Going Deeper Into Prayer

I learned a lot from the course I took on the writings of St. Teresa of Avila from the School of Spiritual Formation at the Avila Institute online. Previously I shared one of the insights I received on the deep meaning of the Lord’s Prayer. Today I’d like to share a little bit of what I learned about prayer.

The Church’s understanding of the humanity and divinity of Christ has deepened and evolved through time. Much of what we understand today comes down to us through the works of the early church doctors, the first to try to explain the mystery of how Christ is fully divine and fully human at the same time. St Teresa, though she didn’t study theology, understood that Christ’s bearing of our humanity is what allows us to come to Him in prayer and allows Him to transform us into Himself. We can only reach our full potential if we are in union with Christ.

This transformation comes from within, brought about by Christ, as we progress through the stages of prayer; this progress is meant to bring us closer to Him, so that He can transform us into what we are created to be. St Teresa teaches that we must measure our prayer experiences against Biblical examples of prayer. Our prayer life must be subject to the Bible and Church teachings as well as personal experience of Christ. Jesus is both the Master and the object of prayer, and the more profound our prayer becomes, the more deeply we experience Christ.

St Teresa also teaches that while we are contemplating Christ in His humanity, we should not become attached to corporeal images because they can be an impediment to contemplation. We should not be focusing on the image, but on Christ who is behind the image. She goes on to say that, once having experienced the prayer of quiet, it is impossible to go back to using the corporeal images, as they get in the way of experiencing Christ directly.

There is also tremendous consolation and growth that comes when we contemplate Christ’s Passion, as difficult for us as that might be. We can hardly bear to look upon such suffering, but if we do, we will realize that Christ bore those sufferings for us, and if we unite our sufferings to His, He gives us the strength we need to overcome them and obey His will. If we want to please God and receive His favor, we must do so through the humanity of Christ, in whom God is well pleased. Christ shows us the way to endure trials and sufferings and He will always be with us to strengthen us.

The goal is to be transformed by divine love. We must continually recall and contemplate the great love that God has for us and strive to remember that Christ is always with us to sustain us;

Another way to deepen our prayer life is to perform the daily examination of conscience, saying the act of contrition and making the sign of the cross; as we strive to keep Christ as our constant companion, with love, He will stay beside us to strengthen us and to keep us in His love. Whenever we are troubled or anxious, undergoing trials or sufferings, we should contemplate Christ in His suffering and Passion, particularly in the Garden. Whenever people misunderstand us, ridicule us or persecute us, we should meditate on the corresponding parts of Christ’s Passion, His trial, the scourging and Crucifixion.

Where Christ went in His humanity, so we go as His children. We must take up our crosses and follow our Lord through crucifixion to resurrection and new life, united to Him in His humanity, transformed into His image and likeness.