Taking
off on Pope Francis’ urging “to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ,
or at least an openness to letting him encounter them…unfailingly each day,” I
want to continue to examine how we can concretely and actually do this. There
are two important practices to develop. First is setting aside time each day to
allow this encounter to occur. Second is to develop an openness to recognize
the encounter whenever and wherever it occurs. The two are related, but
different.
First
is the most obvious, if not the easiest. Each day we must set aside time to
pray. In our hectic world this is not easy, but as a New York mystic once told
me, “yesterday’s prayer is like yesterday’s breathing. It won’t help you today.
You have to pray and breathe ever day.” Just as you cannot go very long without
breathing, you cannot go very long without praying. It really helps to have a set
time and routine. It is just too easy to miss it if you don’t set a routine.
There
are many different forms of prayer because there are many different types of
people. Often it takes a person a while to discover the right way for him or
her to pray. And in different situations, or different periods of a person’s
life, different forms of prayer may be more suitable. The Rosary is a method of
prayer many people have found valuable for a long period of time. Contemplative
prayer, charismatic prayer, singing as a form of prayer, lectio divina, using
your imagination when praying over Scriptures, Liturgy of the Hours, memorized
prayers like the Our Father or the Morning Offering, meditation, and many other
forms of prayer can be used. Daily Mass is an excellent way. Which form of
prayer is not so important, but setting time aside to pray is. These prayer
experiences are the building blocks for the personal encounter with Jesus.
An
important part of the prayer time has to be dedicated to listening. This is very
difficult for us. We hear so much, but unfortunately we listen little.
Listening is an art that must be developed. We have to listen to the message
and the emotions behind the message. In prayer we are listening to ourselves
first of all. What is going on in my heart, in my guts, in my being? Where is
it coming from? If it is from the Lord, what is it telling me? But we are also
listening for the Lord. It is very uncommon for the Lord to speak to us
directly, but rather we hear the Lord in the reactions that are going on inside
us. What attracts us? What repels? How are we being pulled, lead, directed?
This is the tricky art of paying attention to the movement of the Holy Spirit
inside us. It takes practice, and it is not necessary to get it 100% correct
each time. It takes some perseverance and patience – qualities I struggle with.
Perhaps
the prayer time will be wonderful and fill you with a sense of Jesus’ presence
and His love for you, but don’t count on it. More likely it will be like a lot
of interactions you have with other people around you in your family or at
work: more or less utilitarian and plain, and even a bit dull. That is OK. That
is how relationship works. There are a few precious high points of emotional
intensity, and a lot of ordinary times of useful but kind of boring
communication. And it won’t be any different in a relationship with the Risen
Lord. Most prayer experiences are day-to-day mundane interactions that are
rather humdrum. That is just the way it is. But that can still be an encounter.
Next
week: Openness to encounter at all times.
God
bless,
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