prayer

Allow the words of the Our Father to enkindle the fire of his love into your heart.

There is a creative power to God’s word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). God’s word is alive and present to all of us. And as Isaiah conveys in today’s first reading, God’s word “shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

This happened most profoundly in time when “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). God the Father through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit and the ascent of Mary’s will, sent his Son to be human while remaining fully divine. Jesus lived, suffered, died, conquered death, rose again, and ascended into heaven bringing our humanity through his humanity back to the Father. God’s Word achieved the end for which he was sent, that salvation of the world!

God’s word, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus are still alive and active today. The gift of the Bible is that the story of salvation is there for us to experience. The Bible is not just a compilation of dead letters on a series of pages to be gathering dust. These words are most alive when they are proclaimed at Mass and read, prayed and meditated upon within our own time of prayer, and put into action in our daily lives.

God still speaks to us today through his living word when we make the time to listen and hear him speak in the silence of our hearts. In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches us how to pray by sharing the words of the Our Father or the Lord’s Prayer. This is the same prayer that he taught his Apostles and has been prayed ever since then each and every day over the past two thousand years.

If you have been wanting to learn to pray and meditate with the Bible and haven’t been sure where to begin, the Our Father is a great place to start. Settle into a quiet place, take some deep breathes, and let the words come off the page and land on your lips. This can be silently or aloud. Read or recite slowly God’s word given to us by the Word, the Son of God, Jesus.

If you know these words well, resist the temptation to fly through them without a second thought. Say each word slowly, allow the mystery of God’s love to enfold you, allow Our Father to embrace you. The same Father who is in heaven, whose name is hallowed, holy. The God and creator of all that exists who is so far beyond our comprehension, while at the same time closer to us than we are to ourselves.

Contemplate on the wonderful truth that he wants us to be a part of his kingdom now and forever. God wants his will and our will to align as one so that we can be collaborators with him in creation so that we can put into practice what God guides us to on earth as it is in heaven. For heaven is the intimate communion with our loving God and Father that he seeks, and we have been created for.

We can then ask him for our daily bread, that which we need each day, most of all his Word among us made present again on Catholic altars throughout the world. Jesus, the Bread of Life, who we can consume and become transformed.

One of the most powerful transformations comes when we are forgiven by God who never tires of forgiving us. May we not only never tire of asking for forgiveness but also be willing to forgive as we have been forgiven. Sin, which causes separation and death from God and each other, is healed and we are redeemed by God’s forgiveness. As we are forgiven, we then are to forgive others and so God’s love is made manifest on earth as it is in heaven.

And as we prepare for each day, may we seek God’s guidance so that we may know his will and resist the temptations, distractions, and diversions of the enemy. God does not tempt us and he can help us to resist temptation when we follow his light. We will then not only avoid evil, but in the name of Jesus cast it out.

I invite you to pray with the Our Father in a similar way allowing Jesus to speak to you through your mind and heart as you meditate on each word. You may find that you want to stay with one particular word or phrase that calls to you and not even finish the prayer. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you where he wills. May you feel his peace, love, and joy arise from within you as you do so, and enjoy!

Photo: The tree tops reflecting the rays of the setting sun. May we do the same as we receive and reflect the light of the Son from our experience of Jesus in prayer!

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, February 19, 2024

Taking up our cross can be healing.

Jesus said to his disciples and all who could hear him: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Lk 9:23). We can best take up our cross daily by putting into practice the three pillars of Lent offered yesterday, which are almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. These disciplines aid us in resisting the temptations of pride, power, pleasure, honor, and wealth.

Giving ourselves some time to be still and to breathe deeply is a good action to begin Lent. From this place of letting go and just stopping from everything else, we can then pray about how we can best put these pillars into practice for these next forty days. If forty days are too much, think about the next week, or even just today.

