The Church in Prayer
CTS Notes on Prayer Book 6
Carthusian Monks
Pope Francis (Preface)
ISBN 9781784698300
This is volume 6 of a new 8 volume set released for the Jubilee 2025, and the eighth I have read. All 8 volumes have the same preface from Pope Francis. Each volume is by a different author, and this is unattributed, but draws heavily from The writings of Carthusian Monks through the ages. We are not informed who edited or compiled this volume. The books were originally released in Italian, and have since been released in Europe by the CTS, and there are edition by Our Sunday Visitor for North American Release. The original series and the CTS editions are marked as ‘Notes on Prayer’, the OSV editions the series is called ‘Exploring Prayer’. Some of the titles are different between the two editions and one even has an Americanized name for the author. My recommendation is to get the CTS editions, they are excellent. But back to this final read in the series which is of the sixth volume.
The description of this volume states:
“This sixth of eight booklets on prayer, written by Carthusian monks from around the world, describes the mystery and gift of prayer, and explains how, at prayer, the Church is unified with Christ in his priestly ministry, and how, in this same prayer, Christ is truly present in the Church.
“Prayer is the breath of faith; it is its most proper expression. Like a silent cry that issues from the hearts of those who believe and entrust themselves to God.” – Pope Francis
This sixth of eight booklets on prayer, written by Carthusian monks from around the world, describes the mystery and gift of prayer, and explains how, at prayer, the Church is unified with Christ in his priestly ministry, and how, in this same prayer, Christ is truly present in the Church.”
The chapters in this volume are:
Preface by Pope Francis
The Mystery and Gift of Prayer
My House Shall Be Called a House of Prayer (Isa 56:7)
Learning to Pray
The Song of the Bride
The Liturgy of the Heart: the Life of Prayer
The Desert
The Risen Life
The Mother of Prayer
Conclusion
Prayer, Experience of God
I highlighted a number passages while reading this volume, some of them are:
“Already from these succinct reflections we can glimpse that the prayer that Christ has left as a legacy to His Church, which safeguards it incessantly, is His Mystery as Son, it is He Himself... In giving us His Son, the Father has given us the very mystery of prayer, of the possibility of praying, that is, of entering into real communion with Him, with the God whom no one has ever seen nor can see, but whom we can now, in Christ, moved by the Holy Spirit, in all truth call "Abba!" ...”
“Our prayer and that of the Church is therefore "union with the prayer of Christ insofar as it makes us participate in his mystery" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 27 18). Rut when we meditate on and discuss the prayer of the Church, we are talking about our own prayer, because the boundary between the Church and the individual Christian is permeable and transparent. Talking about the mystery of the Church is equivalent to talking about the mystery of every Christian soul.”
“This affirmation of uncreated Wisdom therefore contains the heart of the mystery of prayer. Prayer, in its deepest core, is nothing other than our welcoming of this desire of God to be with us, to be with each of us personally, to give us Himself, to make us participants in His Life, in His Reality, in His "nature;' as St Peter says (2 Pet 1:4).”
“The Church is the place where all the mysteries meet, where they come together and illuminate each other: the mystery of the Trinity, of the Incarnation, of Redemption, of Grace, of the ultimate Realities.”
“We are destined to share fully in the very Mystery of the Son who in His very Person is prayer, is praise of the glory of the Father: "In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first lo hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory" (Eph 1:11- 12).”
“In every circumstance of our life He is present to make us living stones for His true Temple: the Body of Christ (cf. John 2:2 l ). Through the little and big events that make up our day and our whole life, He is making us members of the Body of Christ, He is begetting the Son in the world.”
“For this reason we will truly be children, and will thus be able to fully welcome the gift of the Kingdom, the gift of true prayer, only when we allow ourselves to be crucified by the humiliation of not knowing how and not being able to live this new life of the Kingdom by our own power.”
“In the Eucharistic Liturgy, therefore, Christ truly unites us "corporeally" to His "new song." The Eucharist is the summit of our union with Christ in His prayer of praise to rather. But precisely because it is its summit, it configures the life of the faithful to itself and expands throughout the whole.”
“Like Christ, who has no words of His own but says only what He has heard from the Father (cf. John 12:50), so too the Church has no words of her own. She can sing only the song of the Lamb slain and risen, the song that her Bridegroom has taught her. It is Christ who speaks in the words of the Church, …”
“I find myself in the midst of this: not as a passive spectator, but rather as a participant whose watchfulness, dexterity, strength and courage can have a decisive impact on the fate of the struggle between good and evil and on the eternal destinies of individuals and of the multitude (G Colombo, Novissima Verba, in Scritti del Cardinnle Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, Venegono Inferiore 1959, pp. 23-33).”
“We must give Him everything, the little light and the much darkness, the good and the evil that is in us, so that Christ may heal all that is ours and all that is ours may become Christ's. It is a true death, and frightening. But it is the heart of our Christian and monastic vocation.”
“In the Liturgy, the Church is shown in all her resplendent and divine poverty, because there she is shown in her deepest reality, as the Bride who receives everything from the Bridegroom. In the Liturgy, the eternal river is poured out without measure and we can drink its Water directly from the source.”
