Deeper Prayer (part 2)

Deeper Prayer (Part 2)

In the first post on deeper prayer we examined how few Catholic were taught that prayer should be primarily a communion with God on a soul level. Prayer can affect our body and mind but must, at it’s core, enliven the spiritual part of who we are.

When prayer is a communing with God words are no longer the focus. The rosary, for example, is meant to help us be with and learn from Jesus, His mother, and the early church. This is done very little through the recitation of words and much more through using the gift of our imagination to place ourselves in the lives of Mary, Jesus, and the Saints where we learn how to imitate them.

Beyond meditative images it is also important to learn to pray in silence in the presence of God. As it is said, “God’s first language is silence; everything else is a poor translation.” We will be amazed how God speaks once we allow the space for it. That speaking happens through unexpectedly thoughts, reflections, memories, images, or inspirations. Sitting in this silence is especially helpful when there is something specific we are hoping for God to provide guidance on.

Another way to think about prayer is that there are people in the world considering suicide, enslaved to addiction, and who are mentally and physically suffering all of the world. On top of that the world is infect by the sin of greed, lust, hatred, violence, wrath, and pride. Jesus aches for those who are suffering and He suffers from all sins especially the most heinous. As friends of Christ a great gift that we can offer Him is to just be with Him in His suffering love for humanity and offer our struggles to help in whatever He sees fit. When we pray as companion’s of Christ and ache with Him for those who are suffering we aid in His ministry through our prayer. That prayer is used to move the Holy Spirit to enter the lives of those who are suffering, lost, confused, or misguided. When we pray well we serve others.

Blessings,
Daniel Hoover