Lifting the Heart and Mind to God

mcook posted on January 22, 2012 09:31

As disciples we know that prayer is at the heart of the Christian life, yet very often we don’t take time to be alone with God. St. Ignatius of Antioch on his way to face death for Christ noted that he was still a “beginner” in the Christian life! In some ways we are all still beginners in the life of prayer. This should give us some encouragement. We can all continue to grow in prayer. During the months we will be exploring this topic in more depth. The overarching theme will be “prayer nuggets” because “nuggets” give us a little something to think about. Many of the ingredients will be drawn from Part Four of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) which has some wonderful insights into the spiritual life. The Catechism notes that “prayer is a vital relationship with the living and true God.” (CCC 2558) The traditional definition most of us learned was “a lifting of the mind and heart to God.” The Catechism, quoting St. Therese of Lisieux, says: “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart, it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” (CCC 2558)

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