As we make steps to slow down and be still, be aware that some resistance may arise. That is ok. Sinful and unhealthy tendencies and temptations may also arise. Bring any resistance, past sins, and temptations, and vices to Jesus and ask him to guide you to experience and identify their sources. Walking each day of Lent this way can provide the foundation for healing and freeing us from some of the things we have been carrying for years, even decades.

Returning to prayer throughout the day will help to establish a habit and rhythm of prayer. This often is accomplished best when we schedule set times to meditate on the readings of Lent, to be still and rest in the Lord before the Eucharist in adoration or present in the tabernacle, pray the Rosary, walk or sit among the beauty of God’s creation, and/or spend some quiet time reading a spiritual book, or the life of a saint. It is also good to just be silent and still. While at work, it can be as simple as stopping for a few moments at set times, say every three hours, to take a breath, and repeat a verse or short prayer, such as, “God come to my assistance, Lord make haste to help me.”

Each day it is also helpful to evaluate what we consume, what time and energy we expend, and discern, what we can fast from. Define the types of food that really aren’t healthy for us, what activities that we can let go of so we can devote more time to practices that empower, encourage, and lift others up as well as ourselves. We can fast from thinking, speaking, or acting in any way that is unkind, belittling, or demeaning.

When we put something in place that will help build a foundation for a closer walk with Jesus, we are taking something out of our life that could lead us astray. Jesus invites us to take up our cross and follow him. He is inviting us to discipline ourselves so as to free ourselves from that which enslaves us.

We can take up our cross today when we make time to pray, to be still, and follow God’s will. We can take up our cross when we fast from any negative, demeaning, or derogatory thoughts, words, and actions and replace them with thoughts, words, and actions that are encouraging, hopeful, and loving. We can take up our cross when we embrace opportunities to give of our time, talent, and treasure to build up and provide access to those around us. Let us take up our cross today and each day during this season of Lent so to know better the One who died on the cross for us, the One who gave his life for us, specifically, each one of us. Doing so, we then might begin to experience life and to the full!

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Photo: Quiet time in prayer before Mass over Christmas break, Manchester, CT.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, February 15, 2024.

The three pillars of Lent will lead us into the open arms of our Father.

In our Gospel reading from Matthew today, Jesus presents us with the three pillars of Lent: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. With each pillar, he cautions his disciples to resist the temptation of engaging in these spiritual practices such that the focus is placed on ourselves, such that we believe we ought to receive accolades for our efforts. The purpose of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting is to grow in true humility by placing God and others before ourselves such that we can love as Jesus loves us, to will the good of the other as other for their own sake, not seeking anything in return.

We give to others not “to win the praise of others”, not even to receive thanks, but specifically because another is in need of our help. We pray, not “that others may see” us, to puff ourselves up, but to empty ourselves into the arms of our Father, recognizing how dependent on him we really are. We fast not “to look gloomy like the hypocrites”, so to draw attention to ourselves, but we fast to discipline ourselves such that we are not enslaved to our passions. We discipline ourselves, so to walk on the path of freedom for excellence and engage in the fullness of the life God made for us.

Today, as we receive our ashes, we are reminded that from dust we have come and to dust, we will return. We are created, finite beings, that are given a limited time to live our life on this earth. This is important to acknowledge so that we resist the temptation of taking our life, the gift of our time on this earth, and others in our lives for granted.

We are also reminded to repent and believe in the Gospel. Jesus, help us to recognize and to be contrite for our sinful thoughts, words, and actions and reveal to us the empty promises of our distractions and temptations. Through our participation in almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, help us to experience our restlessness, and seek not to appease it with finite, material things that will not last, but to come to recognize that our fulfillment will come only when we find our rest in the One who has made us for himself, our loving God and Father who awaits us with arms wide open.

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Photo credit: Some purple hues as we begin Lent from Rosary walk, St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2024

“Awake my soul, awake lyre and harp, I will awake the dawn.”

Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed” (Mk 1:35). This was a common practice of pious Jews at the time. The intent was to spend time away from the everyday hustle and bustle, to be still, to better be able to connect with God. Jesus is making the effort and time to do the same, to go off to a place of quiet and stillness before the day’s activity begins, and to seek guidance from his Father as to how best to proceed in his ministry. When Simon Peter tracked Jesus down, Jesus shared the guidance he received to move on to the nearby villages to preach there also.

I have found this practice beneficial as well. In the early 90’s when I entered the Franciscans, I learned how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. During my first week of participating in this practice, a verse resonated with me: “My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready. I will sing, I will sing your praise. Awake my soul, awake lyre and harp, I will awake the dawn” (cf. Psalm 57). Even though my body and mind groan in protest, there is a feeling and experience of peace, renewal, and empowerment with making the time to “awake the dawn.”

I have been blessed to do so over the past eighteen years or so. Having the privilege and opportunity to teach for eight and a half years at Rosarian Academy and then nine years at Cardinal Newman HS, I began each day in the chapel sitting quietly and praying the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer. For the past year and a half, I have been able to not only pray the Liturgy of the Hours but also participate in daily Mass with the clergy, religious, and my brother seminarians at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary.

It is nice to begin the morning slowly with God, to be infused with his Word and to be in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, then to go forward into the day to share the joy of that morning’s encounter. I also introduced a “Holy Hour” into my day as well since coming to the seminary which has been an opportunity to grow even closer in intimacy with Jesus and experience moments of healing and growth.

How we go off to a deserted place will be different for each of us based on our station and responsibilities in life. There is much pulling at us to distract and divert us from making the time, but our lives will be transformed when we do. To commit to 10 to 20 minutes of quiet a day to start will mean we need to let go of something else. It may mean hitting the snooze button is no longer an option, maybe it is getting up 20 minutes before your spouse and kids, quiet time with morning coffee or breakfast, sitting quietly on the porch, at the kitchen table, or favorite quiet spot, quiet time in the car, maybe there is a gap in between classes, any time outside for a quiet walk or sitting by water is great. There are so many options.

There is something for me that is special about the stillness before the dawn, experiencing night giving way to the morning light, hearing the bird song, and yet, there are many ways, as there are many places and times that we can create for ourselves to show up with God and allow him to happen. I also enjoy ending the day with a quiet walk around our lake after supper. As we make time to experience stillness, we will also begin to notice God more often in our activities, interactions, and interruptions. Making time to go off to a deserted place is a wonderful gift that I pray you may give to yourself this week.

Photo: Waking the dawn during my 30-Day silent retreat this past July at Joseph and Mary Retreat House, Mundelein, Illinois.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, February 4, 2024

Come away and rest for a bit.

After hearing the accounts of the missionary trip, Jesus invited his apostles to step away from the crowds “to a deserted place [to] rest awhile” (Mk 6:31). Jesus is showing the apostles the importance of balance. There are times to serve and times to recharge, to reconnect, and spend some quiet and reflective time with him. Jesus is our model, our guide and teacher, but he is at the same time more than that. Jesus is the source and sustenance of who we are as a living craving, hunger, and desire to be one with God and each another. As the deer longs to refresh itself from the waters of a running stream, we long to be nourished by the living water, the love and communion with Jesus, and this is true for the atheist as well as the mystic alike, for each and every one of us, whether we are aware of this reality or not.

Our thirst for communion can be stifled because it is so easy to be caught up in our day-to-day schedule, life’s demands, and even survival. There is so much that needs to be done, and at the same time, there are so many distractions and diversions that vie for our energy and attention.

In today’s Gospel, the intent of Jesus is to escape with his apostles for some rest and renewal. They get in a boat to do just that, yet the crowd that they thought they had left behind has arrived on the other side before they did! “When Jesus disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things” (Mk 6:34). So much for being able to “rest away for awhile”! Or maybe the boat ride across was that moment of rest.

