predication.net

He was a French thinker. He had extraordinary gifts and abilities. At the age of 16, he became one of the leading mathematicians of his time. At the age of 19, he built a calculating machine. He was a deep thinker with an extraordinary sense of the fundamental problems of man and his life. Together with Descartes, Pascal acknowledged the power and importance of reason, for he was a mathematician and a physicist. But he realized that reason alone was not enough for life as a whole. He had nothing against reasoning, against his analytical-synthetic procedures. But isn’t cognition sudden, unexpected, intuitive? Knowledge by feeling is not the same as knowledge by reason. Pascal meant something severe and yet explicitly human, which he expressed in the word coeur – heart. With his heart, he understood the personal center of man, his innermost center of spiritual activity, of relations with others and with the world. In this sense, Pascal said that the heart has its reasons about which cold reason knows nothing. A cold logician hardly understands this, but the mother understands it, I know it by those who love it, it is understood by the one who sacrifices for something, who he lives .. By this, we will argue logically. They live according to the logic of the heart.
The reason is not the only one that teaches and guides us in life. Pascal recognized that the ideal of mathematical certainty could only be achieved in mathematics. All other sciences will never attain this degree of certainty. Pascal realized that the balanced and orderly medieval image of the world and man’s place in it was shaken by the discoveries of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo. The earth ceased to be the center and, together with man, found itself in a universe where abysses and infinity opened up in all directions. To many, the man seemed to be at odds with the cosmic forces. Pascal wrote. What is a man in the face of the infinity of the universe?
Nothing more than nothing. However, when we examine a person under a microscope up to an atom, a person is enormous compared to him—what a disproportion, what greatness and misery are in the midst of this world. Man is almost nothing to the grand universe and nearly everything to the microworld. Man can not know the origin and purpose of everything around him; he stands before an impenetrable secret, unable to understand the nothingness from which he was lifted to life but also the infinity that surrounds and absorbs him. I will cut many weaknesses into people. They make him an independent, unbelieving believer, not threatened by a frightened man, in his resistance to truth and justice, in his pride and vanity. Man’s friendships fall apart; his love cools. He enjoys the little things; big things escape him. Since man cannot overcome death, he tries to avoid it by not thinking about it. At the same time, he is still preoccupied with less severe, insignificant things. Whether he is hiding behind dance and half, behind the game and sports, behind the visits. Pascal says when we put down the masks, we find nothing but the fear of being alone. Man is afraid of his smallness and emptiness. From the bottom of his soul emerges the boredom of melancholy sadness, satiety, and uncertainty.

It is the duty of each of us to take care of our soul, Why is alms? What can we do with it? Jesus says, “Give what is inside as alms, and all things will be to you clean” (Luke 11:41).
Jesus emphasizes the difference between the concepts of inside and outside. He gives us . It is made clear that God, who sees deep into the human heart, wants it clean. He emphasized the core with his sharp answer to your teaching. We are not afraid of ceremonial impurity, but the contaminant of sinners’ attitudes that obscure our insides. Intolerance, dishonesty, arrogance, greed, selfishness – these and many other attitudes defile us. Everyone is possible, we agree that our words and deeds have their roots in the attitude of the heart. If we get rid of what is inside that offends the Lord, then our terms will also be purified and deeds to gain new freedom and strength to carry out the Lord’s commandments.
Every time we perform the sacrament of reconciliation, we experience inner desire and need to cleanse the inside of the precious vessel that is our soul. It always spills into it The life of Christ. Sir, the Pharisee, has invited you to the table to take his place. The sentence can to say the other way around: You ask us to the table to feed us with the best
the food you can give: to yourself.
In today’s prayer, let us ask the Holy Spirit to show us what in we are to purify our hearts so that our souls may be ready for the coming of Christ. Holy Spirit, look into my heart today and show me where I have allowed sin to take root. Make me more sensitive to your voice to quickly come to Jesus and let Him cleanse me. Wash me with the blood of Christ so that all I do it came from a pure heart.

Near vision of God from face to face is the root of eternal bliss. The “Light of Glory” will help our weak spirit to this vision, transcending it in words. My God, with your light, you allow us to look at you for who you are. Everyone will penetrate the secrets of the Father as much as the light of glory will strengthen his spirit. Every effort, every merit, improves our eternal position. Every spark of love here on earth ignites a new, never-extinguishing spark of our glory how great must be the glory of the great souls that the Church worships a particular cult, how great must be the glory of the martyrs, the apostles, the Virgin Mary. Direct vision is such vision infinitely superior to analogous knowledge of God. True vision is such perfect knowledge that is close to the inside, by which God knows himself.

