Thought for the Day – 19 June – Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Matthew 6:1–6 and the Memorial of St Romuald (c 951-1027)
“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.”...Matthew 6:6
“When you pray, go to your inner room”
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein OCD (1891-1942)
Martyr, co-patron of Europe
The Prayer of the Church (trans. Darlington Carmel)
In those who have entered into the unity of the divine inner life, everything is one – rest and activity, contemplation and action, silence and speech, listening and communicating, loving receptiveness, and loving gift of self in thanksgiving and praise… We need hours of silent listening, when we allow the divine Word to work in us, until it craves to become fruitful in the sacrifice of praise and of action.
We need the traditional forms and participation in the set forms of acts of regular worship, so that the inner life can be awakened and guided and find a suitable expression. The solemn divine praise must have its homes on earth, where it is developed, to the greatest perfection possible, to human beings. From these, it ascends to heaven, for the whole Church and becomes effective in the members of the Church, quickening their interior life, inviting their participation. But, it must itself be quickened from within, even in these places, by leaving space for silence and depth. Otherwise it would degenerate into mere lip-service. Contemplative houses where souls stand in solitude and silence before the face of God, are a protection against this danger. They wish to be, in the heart of the Church, the love that vivifies all.
