4 Interior Prayer: The Gift of Self

(John 14: 15-21)

INTRODUCTION

An Open Response

What use are my efforts in prayer? Aren’t they all in vain? When does God intervene? How can I encourage God’s action? God is Love. He is waiting for hearts that respond to His love. All of our personal efforts tend towards the gift of self which attracts or responds to love.

God has thirst that we have thirst for Him! (CCC 2560) God has the initiative of the encounter; He gives us the means to answer Him, but leaves us free. He waits for our consent as he did Mary’s. True freedom is in man a privileged sign of the image of God. (Con. Vat. II, Gaudium et Spes, #17) God takes delight near with children of man (see Prov 8:31) allowing them to freely participate in His life of light and love. This freedom is acquired through Jesus. If the Son frees you, you are free indeed (John, 8:36) And, his freedom, Jesus manifests it fully in His gift He gives us on the Cross. My life, no one can take it from me, I give it myself. (John10:18) Following Christ, man finds himself by giving of himself. Man, the creature on earth that God wanted for himself, can only fully find himself through the unselfish giving of himself. (Con. Vat. II, Gaudium et Spes, #17) This freedom isn’t independence; it is the ability to completely give oneself to God, who alone can receive this gift. If you want to be perfect, go, sell all you have…then come, follow me (Mt. 19:16-22) It is the complete and absolute gift that God asks from those who want to be perfect. It is above all a positive movement towards a person who loves us and who calls us. But there is also release from those who prevent this love. Our wealth is an obstacle to this gift of self. We can, just as the rich young ruler, stop God’s plan for us by not giving our consent. God doesn’t force our will; He takes what we give Him. But He doesn’t give Himself completely, as long as we haven’t given ourselves to Him in an absolute manner. This is a certain fact. As this truth is extremely important, I can’t remind you of it enough. The Lord can only act freely in the soul when He finds it freed of everything and all His. (Way of Perfection, Ch. 30) Therese of Avila also adds: The true love of God brings with it all that is good…But we are so slow in giving God the absolute gift of ourselves that we never finish preparing ourselves to receive this grace…it seems to us that we give everything to God. In reality, we only give Him, the revenue and the fruits, but we keep for ourselves the fund and the property. (Life Ch. 11)

WELCOMING ATTITUDE To prepare ourselves for the action of the Lord, three attitudes need to be developed.

Silence To hear God who gives Himself, it is important to be in a listening mode. Both interior and exterior silence fosters it.

Thanksgiving Thanking God leads Him to wanting to give us more. It is important to acknowledge the gifts of God, from birth to now, all my talents, and at the same time, accept my condition of creature, dependent in all things on God.

Humility As all men, I experience my limitations; I can’t do everything. And what’s more, I can discover an attraction towards evil, areas of weakness. An accurate self-knowledge is indispensable to make progress in the spiritual life. Not knowing yourself in relationship to others, but as we really are. The light of God alone can render us really humble; we discover our smallness in relationship to when confronted with Love that knows no limits. Humility then is walking according to the truth. Mary is a model of humility. God was drawn by the humility of His servant. Therese of the Child Jesus wasn’t discouraged discovering her weakness: What pleases God, she said, is to see me loving my smallness and my poverty, it is the blind hope that I have in His mercy. (Letter 197)

GIFT OF SELF Silence, thanksgiving, humility ready a person to welcome God’s action; the gift of self attracts God irresistibly. This gift, an expression of love, enlivens our whole spiritual life, from beginning to end, whatever our vocation.

4 Interior Prayer: The Gift of Self Absolute Gift of Self Our whole being is made for the Lord. Either we love God renouncing of ourselves, or we love ourselves renouncing God, affirms St. Augustine. This renunciation makes itself painfully felt; it becomes apparent at a given time in an important way in an absolute action which opens in a progressive shedding of self. My gift can only be partial, at least in its realization, but not in the intention. When we give ourselves forever, in marriage, or in consecrated life, this means a shedding of everything of all that we are, and of all that we have now and in the future. It is not a promise to be able to love one’s whole life, but a call to the infinite love of God.

Indeterminate Gift We often determine our gift based on our projects, asking God to bless them, help them, and support them. But, we have to agree to the undetermined. The present, like the future, I entrust to God, accepting in advance the unexpected things in life, receiving them with trust, certain that God will give us the strength at the right time. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. Events in life are disconcerting but are for a greater good: More than ever, I understand that the little events of our lives are guided by God. (Therese of the Child Jesus, Letter 201). The best way to give oneself is without a doubt is to accept God’s will. The request for this unexpected favor, this unexpected change in plans, this inability to carry out our plans could seem like setbacks that we run into often. But it is in the dark that we need to look for God’s plan. This unknown calls for a constant readjustment.

The Gift, often Repeated We just don’t give ourselves one day forever. The gift of self is an attitude that develops over a lifetime. After having given ourselves with generosity in the morning, we have a tendency to take ourselves back throughout the day, to forget our gift. If we get into the habit renewing the gift of ourselves, our attitude towards life events will be more peaceful: It is the humble daily loyalty that weaves the thread of love that chains God definitively. (I want to see God, p. 1049). This total gift to God is expressed through a life given to others at

(John 14: 15-21)

each moment: spouse, parents, and children, those that God places around you.

Following Christ Jesus gave His life for us; we too must give our lives for our brothers. (1 John 3:16) The gift of self is the fundamental attitude of Christ. So the gift of self allows us to truly follow Him. To be a Christian, it is important to be to Christ as He was with God. This gift of self is the collaboration that God expects of us. As with the Christ this is the only attitude that will fulfill us: My nourishment is to do the will of the One who sent me to accomplish His work. (John 4:34) At the time of His death, He takes a final look at His earthly life and He says to His Father: I accomplished the work for which you sent me, I did your will. (John 17:4) We too are sent into the world with a mission to accomplish. As His children, we are called to make of our lives and our deaths, a gift. It is only at the last minute that the final gift of ourselves will occur, the greatest act of love that will lead us to an eternity with God. But it is our whole life, in our daily routines, which prepares us for this last action on earth.

CONCLUSION In interior prayer, we offer ourselves to God, -by giving Him time -by being silent and presenting ourselves to Him as we are -in putting our wills under the influence of the Holy Spirit to strengthen them, to enlighten our minds, and purify our imaginations We offer ourselves to God, uniting ourselves to Him, in the contact brought about by our acts of faith and by allowing the Holy Spirit to pray in us. It is He who will help us bring about little by little this gift of ourselves in interior prayer and throughout our lives for us to truly be children of God.