Our understanding will be as if on one floor with God’s understanding. We will know him as he knows us. St. Augustine has tried several times to describe heavenly happiness. He described it in his work “The Community of God,” or as a community of joy and peace. There will be no division; there will be peace. This perfect peace lies in order and in the ideal unity of all who rejoice in God. How happily he will live there. Nothing can illustrate the ideal harmony that prevails in all our relationships. This state will last forever, and we will be assured of its eternal duration. No one will be more envious than the angels envy the archangel.
Everything will be based on the truth. It will be true glory that will not be caused by error or flattery. The honor will not be denied any merit here, but even the unworthiness will not get it because whoever unworthy could claim it. St. Augustine ends his work with so often quoted words. Up there, we will rest and see. We will see and love. We will love and praise. The three characteristics of the City of God, whose king is truth, whose law is love, whose duration is eternity, will finally be perfectly realized in heaven. God created us for himself, and our hearts are dissatisfied until they rest in you. St. Augustine writes to us.

Four types of prayers, according to St. Paul.
St. Paul (1 Tim 2: 1) calculates four kinds of prayers: “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and Thanksgiving *. Greek words are not enough to determine what species of prayers, the apostle had exactly in mind. Christian authors (Origenes, St. Thomas Aquinas and others) give a definition a little artificial. For example. according to Origen, the first species means «Prayers that someone sends to achieve what he needs *. So, in short, it is a pleading prayer. In the second place is «prayer with the giving of praise for things above *. Then comes the prayer that means «A request to God, to which the one who has the greater dares trust in God *. The last kind, Thanksgiving, needs no explanation. However, if we read pretty simply, we can say that there are only two kinds of prayers: praying and giving thanks.
Prayer and thanksgiving prayer
The first prayer we know from life and the Scriptures in prayer. A person feels weak, exposed to danger, so he asks for help in a higher, more powerful being, God. According to St. Basil it is a prayer “a prayer by which pious people turn to God.” We read examples of such requests on almost everyone pages of the Old Testament. Literary criticism points to external similarities of Jewish prayers with Babylonian and Egyptian prayers. And yet, there are differences. There is something impersonal, official in the Egyptian cult. The people of Bologna praise the deity with many celebratory titles to incline him. Jews, however, are aware that their relationship with God is something special. And the LORD hath made a covenant with Abba and is willing to help him whenever the people turn to him. They often turn to God and individuals, even in the minor difficulties of daily life. However, in the Psalms, which are the official prayers of the Jewish cult, they usually ask for more fantastic gifts: wisdom, God’s fear, trust in danger, the forgiveness of game breeding, etc.
The Fathers of the Church like to show us how to pray for the feeling of scarcity, misery, weakness. To whoever would have him did not feel, answers St. Johannes Chrysostomus: «Are you saying that you don’t need to pray? That’s why you need to pray to you, it looks like you don’t need it. “Johannes Chrysostomus it seems, then, that natural disasters, such as floods, crop failures, hunger, are not such great evil. They awaken in man’s consciousness of need, they turn their minds to God, and therefore they are even by the gifts of God.
In a Christmas message from 1955, he shows Pius. XII., As, on the contrary, a deceptive feeling of certainty diverts from God: «The fact that people in the so-called industrial era are used to pray It is a sign of the supposed self-sufficiency that modern man boasts. Many do not pray today, feel confident, and think technology has already overcome the prayer the Lord has placed in people’s mouths: Give us our daily bread today! The prayer of gratitude is the opposite of praying. Who got, thanks. Interestingly, no word in Hebrew corresponds precisely to our “thank you.” Semite He expressed his gratitude by praising the donor, his mercy, goodness, love. Therefore, the so-called Prayers of praise, many in Scripture, actually belong to the group of thanksgiving prayers.
A. Fonck thinks that praise and thanks, are two different feelings. Thanks for something we got. Praise is more selfless. We praise God’s greatness in itself. Despite this, however, this can be said to be related. Everything that God reveals is a gift to people. It expresses it nicely in verse of the Mass, part of Gloria: «Thank you for your great glory. »
Therefore, Clement of Alexandria encourages Christians to thank God in the first place for the gift of knowledge so that they can understand the greatness of God. The more we know it, the more we thank it. On the contrary, the more immense ours gratitude, the more God reveals His glory to us. In the spiritual language of today, we would say that we should thank God above all for the gifts of grace: for that, we know the Christian truth, for baptism and sanctification grace and for the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, and for all that helps us in the growth of life in Christ.

