“When Jesus raised his eyes…”
“The Evangelist says: When he had lifted up his eyes that we might learn that He did not turn His eyes this way and that, but sat recollectedly giving His attention to His Disciples.” [1]
“Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples” What does this verse from Saint John’s Gospel says about prayer? It says three things:
One, we must go “up”. This does not mean that we have to literally go to a mountain, but we do have to elevate our heart and mind. The Catechism says that prayer is “the elevation of the mind and heart to God in praise of his glory; a petition made to God for some desired good, or in thanksgiving for a good received, or intercession for others before God. Through prayer the Christian experiences a communion with God through Christ in the Church.” [2] Saint Therese of Lisieux says, “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart: it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.”
Two, we must sit “down”. Our hearts and minds must go “up” as is stated in step one, but we must sit down. This means that we stop moving, both our busy body and our busy mind and that we put away all earthly cares aside. In the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom the people pray, “Let us set aside all the cares of life that we may receive the King of all.” This prayer from the Divine Liturgy summarizes how we must “sit down” in order to “lift up” our hearts and minds. For how can we lift up our hearts and minds if they are weighed down by the burdens of “the cares of life”. We must sit down as Mary did when she, “sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak,” [3] while her sister Martha remained busy with “the cares of life”. Many times in prayer we obsess even more over “the cares of life” as we present a litany of requests to Jesus, asking Him to take “care” of our “cares”. If we are truly going to give over our “cares” to His “care” we must let go, sit down, listen to Him, and trust.
Three, Jesus was with His disciples. We have to remember that Jesus is with us. He dwells within us because of the Divine Life we have received. He dwells with us “for where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” [4] He is with us physically in the Eucharist. Jesus is focused on us in prayer and attentively communicating with us. In this Gospel we see that Jesus was so attentive to His disciples that He had to “raise his eyes” to see that “a large crowd was coming to him.” Jesus is not distracted when we are in prayer with Him, rather He attentively gazes at us and listens to us. How do we get distracted in prayer and how can we stay attentive to Jesus? Fr. Robert Barron in the Catholicism series says that our mind is like a monkey. Just as a monkey swings from branch to branch, our mind in prayer tends to swing from thought to thought. Repetitive prayers like the Rosary or the Jesus Prayer (Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner) tend to calm the “Monkey Mind”. The calmness of the chants and prayers at Mass and the psalms and antiphons in Liturgy of the Hours also calm the “Monkey Mind” allowing us to attentively listen and gaze at Our Lord.
Jesus and the Disciples were sitting, but they were not idle. Prayer is not “a break” from life; it is the very source of life. We are at rest in prayer, but indeed much work is being done. “For He did not sit idly with His Disciples, but studiously conversing with them; holding their attention upon Himself. Then raising His eyes He saw the multitudes coming towards Him. On whose behalf did he question Philip? For He knew which among the Disciples of His gathering most needed instruction. Such a one was Philip, who was afterwards to say: Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us (Jn. 14:8). And He first instructs him. For if He had simply wrought the miracle, the sign would not have seemed so striking. So now He makes him proclaim their lack of food, that they might the more clearly perceive the greatness of the miracle.” [5]
Prayer is like school, in fact Saint John Paul II stated, “…our Christian communities must become genuine 'schools' of prayer…" [6] The Catechism states, “Prayer groups, indeed ‘schools of prayer,’ are today one of the signs and one of the driving forces of renewal of prayer in the Church, provided they drink from authentic wellsprings of Christian prayer. Concern for ecclesial communion is a sign of true prayer in the Church.” [7]
How is prayer like a school? The steps in this lesson answer this question. We must “go up”. This means that we have the desire to learn, that our heart and mind is in the right place. The best teachers are those that motivate and spark a desire within the student to learn. Do we want to “go up” with Christ, as Blessed Pier Giorgio would say, “Verso l’alto!” “to the heights!” Once we have the desire to learn we must enter the classroom by “sitting down”. The classroom does not have to be a physical place but we must be willing to enter to classroom, where the teacher is teaching. What good is it to have the greatest teacher in the world, teaching in an empty class? The teacher would be only teaching to himself. Where is the classroom that Jesus teaches in? The greatest classroom in the Church, the liturgy, do we enter into the liturgy and learn from the great Teacher, Jesus Christ. Our life is also a classroom, which Jesus calls us to follow Him and be attentive to what He is teaching us during the different time and experiences in our life. Prayer is also like a school in which we with others. Jesus sat down “with his disciples”. There are others that are learning, just as we are learning. These other disciples can assist us and we can assist them as we learn together from the Great Teacher. Prayer is like school in that we tend to get distracted by others, sometimes distract others, and even at times our disciplined due to our disobedience. The school of prayer like any school helps us to eliminate distraction and to be obedient to the mission of the school. In the case of prayer the mission is stated in one of our most common prayer, “Thy will be done”.
[1] The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers; Volume Two; Fourth Sunday of Lent; Theophylactus
[2] Catechism of the Catholic Church; Glossary
[3] Luke 10:39
[4] Matthew 18:20
[5] The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers; Volume Two; Fourth Sunday of Lent; Chrysostom
[6] Saint Pope John Paul II; Novo Millennio Ineunte
[7] Catechism of the Catholic Church; 2689