When we pray, we are in direct communication with our Living God. What
an amazing gift to us, His Beloved Children! *(CCC 2559-2561) Whether
in words, thought, or song, God hears our prayer. He listens as we
chant or rest in the silence of His Heart. Each of us, as a child of
God, has a prayer voice that is as unique as a finger print.
The
patriarchs of the Old Testament prayed to God in the open air, in
nature. They passed on the stories of their fathers’ experiences with
God, and they danced and sang the praises of God around the campfires.
God heard their prayers as they tended their sheep and raised their
children. Sometimes, God would send heavenly messengers to visit
these men and women of old, and their lives would be changed forever.
When these women and men spoke to God in prayer, they spoke from the
heart, which is where prayer is born. *(CCC2562-2564).
Today, we
are bombarded with stiumli. We are a society of distractions, multiple
activities and short thought processes. Aren’t you, like me, often
challenged in finding time to pray? When we find the time, how do we
pray? I ask myself that question often. Do I attend Mass, the greatest
prayer of all? Do I pray a Rosary? (Always a good option in my eyes.)
Do I sit in silence with God? Do I pull out an old prayer book and
recite those prayers? Am I close to a church where I can sit in
adoration of our Risen Lord? How do we find and use our prayer voice?
God
blesses us with so many ways to communicate with Him. As always, my
recommendation is to begin your search for your prayer voice with a
simple prayer.
Lord, God, I want to communicate with You in the best way I can. Please show me how You want me to talk with You.
The
answer to your prayer might be given immediately or it might take a
while. No matter, practice the virtue of patience as you seek to find.
Remember, God will open that door for you. Ask for this gift in
Faith.
“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will
find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who
asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who
knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7: 7-8
I pray in many
different ways, however, I found my prayer voice in writing. I have
journaled for years, since I was a teenager caught up in the angst of my
raging hormones. I have kept gratitude journals, negativity dump
journals, journals of being in love, journals of my children’s lives,
journals of my hopes and dreams, journals of ways to decorate my home,
photo journals, blogs. Well, you get the picture. I have journaled for
years.
One day, many years ago, as I prayed, I fought
distraction after distraction. Frustrated, I stopped praying. When I
stopped my prayer, I saw my gratitude journal out of the corner of my
eye. (The Holy Spirit was working here! ) Suddenly, I realized, my
attention was always focused when I wrote. I found a new notebook,
labeled it “Prayer Journal,” and I began to write. I felt God smile on
me that day. I found my prayer voice!
Now, I use my prayer
journal almost everyday. I also pray in other ways, too. Yet, I know,
my true prayer voice, a gift from our Loving God, is in the gift of
writing.
Thank You, Lord, for this gift! Amen.
* CCC = Catechism of the Catholic Church
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