We distinguish many effects of the sacrament. In reality,
it is usually a divorce of one and the main, which is expressed by a symbol. St. Reception is called la Minsky communion, unification, communion. This fact, therefore, causes, as Pope Eugene IV writes, “a union with Christ.» «Grace incorporates man into the body of Christ,
it connects him to his limbs. Therefore, this sacrament multiplies my lot by those who receive and are worthy of it, and causes it in the spiritual life the effects of the material diet in the life of the body: it maintains, gives growth, heals, refreshes them. According to Pope Urban IV. «Maintains the memory of Savior turns us from evil, strengthens us in good, it gives rise to virtue and grace »(bulla Exultate Deo, d. 1439). St. ingestion can be divided into effects on the soul, which are direct, and impact on the body, which is indirect,
id est through the soul.
Effects on the soul.
1. The sacramental union with Christ. Our body connects with the body of Christ. It is not directly, but a way of bread and the wine combined in Christ by the sacramental transformation (transubstantiation). We assimilate food when eating into our organism, penetrates us, and identifies them with us. Similarly, Christ penetrates us with the symbol of sustenance. Of course, this “bodily” connection presupposes and spiritual unification in thoughts, in the will, in the desires. Otherwise, there would be a contradiction between external action and inner intent, a denial that could become sacrilege (unworthy of reception, in a state of grave sin). Who is the Eucharistic bread? Let him he tries, if he can, to unite his heart with the heart of Christ, to have the same mind. We receive Christ, who sacrifices himself for us. So, he has one with him, the spirit of sacrifice, who loves God and neighbor.
To unite with Christ is to connect with what he isn’t concerned about. So, above all, the connection with the Holy Trinity takes place here; it penetrates us to God’s life. We, therefore, imitate, understandably hardly, the incarnate Word itself, where God and man are in one person. Bérulle writes that “The Eucharist replicates the mystery of the Incarnation, adapts it to all, and spreads it among Christians and believers, just as the mystery itself Incarnation, the imitation and extension of the connection is highest in the Holy Trinity, which penetrates the eternal Word to our humanity ». Bossuet says, “Jesus accepts the body of all of us when we receive his body; it, therefore, happens for us by man, he extends his incarnation to us.»
2. However, this union with Christ means unification with all the members of his Church. The Eucharist is the central part of the mystical body of the Church. Since there is one bread, many of us are one flesh, for we all share in one bread (1 Cor 10:17). It is expressed on the outside symbol of food at one table, at one bread. And Marian reverence is expressed here in the fullness of its meaning. The Mother of God is closest to her Son; she has a special place in the Church. Receiving thus the body of Christ brings us closer to it more than any other devotion.
3. Reproduction of sanctifying grace. Exegete the fact that St. John uses the present tense when he quotes Christ’s promise: “Who is my flesh and drinks my blood? he has eternal life »(Jn 6, 54). He is not said to have him until after death, but that he has it now because it is body and blood, Son of God. This food, therefore, strengthens his supernatural life. Christ said of himself that there is life (Jn 14, 6). The closer we connect with him, the more we “live.” All the sacraments multiply my sanctifying lot. However, the Eucharist is a unique way. «The sacraments cause which they display with their symbol »(Council of Trent). The establishment of the Florence Council, for He says that the Eucharist is for “grace to multiply” (ut gratia auger) in those who already have it. Food does not benefit the dead, but the one who lives. Theologians
say that receiving gives “the second grace,” the state “of the first grace »already assumes, is, therefore, the so-called sacrament of the living.
Of course, it does not rule out cases that even the adoption of the EU itself the charism acts as a confessional absolution. Sacramental grace cannot work where it is obstructed. No one translates it, e.g., he has forgotten the sins of the past, or doubts their seriousness, and now he sincerely wants to approach the Lord’s table to continue to live in communion with Christ.
4. Sacramental grace. We know well that all polishes are the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is one. Nevertheless, however, theologians distinguish the “sanctifying” grace that is as if the inner treasure of the soul, and the “sacramental” grace, that is God’s exceptional help to make this inner treasure multiply in danger. The goal of the Eucharist is in connection with Christ. Holy communion performs it. At the same time, however, we are receiving a promise for the future, that we will be able to maintain this connection in all life circumstances, in thoughts, desires, deeds.

