It’s Finally Here…
At the heart of The Problem of Loving Jesus is a simple yet profound invitation: to recognize that loving Jesus is inseparable from how we live each day, in our relationships, our responsibilities, and our encounters with others. In this excerpt from the book’s conclusion, Fr. Tracy brings together the central themes of his reflection on prayer, grace, and the presence of God in the ordinary moments of life. His words invite us to look beyond our spiritual practices and discover how God is already at work within us and calling us to love. We invite you to read this excerpt and reflect on what it means to make the love of Jesus real in everyday life.
What I learned, all too slowly,
was that my ministry was often misguided.
Good will without the guidance
of deep personal prayer was no match
for the power of the ego.
Fr. Tracy O’Sullivan, O.Carm.
EXCERPT:
“All our spiritual activities have the goal to help us develop an antenna to search for the opportunities to love: to love God and to love our brothers and sisters. This two-fold love of God and neighbor is what loving Jesus is all about. This is what life is all about. Our relationships and our responsibilities are the way that love becomes real in in our daily living. We need to realize that these very same relationships and responsibilities share in our brokenness, the consequence the Garden and its apple.
Prayer flows from the deepest human reality, God within us. In this hidden ground of love, God is always taking the initiative. God never stops beckoning us to the true life. Prayer is a secondary response to this invitation of God. Life is the first response. Life is the greatest grace because of this divine bonding. Any truly human and authentic experience is only possible because of God’s loving presence. Prayer opens us up to what is already our relationship to God who is calling us home. Prayer is the guiding light to God at our center. In this context, prayer helps us understand and respond to our initial experience of God in our lived reality. Prayer and spiritual activities are the means to open the eyes of the mind and the eyes of the heart to God’s presence.
This is why our relationships and responsibilities are so important. They are the actual setting where we experience God each day. They are God’s will in the concrete in the presence of other actual people. They are a constant summons away from the False Self. They offer deliverance from the unending conflict with both the gospel message’s call to love and the ever-expanding horizons of that love.
While God is everywhere, our own life is the only place we can experience that presence. Our task is to seek more faithfulness, integrity, and honesty for a life of awareness and commitment to God’s presence. This is always a call to a deeper life in the mystery of love. The initial encounter takes place within us. Then we move outward to our brothers and sisters in our relationships and responsibilities. We slowly learn that all is grace, the loving and life-giving presence of God.
God is no less present at the kitchen table on Sunday afternoon than at the Mass on Sunday morning. God is equally present to the garbage collector serving the community or the struggling drug addict or a nun in her contemplative convent. For each of these individuals and for us, the primary issue is an awareness of God’s presence. Deep personal prayer leads to this awareness.”
Visit
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to purchase a copy of Fr. Tracy’s new book, The Problem of Loving Jesus.
Book cover art by Fr. FILIBERTO OREGEL ÁLVAREZ, O.Carm.
Visit Begin Your Journey with Jesus: Practical Advice on Prayer to read Fr. Matt Gummess’ review of the book.
The Carmelites of the Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary, in allegiance to Jesus Christ, live in a prophetic and contemplative stance of prayer, common life, and service. Inspired by Elijah and Mary and informed by the Carmelite Rule, we give witness to an eight-hundred-year-old tradition of spiritual transformation in the United States, Canada, Peru, Mexico, and El Salvador, and Honduras.
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