“The heart of the Church’s mission is prayer” Pope Francis.

Learning to pray is as necessary as it is difficult. That is why we want to start with you a way to learn to pray. But in a way that is not a mechanical repetition of learned phrases, a monologue with which you comply with a time. We want to invite you to enter into a different time, in which prayer is music that gives rhythm to your life, oxygen that cleanses, breath that drives, relationship that sustains, encounter that pacifies.

Prayer is above all an act of love, of gratuitousness, of being there for the One who created you and loves you to the point of madness. That is why the greatest act of love is contemplation, contemplating and letting oneself be contemplated, looking with the heart and letting oneself be gazed upon. Prayer is above all that act of love of allowing oneself to be looked at by the Lord and to look at Him. It is an act of reciprocal surrender without asking for anything in return, without expecting anything, just being there for each other. You for the Lord and the Lord for you.

Do you know what happens when you let the Lord look at you? The Lord looks at us as we are in our inner beauty and goodness, and this way of looking transforms us. This week I invite you to do the exercise of letting yourself be gazed upon by the Lord and to seek that gaze. When you are going to pray, do not worry about what you are going to say, forget about the words. Light a candle, place a carpet or rug, prepare the place and get ready with soft music to be there in silence for the Lord. Ask Him to look at you and let Him look at you. Seek His gaze, and discover how He looks at you. The Lord will be happy to meet you in prayer.

Bettina Raed

International Coordinator The Way of the Heart