The current fluctuations in thought in the question of understanding man and in the question of faith in God have their roots and source deep in the past – in the history of philosophical and later scientific understanding of the world and life. All Christianity lived for centuries from Revelation, whose originator was God. Revelation told the truth about God and man. Theology developed a magnificent image of God, of the creation of man. Everything was included in the picture that St. Thomas outlined in his Summa. Heaven, earth, life and death, time and eternity. In addition to the knowledge of faith from Revelation, there was a second source – it was the intellectual knowledge of people, beginning with the senses, formed from them by concepts of the essence of things and doctrine of all that exists. a particular order created by God. Philosophy dealt with the natural circle of creation.
Since the Middle Ages, the doubts of some philosophers about the value of philosophical concepts and the efforts of the nascent natural sciences have intervened in this thought effort. From the time of Descartes, 1596-1650, mathematical certainty became the desire of philosophers. With this new ideal of knowledge came a new period of history – a period of calculations, experiments. According to Descartes, the book of nature is written mathematically. In this spirit, Descartes developed a comprehensive mathematical-geometric view of the realities of our world. His idea was to accept as confident only what I have a clear and precise idea of. This change of perspective was not insignificant, and it was essential.

In the Middle Ages, people mainly asked about the purpose of things and wanted to research them. Goal and meaning decided everything. Starting with Descartes, people began to ask what the matter is made of, what law is it subject to? Both aspects combined into unity are fruitful and hope for real progress. However, if we separate them from each other, a gap will arise between them, exposing us to danger. According to Descartes, our world is material; it is a matter that must be understood as something separate. Its structure can be expressed mathematically based on experiments and measurements. In man, who also belongs to the visible world, we encounter another reality called consciousness, thinking, and spirit. Still, Descartes strictly separates man’s body and weight from man’s consciousness and spirit. However, the existence of man is one. The body does not exist without the spirit, and the human spirit is manifested in the body. The division of man into the material substance and the thinking substance, which are not connected into a single unity, which functions only based on some parallelism, must have had severe negative consequences. Descartes deprived the soul of its body, denied the soul of its influence on the body. Body and soul are two separate substances for Descartes. Thus, Descartes’s dualism gave rise to the most contradictory directions of idealism, positivism, and materialism. In this way, the duality of thought and faith, philosophy and theology gradually developed, and finally, the duality of faith far from the world and the world and far from God.

It is not easy to define prayer. We read many definitions of prayer from the Father Church. Suarez tried to collect and appoint them. Some of them are not exact definitions, but only an emphasis on some advantage, the benefit that comes from prayer, e.g., when Evagrius said that “prayer is a fear of sorrow.” Therefore, we are always embarrassed to explain in a few words what prayer is. K. Rahner writes: “The Church prays. That is its essence. The complete doctrine of prayer is contained in the life of the Church. That is why, however, explicit and instructive interpretations of prayer are not very comprehensive and very unsystematic. ”

Suarez was a little afraid of this broad life concept of prayer. He reminded him of Wiclef’s division into mental, oral, and life prayer. According to Wiclef, only the third is said to have value, so it is the only one and absolute. Suarez answers him by justifying the threefold concept of prayer: 1. in the broadest sense of the word, it is every good deed; 2. In the narrower sense, prayer is only a good deed of our spiritual faculties, mind, and will, that is, the thought of God and a pious decision; 3. In an authentic and distinct sense, however, prayer is a prayer to God. Eastern authors do not use academic distinctions for the broader and narrower meaning of the word. Still, they speak of prayer: What is prayer, its necessity 1. since by this word we express the state of the soul, more or less constant attitude, focus on God; 2. as prayer means a religious act, especially the recitation of liturgical texts. We know from comparative religious science that the essential elements of prayer occur in all religions. There is a belief in higher beings on whom human destinies depend in some way. Religion, unlike philosophical systems, then believes in the possibility of dialogue, personal contact with the higher world. The intercourse is carried out primarily by ritual signs, words, ceremonies, i.e., prayers. Because it is such a complex manifestation, it is better to abandon the school method, which begins with the definition and then proceeds to the division, the engraving of species. It will be easier to get us on the right path in the opposite way. We will first realize what kinds of prayer are, and only then will we get a picture of what prayer is.

