Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - October 1, 2024
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from You.”
Praying is rarely easy for us. Saint Therese of the Child Jesus wrote that she found prayer books full of beautiful but unusable prayers and the Rosary almost impossible to pray. Her advice was that prayer should be simple, direct, in our own language without worry about eloquence or grammar. It is, she said, “a lifting of the heart, a simple gaze turned towards heaven, a cry of thanksgiving and love in the midst of trials or joy.” There are many other ways of saying it, but this is worth reflection. She stresses the basic simplicity of prayer.
Lifting the heart or gazing toward heaven is a wordless matter, a matter of turning our attention from present concerns to God. We don't have to use words with God any more than we do with a close friend. The second part of her statement gets to words–or at least sounds: a cry of thanksgiving or love. In some situations, it could be no more than a groan that life provokes, one of those sighs–or, let's hope, maybe a whoop of joy, a “wow.”
We needn't worry about God being puzzled by our hearts. Any words we use are more for our benefit than God's. We need to express them. God knows them. Therese says we should do this in trials or joy; that should cover most of life. We may, however, need to prod ourselves to pray in joy with some regularity. So often prayer is thought of only as an interior 911 call. But why not speak to God, too, when we are bursting with joy, enthusiasm, excitement, happiness?
Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”
