GOD ALWAYS DRAWS US CLOSER
"How do I pray?" This question has nagged me several times now that my commitment to perpetually vowed religious life had been drastically ended by my personal decision to leave my religious community several months ago. I admit that I have stopped praying the "Liturgy of the Hours," or the Breviary, the traditional clerical and Christian Community Prayer - and the common prayers of my former community. Not reciting the Breviary has never bothered me because I have been rooted in who I am through my personal prayers.
I have been introduced to the different ways of praying personally and collectively from different culture and traditions when I was still taking my MDiv Courses at CTU and my Internship in Spiritual Direction at Claret Center in Chicago For whatever reason, I have been drawn to continue to pray my experiences* the best way for me to connect with God during these past months when I have been in transition. Check out the book below if this way of praying hits you.
Today, reading the "Mom's Empty Chair" Story below, written by an unknown author, not only made me mindful of this kind of prayer. The mother's prayer, reminded me of Fr. Redemptor, an elderly priest in his nineties who lived in the Nursing Center of my former community in Milwaukee.
Fr. Redemptor was growing older and was getting weaker each day. He has slept mostly during the day while holding on to his breviary and rosary. He sadly shared his "problem" during one of my visits to him with another Brother by saying,"Brothers, I could hardly stay awake during mass, most especially during the consecration of bread and wine." To him, my Brother said,"Father, didn't you think that at this point in your priestly life, there is no better way to become close to God that to rest in God's arm?" Probably, expecting a fire in the brimstone remark, there was a surprise on his face. I could not forget that great "aha!" moment that I witnessed.
Surely, every moments of our lives can be an opportunity for us to turn ourselves closer to God. To pray our experiences we need then to start on reflecting on and to enter honestly into our everyday experiences as ordinary as they are. In order for us to become aware of God's action in them and to offer ourselves through them with God, we need first to recognize God's indwelling presence in our lives always drawing us closer to God's luring us with the Fullness of God's Love.
For Fr. Redemptor and for all who longs for the many and endless ways of being seized by God in our daily lives, especially during our mundane and dull times, may all of our experiences and prayers be blessed and be full of God's Encircling Love!
God's blessings!
MOM'S EMPTY CHAIR
A woman's daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray with her mother. When the minister arrived, he found the woman lying in bed with her head propped up on two pillows. An empty chair sat beside her bed.
The minister assumed that the woman had been informed of his visit...I guess you were expecting me, he said.'No, who are you?' said the mother.The minister told her his name and then remarked, 'I saw the empty chair and I figured you knew I was going to show up..''Oh yeah, the chair,' said the bedridden woman 'Would you mind closing the door?' Puzzled, the minister shut the door.
'I have never told anyone this, not even my daughter,' said the woman. 'But all of my life I have never known how to pray. At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right over my head...'I abandoned any attempt at prayer,' the old woman continued, 'until one day four years ago, my best friend said to me, ' Prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus. Here is what I suggest..'Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair. It's not spooky because he promised, 'I will be with you always'.. 'Then just speak to him in the same way you're doing with me right now... ''So, I tried it and I've liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day. I'm careful though.If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she'd either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm.'
The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old woman to continue on the journey. Then he prayed with her, anointed her with oil, and returned to the church. Two nights later the daughter called to tell the minister that her mama had died that afternoon. 'Did she die in peace?' he asked. 'Yes, when I left the house about two o'clock, she called me over to her bedside,told me she loved me and kissed me on the cheek.When I got back from the store an hour later, I found her .But there was something strange about her death. Apparently, just before Mom died, she leaned over and rested her head on the chair beside the bed. What do you make of that?'
The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said, 'I wish we could all go like that.'
Prayer is one of the best free gifts we receive. "I asked God for water, He gave me an ocean.* I asked God for a flower, He gave me a garden.* I asked God for a friend, He gave me all of YOU...
If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it. Happy moments, praise God. Difficult moments, seek God. Quiet moments, worship God. Painful moments, trust God. Every moment, thank God."
*Schmidt, Joseph F., FSC, Praying Our Experiences, MN:St. Mary's Press, 2000.