Prayer Lk 11,5-13

God listens to us in prayer
During his stay in Gdańsk, John Paul II. returned from the monument to the fallen to his residence in Olivie. You should have a little rest here before other duties and participate in lunch with essential guests. So, the pope went to his room, and guests to him, they waited peacefully. But this waiting grew longer and longer; the Holy Father from his room did not work out. Upset about. So Tadeusz Goclowski entered the hall and asked the Pope’s Chaplain, Prelate Stanislav Dziwisz, what happened: “Lord Prelate, invited guests they are waiting and they are getting impatient! ” Prelate Dziwisz just pointed to the chapel door and said: “Just look, Bishop!”
The chapel door was slightly ajar. The interior of the chapel and John Paul could be seen through the joint II., Who prayed the Way of the Cross with great concentration. This man, exhausted, surrounded by thousands of people and affairs, went to the chapel to pray instead of at least getting some rest. Immersed in prayer, he seemed to push everyone away from problems. Bishop Goclowski looked at him, very moved and surprised. Later, always, when he mentioned it, he said: “It was one of my strongest experiences and also a great one of lessons learned!”. We have heard and read a lot about prayer. Jesus also put us in the gospel today calls: “Just and you will get! Search and you will find! Knock and they will open to you ”(Lk 11, 9)!
There is nothing to add to these words of Jesus, and they are pronounced divinely, concisely, and straightforward. Jesus underlines the meaning of these words with an even stronger acronym: Everyone
begging, receiving. Everyone who seeks finds, and whoever knocks will be open to him. With these words, Jesus hit straight into the black. The conclusion is so clear and straightforward: When God gives to everyone who asks, how is it that we have so little? So little faith, Courage and love! Can we ask by faith for all that God wants and desires to give us? Who among us would be able to repeat our intentions in supplications after Holy Mass?
We will forget them before we say: Please hear us! Can he make such pleas to take the Lord seriously? We often admire good people, we are enthusiastic about them, and we would too they wanted to be like them. But let’s ask ourselves: Why are some people good, others evil? Where is the root of their goodness? The answer is simple: in prayer. For the integrity of their hearts means long hours of worship on their knees. They let it be good, God entered their lives to reign in their hearts and to spread goodness through them and love in the world. Do we want proof? We heard him in the story of the Holy Father.
From prayer, he drew strength into his life and his office. And prayer, the humble God will never reject and hear his prayers. We could talk from their experiences about the power and effectiveness of prayer. The Lord needs to find in our hearts a strong faith, a constant search, and diligent contact cooperation.

To be able to speak to God
How strong an example can be. We’ve certainly encountered this in our lives when we did something that caught the eye of another person. For example, someone sees another play well on guitar, thus giving him the impetus to learn to play the guitar. Or we are enthusiastic about the housework of a friend who can do something at home to model, embellish and inspire us. Especially children see in movies their heroes and the next day they imitate them. And we could go on further in various areas. And yet, one thing stands out from all this: that is an example of doing good. Nothing can inspire and attract how good example. This was beautifully expressed by an Aryan pilgrim who was above the life of a saint, John Vianney cried out, “How beautiful it is to be a saint!” Great beauty is in the heroic beauty and dedication.
The apostles also experienced it. They often saw Jesus praying in silence and solitude, he talks to his Father. They, too, longed for prayer. Therefore, one of them begs Jesus: “Lord, teach us to pray” (Lk 11: 1)! This sentence is the basis of prayer: Realizing that without God, we cannot do anything. For God gives grace to the humble; a proud man does not even need it God, not prayer. Only then does Jesus offer them the blessing they have to glorify God the Father.
Luke does mention our Father in a shorter form than Matthew in his Gospel. But the essential truth of Christian revelation contained in the first expression, “Father,” they have both. Our creed is not just “I believe in one God,” but above all, “I believe in one God the Father. Jesus did not just come to redeem us, but he also came to reveal to us that the Creator of the world is a person with whom we can have a dialogue, and he has such qualities that we can call him Father. And that’s the big thing you need to realize and often repeat: I have the Highness of the Father who gave me, he understands.
Let us also consider how many people remain inattentive to God.
She can’t say a simple word like that: Thank you! Please! Forgive me!
At the same time, we do not have to learn any particular language. God speaks in our vocabulary; he doesn’t even need words. He sees the bottom of his heart, waiting for every fit of our confidence, for the minor possible signal of our need to come to our aid. Therefore, I we have a desire to learn to speak to him properly. When we pray, we enter into an intimate relationship with the Lord, communicating between God and us. This communication is based on in that I speak, and He hears, or He speaks, and I listen. Let’s be careful that our prayer is not just a monologue in which only I say, but I’m not interested in listening to him anymore. And let us not be afraid to tell him everything, for He is our’s Father.