Extracts from the Dux Spiritualis by the Venerable Louis
de Ponte SJ
Chapter 2.2. THY Kingdom come
How by prayer we impetrate and even now enjoy the Kingdom
of God
Thy Kingdom come! Hence arises the 2nd
excellence of prayer from which we learn its prime importance: for it is the
means by which the Kingdom of God comes in us, as well that which is promised
in this life and which, according to the Apostle, is justice, and peace, and
joy in the Holy Ghost [Romans xiv, 17] as that we hope for in the future
when we shall reign together with God in paradise.
For prayer brings us to the first kingdom which, says
Christ Himself, is within us [St Luke xvii,21] ; entering into our
hearts it leads us to heaven, where we enter the second. It shows us the beauty
of both, and communicates to us abundance of wisdom, that delectable spirit of
wisdom and justice which, says David, is as lofty as the high mountains of God
[cf. Psalm xxxv, 7]…… ……. [page 32] He calls it His house of prayer, or as we
may read, the house of prayer, as much on account of His love of prayer as to
show is that its fruits are not so much our own as His, and moreover, that they
are fruits worthy of God.
Hence says S. John Climacus [Gradu 28], the joy that
proceeds from prayer is sufficient to repay a hundredfold all that in this life
we have renounced to obtain it, as well as a powerful incentive to urge us on
to attain the heavenly Kingdom.
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