prayer we can still meditate, but our attention is fixed on the Lord himself. 2710 The choice of the time and duration of the prayer arises from a determined will, revealing the secrets of the heart. One does not undertake contemplative prayer only when one has the time: one makes time for the Lord, with the firm determination not to give 2726 up, no matter what trials and dryness one may encounter. One cannot always meditate, but one can always enter into inner prayer, independently of the conditions of health, work or emotional State. The heart is the place of this quest and encounter, in poverty and in faith. 2711 Entering into contemplative prayer is like entering into the Eucharistic liturgy: we ‘gather up’ the heart, recollect our whole 1348 being under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, abide in the dwelling place of the Lord which we are, awaken our faith in order to enter into the presence of him who awaits us. We let our masks fall and turn our hearts back to the Lord who loves us, so as to hand ourselves over to him as an offering to be purified and transformed. 2712 Contemplative prayer is the prayer of the child of God, of the forgiven sinner who agrees to welcome the love by which he is loved and who wants to respond to it by loving even more.8 But he knows that the love he is returning is poured out by the Spirit in his heart, for everything is grace from God. Contemplative prayer is the poor and humble surrender to the loving will of the Father in 2822 ever deeper union with his beloved Son. 2713 Contemplative prayer is the simplest expression of the mystery of prayer. It is ag~ft, a grace; it can be accepted only in humil- 2559 ity and poverty. Contemplative prayer is a covenant relationship established by God within our hearts.9 Contemplative prayer is a communion in which the Holy Trinity conforms man, the image of God, ‘to his likeness’. 2714 Contemplative prayer is also the preeminently intense time of prayer. In it the Father strengthens our inner being with power through his Spirit ‘that Christ may dwell in [ourl hearts through faith’ and we may be ‘grounded in love’.’0 2715 Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus. ‘I look at him and he looks at me’: this is what a certain peasant of Ars in