasis that in many places "had ghettoed" the Fraternities, transforming them in devotional, personal piety, and sterile groups. I wonder if we are not falling in the opposite excess. I wonder also if the SFO is not walking in the way of life of so many Christians today, convinced that the engagement toward humanity exhausts that toward God. The Holy Father Benedict XVI encourages us to guard against this attitude, when - he asserts – constitutes "justification by means of works". And he continues: "man justifies himself when he carries out in the world where he lives what clearly seems necessary, but lacks the inner light and the spirit of all" (7 November 2006 - Speech to the Bishops of Switzerland). The Holy Father expresses the conviction that the "centrality of God" must appear in all our thoughts and works. Faith guides us decidedly toward God and it seeks to push us toward God also by means of our works. In the contrary, the works can easily decay into activism and become empty. Today there is also, and in a very subtle way, a great danger in a certain way of considering prayer: that to pray is a means of escape from the grip of pain, desolation, and the hard work of living. There is a lot of misunderstanding, or at least of minimalization, in looking at this sacred action in which the baptismal link is expressed. That the Christian prayer can be identified in terms of mental hygiene, self help, relaxing methods, in order to exit from the stresses of daily life in a complex society like ours. How to avoid these risks? In the Gospel Jesus gives to his disciples the example of the prayer that accompanies every moment of his mission and reminds them that it is necessary "to always pray, without ceasing". He tells them not to worry about annoying, or importunating the Father, "crying day and night toward him". Recalling the instruction of the Master, St. Paul recommends to the Thessalonians: "Pray incessantly, in everything giving thanks; this in fact is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you " (1 Thess. 5, 16-18). The great Fathers of the Church of East and West, the spiritual masters of all times, have tried to explain this necessity to always pray. What does it mean? How is it possible to always pray? The solution to the problem of always praying, without interruption, is that of Origen: "He prays without pause that joins the prayer to the necessary works, and the works to the prayer. Therefore we only can consider realizable the prescription to pray without rest." This solution constitutes living in a continuous state of prayer. The prayer life becomes a personal habitual disposition, independently from the other actions that complete it. Prayer has a determining role in the life of St. Francis. Consider his great confidence in the Highest One, Omnipotent, and Good Lord. Francis, in an instruction on prayer, doesn’t give a method that standardizes praying. This prayer, inspired from the Writings, leaves the heart under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Francis, filled up with the love of Jesus, "Jesus door of my heart, Jesus on my lips, Jesus in my hands, Jesus in all my other limbs" (FF 522). Further, making reference to the Gospel, he exhorts the brothers to direct their hearts to God, because the heart is the center of man, the center of decisions: in the heart inhabits either Satan or God with His Word. For their entire life men are exposed to the danger that "suddenly the devil comes and takes away that which has been seeded in their hearts, because they did not believe and were saved" (FF 58). The prayer is therefore for Francis much more than one meditation on God, or one succession of words. To the contrary, it is a loving interaction with God, a permanent link with God. On the footsteps of our Seraphic Father, our Rule (n.6) prescribes: "As Jesus was the true worshipper of the Father, therefore (Secular Franciscans) make prayer and contemplation the spirit of being and working". We cannot consider ourselves only the Franciscan laity because we meet once a month, or every fifteen days, or even once a week. These encounters are useful for living in fraternity and in order to increase the sense of belonging to the Order, but if we want to be authentic children of St. Francis we must learn to always pray, without tiring. For the Secular Franciscan, the instruction of uninterrupted prayer is contained in the art. 14.5 of the CC. GG.: "In every place and every time it is possible for the true worshippers of the Father to render worship and to pray; however the brothers should try to find times of silence dedicated exclusively to prayer ". Prayer is the natural atmosphere in which we learn to perfect ourselves, to sanctification, to purify our distractions from the thousands of pressures and often consciences suffocated by the triviality of daily life. Prayer is the only way to "listen to the voice of the Spirit", to receive and to love suffering in kind and disease in species. Tertulliano: "the Christian prayer... will not give the gift of immunization from pain, but it certainly gives the virtue of firm support and patience to those who suffer, increases the abilities of the spirit with the gift of faith in reward, shows the great value of pain accepted in the name of God". We cannot operate well in our work if we don’t pray during and after. The uninterrupted prayer is the arena in which we learn to taste eternity in this time by means of the exercise of the "mystic of the quotidian" (Karl Rahner) to which all Christians are called, and in a particular way the laity. Only by exercising the mystic of the quotidian, we become ready also to see the possibilities of a higher life: the work of heroic sacrifice (when offered), the mortal testing, the blessed soul’s prodigality, the holy madness, and finally the transitus in which we will die our own death, which is death in the death of Christ. How can we be ready for this sublime hour, that nobody can search for and reach, according to a inscrutable designated second, without maintaining ourselves ready, as much as possible, in our living our daily life? |
