Friday, 24 May, 2002

From "Amazing Grace by Kathleen Norris. In this book she takes many of the words and images of the faith and attempts to put some reality and life to them.



PRAYER

The ancient monks understood that a life of prayer would manifest itself in relationships with others. "If prayer is a matter of concern to you," said the sixth-century monk John Climacus, "then show yourself to be merciful." As "a dialog and a union with God," he said prayer has the effect of "[holding] the world together... More and more of us it seems, share Thomas Merton's belief, as he once stated it in a letter to Daniel Berrigan, written during the turmoil of the 1960's, that "there is an absolute need of solitary, bare, dark...kind of prayer... Unless that dimension is there in the Church somewhere the whole caboodle lacks life and light and intelligence too. It is a kind of hidden, secret, unknown stabilizer, and a compass too."



Sometimes I think so many people turn away from prayer or simply come to dismiss it entirely due to their image of prayer. Prayer is not like thumbing through a new catalog, gazing at the merchandise and then making a list of things you want. Prayer takes place before the catalog arrives. If there was nothing in the world that we wanted prayer would be the time spend shaping the day. We are not people of faith because of the things we are able to have or the things that happen to us because we pray. We are people of faith because we pray. Prayer gives us a place to stand or sit as we look at the many moments of the day that will whiz by us. Prayer becomes the workout done prior to entering the moments of the day...the warm up...the navigator.



Connection: Sometimes it is enough to simply say, "Be present Lord." But know this. The Lord God is present. It is me who needs to know how present the Lord will be. That knowing -that request- can bring a new view of life around us.





Be present in this day as we go about the work and play around us. It is as you are present Lord that we begin to see new opportunities and joys within our lives even when we face dead ends and utter sadness. Amen.