Dryness in the 2nd Week of the Exercises ...
Sự khô khan trong cầu nguyện ở Tuần 2 Linh Thao có thể là cách Chúa dùng để thanh tẩy khỏi lòng chúng ta tất cả những gì không thuộc về Ngài.
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(Fr. Thomas H. Green, SJ - A Vacation with the Lord, p. 101)
Even the dryness can have a different coloring from day to day. That may sound strange, but to those who have experienced it, I think it will be clear enough. And it suggests a general phenomenon that we can note, now that we are well settled into the retreat. There is a certain maturing in prayer that St. Ignatius would expect even within the retreat. For example, beginners will usually find that it is much easier to pray as the days go by, provided they are faithful and generous. They may find that the prayer of the first day or two is a struggle with a thousand distractions, and then they may be surprised later how much easier it is to become quiet. They may find it very heavy at the beginning to spend a whole hour at prayer; later they may be surprised how much easier it is to stay that long and even at times a little bit longer.
On the other hand, experienced retreatants, whose prayer is initially more reflective or affective, may find the first day or two very consoling and then find themselves encountering sustained dryness. The Lord may, and often does, take the retreat as an ideal time to lead us to a deeper level of prayer. In that case, the retreat may not be a time of election, of any big decision, but rather a school of contemplation. In that case, the election, the decision or choice that we make, is simply to say "yes" to God drawing us deeper. He calls us to let go of the security of our insights or of our feelings of his presence and to let him draw us to something new, to a more transforming and less consoling prayer - prayer that is more like surgery than like a birthday party. That in itself is abundant fruit for one retreat.
Whatever is happening, it is all part of putting on the Lord Jesus. Provided I am generous and sincere, I should have somewhere deep within myself a strong sense that he is truly working his will. Even if it is deadly dry, somehow this is a dryness that is burning out of me everything that is not Christ. Painful as it may be, it is the only way to become more one with him. As he learned obedience through suffering, so too, perhaps, must I. Certainly I must! So whatever is happening, it is the Lord. What I need and desire most is the gift of discerning love. Then I can be happy with whatever he is doing, as long as it is the Lord doing it.
...
(Fr. Thomas H. Green, SJ - A Vacation with the Lord, p. 101)
Even the dryness can have a different coloring from day to day. That may sound strange, but to those who have experienced it, I think it will be clear enough. And it suggests a general phenomenon that we can note, now that we are well settled into the retreat. There is a certain maturing in prayer that St. Ignatius would expect even within the retreat. For example, beginners will usually find that it is much easier to pray as the days go by, provided they are faithful and generous. They may find that the prayer of the first day or two is a struggle with a thousand distractions, and then they may be surprised later how much easier it is to become quiet. They may find it very heavy at the beginning to spend a whole hour at prayer; later they may be surprised how much easier it is to stay that long and even at times a little bit longer.
On the other hand, experienced retreatants, whose prayer is initially more reflective or affective, may find the first day or two very consoling and then find themselves encountering sustained dryness. The Lord may, and often does, take the retreat as an ideal time to lead us to a deeper level of prayer. In that case, the retreat may not be a time of election, of any big decision, but rather a school of contemplation. In that case, the election, the decision or choice that we make, is simply to say "yes" to God drawing us deeper. He calls us to let go of the security of our insights or of our feelings of his presence and to let him draw us to something new, to a more transforming and less consoling prayer - prayer that is more like surgery than like a birthday party. That in itself is abundant fruit for one retreat.
Whatever is happening, it is all part of putting on the Lord Jesus. Provided I am generous and sincere, I should have somewhere deep within myself a strong sense that he is truly working his will. Even if it is deadly dry, somehow this is a dryness that is burning out of me everything that is not Christ. Painful as it may be, it is the only way to become more one with him. As he learned obedience through suffering, so too, perhaps, must I. Certainly I must! So whatever is happening, it is the Lord. What I need and desire most is the gift of discerning love. Then I can be happy with whatever he is doing, as long as it is the Lord doing it.
I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans like a worldly man, ready to say Yes and No at once? As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No; but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God. (2 Cor 1: 16-20).
posted by magis at
6:46 AM