“Because, in the end, there is only one thirst that torments us: the thirst to be loved by the Father. There is only one wound that makes our heart bleed: doubt as to being loved. Only the Spirit, only the Love of God in person can heal our wound and quench our thirst, because only the Father loves us truly, without asking for anything in return.”
“It is perhaps in this light that we should interpret the humiliating trials that the Church is experiencing and going through in our time, because "before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers (cf. Luke 18:8; Matt 24:12)" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 675).”
“If in the desert man experiences thirst, to the point of death, in the desert we meet Jesus, who reveals to us that God too has a thirst, and a thirst for us that will lead Him to death, to the Cross, where He will die of thirst (cf. John 19:28). 1 his revelation of God's thirst will be the fulfilment of al l the Scriptures (ibid.).”
“Only in the desert, when all sounds and voices fall silent, only then can God speak to our hearts and show us His true Face. Not that of an almighty Pharaoh, but that of a lover, thirsty for the love of his bride.”
“Everything said so far may perhaps seem very "intimistic;' even "alienating;' far from the so often tragic reality of our world and our Church.
It all seems like a fairy tale, yet this is our faith, and to bear witness to this truth with our lives is the only reason that Christians and the Church have to exist. All of this can seem like a fab le only if one forgets that the Paschal mystery is the only event that has definitively and radically changed history.”
“Prayer is therefore the "door" that allows Christ to truly enter into our lives, to lure us into the desert and speak to our hearts (Hos 2: 14). Prayer, even the poorest, is the only "door" through which the Risen One can burst through into us and into our world (Rev 4:1). And His bursting through always surprises us ... because He, in the sovereign freedom of His love, claims the right to "surprise" even those who may not expect Him or expect Him unconsciously.
“Therefore, a Church that prays, a Christian who prays, allowing Christ to really draw them, burst into their lives and continue to live His Paschal mystery in them, are supremely "efficacious" because they make present, albeit amid immense poverty and limitation, the only originality that exists in our universe, the only event that truly matters: the gift of God's very Life to us men.”
“Conclusion
We are aware that the previous notes, rather than dealing comprehensively with the topic proposed to us, have only touched upon it. However, since, as St Paul VI said, "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 41), we conclude these few reflections with the lived testimony of prayer of a monk who has spent his long life in this incessant search for the Face of God.”
“Nonetheless, we must remember what William of Saint-Thierry, a Cistercian monk who was a great friend of the Carthusians, said: "The monk is never less alone than when he is alone;' because in solitude the monk is with God. So for him prayer will be nothing other than living this situation.”
“Only the Holy Spirit can move us in this direction. We need do nothing else, therefore, than let God Himself act in us. In his prayer, the monk is totally receptive.”
“We find in ourselves, by grace, an inclination towards the total gift of self to God, to the praise of His glory. This is nothing other than the presence in us of this Mystery of Christ.
This presence in us finds its greatest realisation in participation in the Sacrifice of the Mass.”
“But because the Mystery of Christ is so deeply inscribed in our hearts by grace, it is very easy to turn, if the occasion arises, to the recollection of the Cross. In no way is this recollection felt as a foreign body in our own meditation!”
I hope those quotes give you a feel for this wonderful volume. There were many things in this volume and series that caught my attention. This is one of my favourites in the series. There was much that caused me to slow down and take note in this work.
I jumped around and was not reading these books in order my first time through, I already have plans to reread them again, this time in the numeric order (Barring maybe book 3). I had planned to reread them in order, when I began, I left this volume to the last because it was the longest, it was a wonderful way to finish the collection.
The description of the series on the CTS site states:
“The “Notes on Prayer” series is an inspiring collection of eight booklets from the Vatican, designed to deepen and enrich the prayer lives of Catholics as they journey through the Year of Jubilee 2025, themed “Pilgrims of Hope.”
Each booklet in this series is a powerful resource, offering spiritual guidance, reflections, and wisdom from Church teachings, Sacred Scripture, and the lives of the saints. Whether you’re seeking personal renewal or walking the path of forgiveness and reconciliation, this series will help you grow in intimacy with God during this special time of grace.”
Most of the books in this series I have great to read, this one is my favourites; across the 8 volumes we have over 700 pages of instruction on prayer. This is an excellent volume in a wonderful collection; these books would be good for any school, home, or church library. I can recommend this book and the series as a whole is great. I encourage you to give them a try!
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2024 Catholic Reading Plan! For other reviews of books from the Catholic Truth Society click here.
Notes on Prayer Series:
1. Prayer Today: A Challenge to Overcome - Cardinal Angelo Comastri
2. Praying with the Psalms - Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi
3. The Prayer of Jesus – Juan Lopez Vergara
4. Praying with Saints and Sinners - Fr Paul Brendan Murray, OP
5. The Parables of Prayer – Msgr Antonio Pitta
6. The Church in Prayer - Carthusian Monks
7. The Prayer of Mary and the Saints Who Met Her - Sr Catherine Aubin, OP
8. The Prayer Jesus Taught Us: Our Father - Fr Ugo Vanni
…
Original Italian Editions
CTS Editions English
OSV English Editions
1 comment:
Blessings to you and your Family this Christmas, Steven. Beautiful meditation on Prayer....🕊🙏🏻🕊
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