Prayer: Advent & the Passionist Pillars
To read the first article in this series, click here.
St. Paul of the Cross was inspired to write the Passionist Rule
“If we are men of prayer, God will make use of us, although poor and miserable, for the greatest triumphs of His glory.”
A firm tradition of personal and communal prayer has been handed down in the Passionist Congregation, beginning with the example of St. Paul of the Cross, our founder; a spirit of prayer is the third pillar of the spirituality he left to his Passionist family. For St. Paul of the Cross, the spirit of poverty and the spirit of solitude provided the foundation for the life of prayer. His letters of spiritual direction are replete with exhortations to poverty of spirit and love of solitude as the the precursors to union with God in prayer. And it is only through an intense life of prayer that the life of a Passionist becomes fruitful - the apostolic fruitfulness of the priests and the spiritual efficacy of the nuns is in direct proportion to their loving union with Christ, realized through personal prayer.
Christ Himself is the highest model for our life of prayer; the Passionist frequently looks to His prayer at the Last Supper (Jn 17), in the garden of Gethsemene, and upon the Cross, for examples. Throughout Christ’s life, His Mother was beside Him as a praying presence and provides another powerful model for our journey with the Lord. As Pope Francis wrote in his 2016 Apostolic Exhortation on women’s contemplative life, “from the annunciation to the resurrection, through the pilgrimage of faith that reached its climax at the foot of the cross, Mary persevered in contemplation of the mystery dwelling within her” (Vultum Dei quaerere 10).
Prayer in our chapel
Photo by Corey Bruns
In Luke’s Infancy Narratives, so central to Advent and the Christmas season drawing nigh, Mary’s spirit of prayer shines forth. Her hymn of praise, the Magnificat, reveals her familiarity with the Hebrew scriptures. How often she must have pondered God’s word and made it her own for this song woven from the sacred words to spring so easily from her heart! Then, twice during the accounts of Christ’s birth and childhood, Luke reports that Mary “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 2:19, 51). This is an image of the contemplative, a person who treasures the manifestation of God at work in history and in her life, reflecting on them and savoring the mysteries - this is a spirit of prayer.
As Advent draws to a close, we still have time to grow in the spirit of prayer after the example of Mary in many small ways:
Read a psalm each morning, and choose a verse or two to recall throughout the day.
Carve some time out of the last-minute Christmas preparations to make a holy hour (or half-hour), praying with Mary her great Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55)
Take some time to reflect on how God has been working in your life during Advent, perhaps noting down important events or insights so you can return to them in the future. Ponder His wisdom and goodness, giving thanks for His loving providence.
Mary, Summa Contemplatrix, pray for us!
Mary is a model of the spirit of prayer, especially in the Gospel of Luke.