I found this question near the end of an interesting post: What if prayer is just a way of talking to yourself that is acceptable? My comment: Maybe at the core of who you are, hidden behind all the layers of your false self, the facade and masks and illusionary persona of nothingness that your […]
I am not sure where I caught sight of this book, Letters from the Desert by Carlo Carretto, but it is a jewelle. Each facet of its short reflective chapters shines a different light into the mysteries of faith, prayer, love, and of course, God. The description on the back of the book cover explains […]
Imagine prayer is like asking for “Marco?” God will forever call out “Polo!” until you find Him. (Some how this reminds me of the story about the little fish that went looking for the ocean.)
When I am in a hurry, why do I always seem to get stuck behind the driver who is sticking to their New Year’s resolution of driving the speed limit? I guess if I prayed for patience, God is not going to give it to me. He is going give me situations so that if […]
This prayer is kind of a modern version of the Anima Christi. Jesus, may all that is you flow into me. May your body and blood be my food and drink. May your passion and death be my strength and life. Jesus, with you by my side enough has been given. May the shelter I […]
Richard Rohr in Everything Belongs makes this simple but bold statement: God is either in this now or God isn’t at all. Think about that for a moment. Let it sink in. Okay. Do you believe that? Do you believe that in the deepest parts of your heart? Do believe that God is here now? […]
I found this quote by Matthew Lickona, author of Swimming with Scapulars, posted at Godspy: “To submit themselves to Christ.” Everyone must bend his or her will, but this desire to clean up one’s own spiritual mess seems a more masculine failing. From a distance, the danger is easy to see: “It’s my problem, I’ll […]
Anthony de Mello told this story: The disciple asked, “Master, how can I reach enlightenment?” “We can no more make enlightenment happen than we can make the sun rise,” replied the master. “Then why do we pray at all?” asked the bewildered disciple. “So that we will be awake when the sun rises,” said the […]
A couple weeks ago, I changed the subtitle to this weblog from “Watch your step…” (a play on words with the title of this journal) to “Got prayer?” because it seems to fit more with who I am and what I would really like to ask any visitors to this weblog. This morning, I changed […]
We want to avoid a feast/famine pattern of prayer. It will not hold up under the influence of our constantly fluctuating feelings. Since late November, my prayer life has become rather inconsistent in intensity and frequency. (See this post). It seems that all sense of discipline has gone out the window. I don’t know what […]
There is this one scene from the movie The Passion of the Christ that still comes to my mind just about everyday. It was the scene where Jesus washes his hands. There is a closeup of his hands as someone holds up a small wooden bowl. He dips his hands into the water, lifts his […]
The other morning, this thought entered my stream of consciousness quite abruptly. It was not like most thoughts that seem to float down my river of consciousness, where I can gingerly shift focus of attention from one thought to the next, as if hopping from one boat to another. No, this thought appeared suddenly, as […]
I had a long, pleasant conversation with a dear friend about praying the other day. He said that he used to repeat the word “God” a lot in his prayers, as if he was trying to turn God’s head, just like when you call out a friend’s name for them to turn their head toward […]
Souls who do not practice prayer are like people whose limbs are paralyzed. — St. Teresa of Avila In the last three days, in three different situations with three different people, I asked each if they prayed, or at least prayed often. I have much love and respect for each of these persons. I am […]
For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy. — St. Thérèse of Lisieux
The word mercy is one of those loaded words with many meanings and connotations. Unfortunately, the modern use of this word has tended to focus on its association with the word pity or clemency. The older meaning of mercy, the one intended in a religious or spiritual context, means so much more. A quick seach […]
Another coincidence in light of some of my recent entries? From today’s official church reading is Luke 11:9-10: And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who […]
Sometime in the middle of August, I ran into Becca, one of my former students. She was about to start her freshman year in college as a pre-med major. As we caught up on our recent histories, she told me that her boss Charlie was in the hospital in a coma. He was in there […]
The Pickle Jar Theory of Prayer is not really a theory but more of a method of prayer. It is based on a theory of time management involving a pickle jar. The analogy is to think of the many tasks that you must complete in a single day as rocks and pebbles. All of these […]
I have been trying to write this journal entry for over a week now. I have started and stopped several times, and eventually erased all of them because I never liked where they were heading. The topic is about prayer, and none of the words I can find seem to describe what I am going […]
I was sitting in church last night and had one of those “duh” kind of moments. I don’t know how many times I have said or heard it. It just never occurred to me this way before. You know that line in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread”? The word bread […]
O Lord, teach me to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to Labor and not to ask for any reward, save knowing that I do your will. Amen. — St. Ignatius
If Jesus was sitting right next to you, just like any other person, what would you say to Him? What would you ask Him? How would you act around Him? Would you say or ask anything different than in prayer? Would you act any different than you do now? Think about it. Do you need […]