22 A BRIEF PRIMER ON PRAYER tellect, even though he seems to himself to be idle. For little by little and very soon the divine calm and peace, with a wondrous, sublime knowledge of God, enveloped in divine love, will be infused into the person’s soul. Otherwise his soul will be disquieted and drawn out of its peaceful contentment to distaste and repugnance. And if scruples about his inactivity arise, he should remember that pacification of soul (making it calm and peaceful, inactive and desireless) is no small accomplishment.” Tranquil abiding Saint Teresa of Ávila († 1582) speaks of the “prayer of quiet.” Such prayerful silence enhances our ability and eagerness to listen to our Beloved. The more we direct our sight, our energy, and our attention to Jesus, the less preoccupied we become with ourselves and our own self-centered concerns. In this silence, the one in love remains perfectly content just to behold the Beloved, gazing upon him in a state of holy and tranquil abiding. Silence speaks to silence. “The silence of the presence of God,” wrote Jesuit Father Alfred Delp († 1945), “is never indifference, but rather it is a sign of his gratuitousness and of his freedom because he does not allow himself to be encapsulated by our images or our conceptions.” In the words of a spiritual author: “My God, your silence replies better than the many fervors of my love for you.” 23 Here’s the proof you’re truly trusting God The devil is very good at destroying trust in the Father. The season of Lent begins every year with the Gospel about Jesus being tempted in the desert: At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil (Mt 4:1). What is the devil’s intention in tempting Jesus? What is he trying to achieve? Here’s the answer: The devil wants to damage Jesus’ relationship with the Father so that Jesus will cease to love and trust him with Son-like affection. It’s a ploy to get Jesus to treat the Father like a functionary, a force to be contended with—to frustrate and deprecate their relationship. Mistaken about temptation The problem is that the devil is very good at this. Think about how you yourself feel when unnerved by temptation. Most likely you presume: (a) that you have done something wrong; (b) that God is punishing and rejecting you; and (c) that God will not be happy until you prove to him that you are deserving of his love. If you succumb to all that claptrap, the devil has already won. Which is extremely sad. Tragic.
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