3. Being with God
• This stage is the objective for the whole
adventure of prayer
• All of my efforts in prayer are to arrive at this
place
• Thus, prayer is defined as:
– Recognition of God
– Transformation by God
– Union with God
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4. The Still Point
Cardinal Bernadin said that prayer leads the
pray-er to
“the soul…that still point at the heart of every
person, that deepest center, that point of
encounter with the transcendent yet incarnate
Mystery of God.”
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5. The Still Point
Prayer is a microcosm of all that I call “Me.”
Microcosm (Greek)
– Micros = small
– Kosmos = world, universe, or cosmos
Prayer then is the small universe where all the
stuff of me exists (the good, bad, ecstasies and
agonies of my life)
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6. The Still Point
This state of being is as close as I can come to
the core of my very self – the essence of my
existence.
As a pray-er we are like astronomers trying to
understand the entire universe I call “me”…
My worlds must be put back on their
proper axes, orbiting around the true Son.
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7. The Still Point
This re-centering is actually a re-perceiving, for
God was, is and always will be God.
What is in need of repair then, is the blindness
that keeps me from understanding my divine
origins and from experiencing God as the
universe wherein my star shines.
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8. Prayer is Recognition of God
Saint Ignatius said, “God works and labors for
me in all creatures upon the face of the earth.”
– God’s answers to our deepest questions need not
be given to us in prayer as they’re already
embedded in creation
– The trick is not to get God to answer me during
prayer time, rather to allow God to teach me how
to perceive the answers that have been
around me all along.
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9. Prayer is Recognition of God
This disposes me to hear God’s voice in the
ordinary moments of my day.
Therefore I should not ask
“God, give me a sign.”
But rather
“God give me sight.” Armchair
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10. Prayer is Recognition of God
Jesus, “What do you want me to do for you?”
Bartimaeus, “Let me see again.”
(Matt 10:51)
11. Prayer is Recognition of God
The process of prayer is the act of turning down
the noise of the world in order to hear the voice
of God.
(e.g. car engine running rough
and turning up radio)
When I leave my prayer time and return to my
noisy life, I can still hear the Lord’s voice because
my prayer has made me attuned to it.
13. Prayer is Recognition of God
When I pray, the Lord gives me lenses to restore
and clarify my perception of reality.
What God says to me in prayer is not as
important as the ability prayer gives me to hear
God’s voice in my everyday life, in every
person, and at all times.
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14. Armchair
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Prayer is Transformation by God
God brings me to this stage of solitude and
nothingness so that my focus might
Shift from:
To:
Concerns with prayer
Earlier stage= comes out of my prayer
Final stage = comes out of my prayer
what
who
what is going in inside prayer
what is happening inside me
15. Prayer is Transformation by God
Prayer transforms my life from the inside out.
In contemplative prayer – just sitting with open
arms – I learn to submit to God.
I allow God to be my God, not for the favors he
might bestow on me, but because of the
love he has for me.
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16. Prayer is Transformation by God
When I leave the state of Being With God and
return to my daily activities, I do so with a whole
new disposition.
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17. Armchair
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Prayer is Union With God
When it comes to speaking of the union with
God one experiences in this final stage…no
description seems to get at the overwhelming
sense of God and me as one.
The best that one can do to understand this
phenomenon is to recall the most intimate
moment of one’s past, when one felt most
connected with another person…then you
know the experience is a transcendent one.
18. Armchair
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Prayer is Union With God
This transcendent experience
• Goes beyond any ordinary experience
• It cannot be communicated to a third party
because it is indescribable.
• It is not the realm where words are formed
• To understand it, one must experience it.
19. Prayer is Union With God
Those who have had such an
experience
• Know that you do not exit it
untouched
• The imprint of the other is
permanently burned into our
hearts
• I, alone, no longer make up a
complete whole – a part of God
dwells in me.
• Somehow, it seems as though
God feels it too.
20. Armchair
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Prayer is Union With God
The outflow of Being With God is, in a way, more
extraordinary and more important that the
experience itself.
Experiencing God in this most intimate way
during prayer is astonishing. But even more so is
the subsequent union I fell with God in my
everyday life.
21. Armchair
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Conclusion: Three in One
• I become attuned to
the presence of God in
my everyday life.
• I begin to surrender all
of my life to God’s
lordship during prayer
• I come into mystical
union with God, a
oneness not severed
when I rise from my
prayer time.
Recognition of God
Transformation by God
Union with God
Editor's Notes
God speaks through every atom of creation, in every moment of time, from bees to buildings, from trees to TVs, God labors through the elements to tell me of his love. Prayer becomes a means of giving God permission to fine-tune the spiritual the spiritual senses of my so that I might recognize the God of Wisdom who lies in wait for me at the dinner table, on the freeway, at work, in the classroom, at the movies, or any where else…
Note that both are looking at the exact same thing, and yet what they perceive is entirely different
When I move to the stage of Being With God, I continue to listen, but now I am listening to God’s silence. I dispose myself to hear God everrywhere.
When I move to the stage of Being With God, I continue to listen, but now I am listening to God’s silence. I dispose myself to hear God everrywhere.
I don’t experience God extrinsically, outside of myself. It is the fetal John the Baptist within Elizabeth’s womb, stirred in the presence of what dwelt inside Mary (see Luke 1:39-45)
I don’t experience God extrinsically, outside of myself. It is the fetal John the Baptist within Elizabeth’s womb, stirred in the presence of what dwelt inside Mary (see Luke 1:39-45)
