To Pray Beyond Words

Jesus, when speaking to the Samaritan woman, says to her: Daughter, the hour has come when neither on this mountain of Garizin nor on the Mount Zion will the Father be adored, but in spirit and truth. In a temple that is made not of stone, but of silence, and which is erected in the deepest solitude of the spirit.

True adorers will worship the Father in their inner silence, wherever they may be, whether at river deltas, on the horizon where the dawn awakens, in the grottoes where the winds sleep; wherever they may be, they will worship in spirit and in truth.

It is clear that Jesus, speaking here of worshipping in spirit and truth, is implicitly referring to a prayer of contemplative dimension, which goes beyond words.

When Francis of Assisi tried to express some ideas about prayer, he said, “...adore and contemplate the true and living Lord God, with a pure heart and soul.” We also use these two words without distinction: praying and adoring. When we use them, we are always referring to an intimate relationship with the Lord; a convergence of the innermost level of two beings, which takes place in the silence of the heart, in faith, and in love.

Extracted from the book “Journey Towards God” by Father Ignacio Larrañaga.