Tag: thespiritofprayer

Posted in MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on PRAYER, The HEART

Thought for the Day – 16 March – The Spirit of Prayer

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 16 March – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

The Spirit of Prayer

“The spirit of prayer is the spirit of the love of God and this should inspire all our vocal prayers.
Flowery petitions are no use if our minds and hearts are turned away from God.
God wants our hearts.
This is why He complained that “this people honours Me with their lips but their heart is far from Me” (Nt 15:8, Mk 7:6).

Remember the apt expression of St Augustine: “To pray is to love. Whoever loves God well, prays a great deal. A man who is lacking in love, prays very little. A man who does not love God at all, never prays, or if he does, he recites coldly, the usual formulae and disregards Christ’s warning: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God! (Mt 4:7).”

Let us pray often but let our prayers be sincere acts of the love of God, coming from the heart.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/03/14/thought-for-the-day-14-march-the-spirit-of-prayer/
PART TWO:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/02/15/thought-for-the-day-15-february-the-spirit-of-prayer/

Posted in MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on PRAYER, QUOTES on SANCTITY

Thought for the Day – 15 February – The Spirit of Prayer

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 15 February – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

The Spirit of Prayer

“The alchemists of old were searching for a legendary stone which would transform metal into gold.
This stone, does not exist, of course but, in the supernatural order, the spirit of prayer really can change everything to gold.
When they are accompanied by this spirit, all our actions are most pleasing to God and draw His further favours.
Blessed Maria Assunta Pallotta, understood this truth clearly and put it into practice in her life.
She tended animals, served in the kitchen and was a missionary in China but, no matter what she was doing, she was moved by the spirit of prayer and of the love of God.
“I ask God,” she wrote to her parents, “to spread throughout the world that purity of intention which consists in performing our most ordinary actions for the love of God.”
Let us follow this example.
Let us put into practice this great rule of the spiritual life.
Then, all our actions will be acceptable prayer ascending to God.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

Part One Here:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/03/14/thought-for-the-day-14-march-the-spirit-of-prayer/

About Bl Maria Assunta Pallotta (1878-1905) who was Beatified by Ven Pope Pius XII on 7 November 1954.
https://anastpaul.com/2019/04/07/saint-of-the-day-7-april-blessed-maria-assunta-pallotta-1878-1905/

Posted in MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES - J R R Tolkien and MORE, QUOTES on PRAYER

Thought for the Day – 14 March – The Spirit of Prayer

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 14 March – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

The Spirit of Prayer

Our Lord warned His disciples that “They must always pray and not lose heart ” (Luke 18:1).
But how is it possible to pray always?
One might decide that His command was intended for monks and hermits, dedicated to the contemplative life and not for men living in the midst of the daily preoccupations of the world.
But this is not so.
Properly interpreted, Christ’s precept holds good for everybody.
We must pray always in the sense that we must remain always united to God in mind and heart.
“Whether you eat or drink, or do anything else,” says St Paul, “do all for the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31).
“Whatever you do, in word or in work,” he repeats elsewhere, “do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col 3:17).
In other words, whatever we are doing, even if it is something very simple, like eating or drinking, we should do it in the name of Jesus and for the glory of God.
Once we understand it in this way, the Gospel precept transforms all our actions into prayer.
The spirit of prayer should accompany us everywhere.
In all our actions and conversations, no matter how far we may travel, we should remain close to Jesus.
One brief act of attentiveness to God, repeated from time to time, is enough to change all our actions and our entire life into a continual prayer.

Antonio Cardinal Bacci