Choosing five to ten minutes to be still, to rest in the Lord, may not seem like much but can make a huge difference. Our challenge is to be able to discern and develop a healthy balance that becomes fruitful through aligning our will with Jesus. When we intentionally put God first and make the time each day to spend with him, often there is a serendipitous alignment that we experience in our day, that we did not think possible at the outset. This often happens when we consciously make time for stillness, for meditation, contemplation, and prayer, even and especially, during those moments when we may feel we just don’t have the time. As St. Francis de Sales taught, no matter what station we are in life it is good to pray at least thirty minutes a day, and for those who are busy, sixty.

If you haven’t practiced time sitting still and silent, that may be too much to ask in the beginning. It is better to start with small increments of time and be consistent.

I invite you to begin with today’s Gospel. Read it slowly and reflectively for a few minutes. Then step into and sit in the boat with Jesus and his disciples. Breathe in deep, let your head fall back to feel the breeze of the Sea of Galilee, feel the warmth of the sun on your face, and experience the rhythm of the boat on the water. Does Jesus remain silent and rest with you? Does he begin to teach, what does he share? In your time of quiet, do you have questions for him, what do you ask, and what is his answer?

Allow yourself to leave the desire for doing at the shore and rest in just being. Enter into the experience, and when the boat comes to shore, go forth into the day renewed and blessed by Jesus so to go forward with a heart and mind able to be moved with compassion to serve others. From such periods of renewal, breathing, resting, receiving, and abiding in God’s love, even for short periods, we can better embrace interruptions in our days with the heart and compassion of Jesus, and see them instead as opportunities of encounter and service.

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Photo: Enjoying some quiet time with a Rosary walk in Egret Landing, Jupiter, FL as I prayed in the new year.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, February 3, 2024

We will mature when we keep God first.

God loves us and he shows us this love by caring, providing, guiding, convicting, forgiving, healing, and saving us from our fallen tendencies. We are more open to receive his love and the gifts of his presence in our lives when we are willing to acknowledge that God is God, and we are not, and that we need and depend on him. God is our Father, and we are his beloved children.

This may seem like a small matter, but it is not. The moment we begin to place ourselves, anyone, and/or anything before God, we open ourselves up for trouble. We saw this with the kingship of Saul and are now beginning to see the cracks in David’s foundation as king.

Building a temple for God sounds like a reasonable and pious thing to do, but God, through the prophet Nathan convicted David: “Thus says the LORD: Should you build me a house to dwell in” (2 Samuel 7:5)? God then continues to outline how he never had asked before through any of the patriarchs or judges for a dwelling, and shared how he brought David out from the shepherd fields, made him King, defeated his enemies, and provided for him, and it would be God who would build a house and a kingdom that would endure forever.

Jesus helps us to understand how, like David, we can miss the mark when he told and interpreted the Parable of the Sower. God sews his seed as creator and the key is whether we receive it and care for it or not. There are forces that can counter God’s gift, like Satan, the accuser and liar, who through his lies, temptations, and manipulations steals the seeds from us.

Those who do receive them also can have challenges. Some receive them with great joy, but do not savor and care for the gift given. They only receive God’s word in the moment at the surface level of their emotions, but do not do anything to foster its growth. There is no root to anchor them in times of trouble. Anxieties, worries, distractions, and diversions, choke out any growth that may begin after the seeds have taken root and begun to grow.

When we keep God first in our lives before all else, he will help us to prepare our soil so that the seeds he sows finds rich and healthy soil. This takes time and energy on our part to follow his guidance and those in our lives that he speaks through. The effort and discipline expended are well worth the effort and will bear great fruit in our lives and those we serve.

Photo: A pine sapling here at the seminary off to a good start!

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, January 24, 2024

“Speak, your servant is listening.”

God.

Even if we believe in God, do we make the time to think or ponder about God? Doing so may be difficult because there are so many diversions and distractions and we can be busy, busy, busy, and anxious about so many things that we can even take each other for granted, those who we see in a concrete and tangible way right before us.

