About Prayer (1)

When Brother Bruno was at prayer one night he was disturbed by the croaking of a bullfrog. All his attempts to disregard the sound were unsuccessful so he shouted from his window, "Quiet! I'm at my prayers."

Now Brother Bruno was a saint so his command was instantly obeyed. Every living creature held its voice so as to create a silence that would be favorable to prayer.

But now another sound intruded on Bruno's worship - an inner voice that said, "Maybe God is as pleased with the croaking of that frog as with the chanting of your psalms." "What can please the ears of God in the croak of a frog?" was Bruno's scornful rejoinder. But the voice refused to give up. "Why would you think God invented the sound?"

Bruno decided to find out why. He leaned out of his window and gave the order, "Sing!" The bullfrog's measured croaking filled the air to the ludicrous accompaniment of all the frogs in the vicinity. And as Bruno attended to the sound, their voices ceased to jar for he discovered that, if he stopped resisting them, they actually enriched the silence of the night.

With that discovery Bruno's heart became harmonious with the universe and, for the first time in his life, he understood what it means to pray.

Anthony de Mello

Ignatius of Loyola

The sixteenth-century mystic Ignatius of Loyola said of himself that at the time of his conversion he had no one to turn to for guidance, so the Lord himself taught him the way a schoolteacher teaches a little child. He once declared that even if all the scriptures were destroyed, he would hold on to what they revealed because of what the Lord had taught him personally.

Christian: I have, unfortunately, had a surfeit of people I could turn to for guidance. They badgered me with their persistent teachings till I could barely hear you through the din. It never occurred to me that I could get my knowledge firsthand from you, for they sometimes said to me, "We are all the teachers you will ever have; he who listens to us, listens to him."

But I am wrong to blame them or to deplore their presence in my early life. It is I who am to blame. For I lacked the firmness to silence them; the courage to find out for myself; the patience to wait for your appointed time; and the trust that someday, somewhere, you would break your silence and reveal yourself to me.

Anthony de Mello

The Samaritan Woman

The woman put down her water jar and went off to the town. She said to the people, "Come and see the man who has told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?"

Christian: Oh for a teacher like the Samaritan woman! She gave no answers. She only asked a question. It must have been tempting to give the answer because she got it from you directly when you said, "I am the Messiah. I who am talking to you."

Many more became disciples because of what they heard form his own lips. They said tot he woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard him ourselves, and we know that this is, indeed, the Savior of the world."

I have been content to learn about you at second hand, Lord. From scriptures and saints; from popes and preachers. I wish I could say to all of them, "It is no longer because of what you said that I believe, for I have heard him myself."

Anthony de Mello

Simon Peter

A dialogue from the gospels:

"And you," said Jesus. "Who do you say I am?"

Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

Then Jesus said, "Simon, son of Jonah, you are favored indeed! You did not learn that from mortal man; my heavenly Father revealed it to you."

A dialogue from life:

Jesus: And you, who do you say I am?

Christian: You are the Son of the living God.

Jesus: Right. But how unfortunate you are that you learned this from mortal man. It has not yet been revealed to you by my Father.

Christian: True, Lord. I have been cheated. Somebody gave me the answers before your Father could speak. I marvel at your wisdom that you said nothing to Simon yourself, but waited for your Father to speak first.

Anthony de Mello

Thanks and Yes

What does it mean to love God? One does not love him the way one loves the people one sees and hears and touches, for God is not a person in our sense of the word. He is the Unknown. He is the wholly Other. He is above terms like he and she, person and thing.

When we say an audience fills the hall and a singer's voice fills the hall, we use the same word to refer to two totally distinct realities. When we say we love God with our whole heart and we love our friend with our whole heart, we also use the same words to express two totally distinct realities. The singer's voice does not really fill the hall. And we can not really love God in the usual sense of the word.

To love God with one's whole heart means to say a whole-hearted Yes to life and all that life brings with it. To accept, without reservations, all that God has ordained for one's life. To have the attitude that Jesus had when he said, "Not my will, but yours be done." To love God with one's whole heart is to make one's own the words made famous by Dag Hammarskjold:

For all that has been, Thanks.
To all that shall be, Yes.

This is the kind of thing one can give to God alone. In this he has no rivals. To understand that this is what it means to love God is to see at once that it doesn't come in the way of your loving your friends wholeheartedly, tenderly, passionately.

The singer's voice remains in undisputed possession of the hall, no matter how packed the hall is with people. those people are no rival to it. The only rival is a person or a thing that causes you to weaken your attitude of Yes and Thanks.

Anthony de Mello