Wednesday 18 March 2015

Tuesday 17th March 2015


Francis Rejecting the World
  and "Embracing Christ”
St. John Cassian: The First Conference of Abbot Isaac on Prayer: Chapter 14


Of Thanksgiving. Then in the fourth place there stand thanksgivings which the mind in ineffable transports offers up to God, either when it recalls God's past benefits or when it contemplates His present ones, or when it looks forward to those great ones in the future which God has prepared for them that love Him. And with this purpose too sometimes we are wont to pour forth richer prayers, while, as we gaze with pure eyes on those rewards of the saints which are laid up in store hereafter, our spirit is stimulated to offer up unspeakable thanks to God with boundless joy.

Reflection:


Abba Isaac says thanksgiving prayers are said for past, present and future “benefits”.  I wonder if this is the pattern of our thanksgiving prayers.  Do we mix then in with other prayers and do we allow “our spirit to be stimulated to offer up unspeakable thanks to God with boundless joy”?

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