We, being finite and so small, how can we even begin to comprehend God? He is transcendent and infinite, meaning he is not just another being among the many beings of creation. He is not even a supreme being. God is the foundation, the creator, the redeemer of all of creation. All that God has created has come to be as an outpouring of his love. Nothing would exist, we would not exist, without God. And even though he seems so far beyond our reach, God is closer to us than we are to ourselves!

Jesus helps us to understand this truth when he gives us the Lord’s Prayer. The first line tells us so much: “Our Father who art in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). The words who art, meaning who is, in heaven while we are here on earth, represents the reality that he is so beyond us. God transcends all space and time, and yet… Jesus begins this prayer, that we have been saying generation after generation since he taught his apostles and others, that the One who is in heaven is our Father. We are to address and relate to the infinite God not as some impersonal, random force, but as Father. In a healthy and whole sense, that is an intimate and close relationship.

How do we then relate to “Our Father, who art in Heaven”? The first reading and the gospel can be of help.

The young Samuel who has been dedicated by his mother Hannah to serve in the temple at Shiloh has woken up three times hearing, who he thought was the priest, Eli, call his name. Eli confirmed that it was not he who spoke. He then guided Samuel that if his name was called again, to say, “Speak, for your servant is listening” (I Samuel 3:10). Which Samuel does and God speaks.

God can speak to us directly or as Joseph and Mary experienced through the intercession of angels. This happens most often as with Samuel, Mary, and Joseph in times of quiet. As St. Mother Teresa taught, “God speaks in the silence of the heart.” It is not so much that we have to go looking for God because as the foundation of our being and our loving Father, he is already inviting us to encounter and experience him. Our very desire to seek him is our first awareness of his invitation to enter into a relationship with him. What is needed is that we learn to stop and listen, and then like Samuel, come to know and distinguish his voice.

We can also come to know God through the guidance of others. In our Gospel today, John the Baptist points his disciples to Jesus and says, “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:36). There are people in our lives that have experienced the voice of God, developed a relationship with him, and they can guide us as John did.

Some other ways that I have experienced God speak to me in the silence of my heart has been through my own personal reading of the Bible, times of prayer and meditation, hearing his word proclaimed in Mass, through Jesus, present in the Eucharist, through music, in experiencing the beauty of creation, spiritual direction, and experiences with many others who have guided me. None of these experiences have been booming, mystical encounters. Most have been quiet urgings, prods, and invitations.

The other challenge is that we hear so many voices inside and outside of our minds that we need to develop and discern whose voice we are listening to. Understandably, when Samuel first heard his name called, he would think it to be Eli. It took a bit for Eli to also recognize what was happening. Discerning God’s voice in the midst of so many voices in our world today is a challenge.

The enemy and the liar also seek to undo and destroy us. He and his demons will do the opposite of God and the angels. They will entice and tempt us to choose apparent goods that will lead us away from God and what will truly make us happy, then condemn us for doing so and seek to get a hold in our minds to continue to isolate us.

The voice of the Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and his angels, convict us when we are doing or choosing something that leads us astray, but the choice is still ours to make as well as receiving the consequences. No matter what, God is right beside us to catch us when we fall, forgives us, and heals us when we are willing to come back to him. As soon as we do, he will embrace us with open arms.

There is no limit to the ways that God communicates to us. He knows us best and he knows what will open our hearts and minds to him most. What we need to do is learn to slow ourselves down, be willing to take some deep breaths, be still, say, “Speak, Lord your servant is listening”, continue to be still, listen in the moment and throughout the day and each day and allow God to happen!

As we more consistently do so, we will begin to discern better the deceptive voices of the enemy, be able to renounce them, and free ourselves from his grasp. We will also recognize God’s voice, experience his forgiveness, healing, and love and will be freer to live lives of meaning, fulfillment, and joy and help others to do the same.

Photo: St. Mary’s Chapel, St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL., one of my favorite places to pray and listen for God’s voice.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, January 14, 2023