Review article
The Prayer Life of Blessed Ivan Merz
Zlatko Sudac
; Centre for Croatian Studies of the University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Blessed Ivan Merz (1896-1928) has left us an invaluable spiritual legacy which has become a source of inspiration for future generations. Aside from his writings Blessed Ivan has left us with the example of his saintly life which was permeated with deep prayer. All this represents an invaluable source from which one may study the workings of God's grace in his soul, the grace to which he readily responded and with which he generoulsy cooperated. Thus far, the prayer life of Ivan Merz has not been sufficiently systematically explored and presented. This article therefore wishes to offer a further contribution toward such research. As we look at Blessed Ivan Merz's prayer life, we notice several things, namely his own testimony thereof, his speech about prayer in general when instructing others, and finally the manner in which others perceived his prayer life. Blessed Ivan Merz's prayer life was closely connected to the liturgy which gave his prayer its fundamental tone. Fr. Josip Vrbanek, his spiritual director, defined Blessed Ivan's spiritual life as „living the life of Christ with the Church.“ By this is meant that Blessed Ivan was, first and foremost, deeply immersed in liturgical prayer. Aside from liturgical prayer, the pinnacle of which was his daily participation in Holy Mass and reception of the Holy Eucharist, Blessed Ivan took part in other forms of prayer such as adoration, meditation, the divine office, devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the daily Rosary. His prayer life was so rich and instructive that on the day of his beatification, Pope John Paul II was able to say the following: „From this day forward he will be a model to young people, an example to believers and lay people!“
Keywords
prayer life; liturgical prayer; adoration; meditation; the divine office; devotions; reflections; personal prayer
Hrčak ID:
51562
URI
Publication date:
25.3.2010.
Visits: 1.700 *