Wednesday, January 14 : John Tauler

When the Son of God «raised his eyes to heaven and said: ‘Father, glorify your Son’» (Jn 17,1), he taught us by this action that we should raise on high all our senses, our hands, our faculties and our soul and pray in him, with him and through him. This was the most loving and holy deed the Son of God could have done here below: to worship his beloved Father. However, this far surpasses any intellectual reasoning and we cannot in any way reach and understand it except in the Holy Spirit. Saint Augustine and Saint Anselm tell us concerning prayer that it is «a raising of the soul to God»… For my part, I tell you only this: truly detach yourself from yourself and from all created things and raise your soul wholly to God above all creatures, into the deep abyss. There, immerse your spirit in God’s spirit in true abandonment…, in a real union with God…, Ask God there for everything he wants us to ask him, what you desire and what other people desire from you. And hold this as certain: what a tiny, little coin is with regard to a hundred thousand gold pieces, that is what all external prayer is with regard to this prayer, which is a real union with God, and with regard to this inflowing and fusion of the created spirit in the uncreated spirit of God… If someone asks you for a prayer, it is a good thing to do so in an external way as you were asked and as you promised to do. But, as you do so, draw your soul to the heights and into this interior desert drive your whole flock as Moses did (Ex 3,1)… «True worshippers worship the Father in spirit and in truth» (Jn 4,23). In this interior prayer every practice, every formula, and all those kinds of prayer that, from Adam until now, have been offered and will yet be offered until the last day, are fulfilled. All of them are brought to perfection in a moment in this true and essential recollection.

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team