“JI can only stammer about prayer as I feel small in the face of this great mystery. But there is nothing more beautiful for a priest than to approach such a reality! », says Yann Vagneux. And its stammering gave birth to a book of rare beauty, one that opens the heart. By creating a dialogue between 12 meditations and photos taken mainly from his personal collection, the priest of the Foreign Missions of Paris (MEP) takes us on an invigorating inner journey, in the personal and ecclesial adventure that is Christian prayer, and which is also nourished by other religious traditions.
1. All is Grace
Man prays more than he realizes. Prayer, this inner opening to a greater reality, is as vital to him as breathing. But you have to suffocate inside to realize it. “Man passes man”, wrote Blaise Pascal. The pilgrim who plunges into the Ganges and comes out with joined hands facing the rising sun experiences this transcendence, and thus becomes more human.
2. Be a land of desire
Father Jules Monchanin, a pioneer of interreligious dialogue in India, said that “man is a being of desire, of tension, always unsatisfied”. Like the bride in the Song of Songs, he never stops looking for his beloved who leads him into the games of love. Prayer sets out on ever new paths because it is each one’s unique love story with the Lord.
3. “Abba! Dad ! » prayer of jesus
In the Our Father, Jesus left us as a heritage not words to be recited mechanically, nor a technique of meditation, but his own prayer, the secret of his heart, that is to say his eternal relationship with the Father in the fellowship of the Spirit. Prayer has no other end than to enter into the life of the Trinity, this mystery which seems so obscure to us when it is the fabric of all reality.
4. Inhabit the Scriptures
The Scriptures not only offer us the grammar to address God: they reveal to us his mystery. Jesus lets himself be met there in person. It is good to ruminate on them, to turn Bible verses in your mouth like a “olive stone” (Erri deLuca). Heart-to-heart becomes heart-to-heart with the Lord. And our friendship with him can grow.
5. The canon of all prayer
The Eucharist is rarely considered a place of prayer. And yet, at Mass, the Church offers us her prayer, which is that of everyone and for everyone. It teaches us to give thanks, to ask forgiveness, to intercede. The Mass is the great womb that gives birth to every Christian. “Nothing is simpler, more spiritual and quieter than the Mass. No action in the world is so charged with mystery and life. (Maurice Zundel).
6. The poor silence of the host
We can extend the momentum of “This is my body, this is my blood” by remaining close to the Blessed Sacrament. To adore the host is to enter with our whole being into the gift of Jesus. It’s leaving us “inundate with the richness of poor love” (Hans-Urs von Balthasar) who does without words as he is eloquent in his silence. Let nothing screen the presence of Him who gives himself to us in the greatest stripping.
7. The Prayer of Faces
Every man’s face bears the presence of the Beloved. Each face is a challenge, a call to thanksgiving or intercession. Because each face, as long as it does not wear make-up, testifies to a life with its weight of joys and trials. May the Holy Spirit help us never to be indifferent in the presence of others.
8. A Catholic Prayer
“Expand the Church by your prayer as open as the arms of Christ on the cross…Thus your prayer will be catholic, fully. » Such is the mission that Abbé Monchanin assigned to one of his directs entering a contemplative order. One of the criteria for the maturation of prayer is its openness to the dimensions of all humanity. “I choose everything” said Therese of Lisieux.
9. An emulation of holiness
With my Hindu, Muslim or Jain friends, I live this “emulation of -holiness” of which Jules Monchanin spoke. The only right attitude towards other religions – neither indifference nor syncretism – and which leads to an exchange of gifts. “It is important for us to let ourselves be carried away, as soon as possible, in the prayer of the other, if I want to be more than a Christian present next to a Muslim” (Christian de Chergé).
10. Love in our being
In Hinduism, several paths lead to the summit, including bhakti, the “path of devotion”. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna states: “Who devoutly offers me a simple leaf, flower, fruit or even a little water, I accept his gift because it was done with a heart filled with love. » It is the faith of the simple, a beneficent anointing which attenuates intellectual vertigo, as testified by Thérèse of Lisieux as well as Thomas Aquinas.
11. Childhood Simplicity
The child is always open and available to receive what is given to him. By designating him as a model of spiritual fulfilment, Jesus also revealed his own mystery of“eternal child of the Father”. Spiritual childhood consists of living in the very way of Jesus. “Jesus is therefore not aiming for anything sentimental (…) but the simplicity of the gaze, the ability to look into the distance, to feel the essential and to accept it without ulterior motive” (Romano Guardini).
12. Addum
A monk confided to me that at the beginning of monastic life, we are very happy and proud to say to the Lord: “I offer you everything! » And then the years go by… And we say to him: “Do you still want me? » Yet it’s always time toAddum (“Here I am”), trusting abandonment to God, the handing over of our lives into the hands of the Father. Basically, prayer is the daily learning of death and resurrection which already brings us into eternal life.
To read : paths of prayer, by Yann Vagneux, Magnificat, €19.90.