“Prayer is the food for our life with God; without it we
suffer from malnourishment.” (Page 44)
I can still clearly remember the day I was confirmed in the
Catholic Church. As each student approached the Bishop we were asked a question
or two about our faith. I was nervous as my sponsor and I stood in front of the
Bishop my heart beating hard and my mind racing, praying for an easy question.
My question: “What is your favorite prayer and who taught it to you,” caught me
off guard but I quickly answered The Memorare and my parent? As I walked back
to my pew I kept thinking to myself how did I get such an easy question….little
did I understand then the importance of a solid prayer foundation in my life.
Prayers are often one of the first things we teach children. My nephew can
quickly recite his dinner prayer and my sister can probably say the Guardian
Angel prayer in one breath; we always prayed together as a family, from an
early age it was a priority. Yet the older I get the more difficult I find it
is to structure significant prayer time in my life. It’s not that I’m too busy
or that I have forgotten to pray but perhaps because our foundation of prayer is
only taught to a certain level. What once worked in my family home, suddenly
doesn’t fit in my personal life. Feeling less than satisfied with how much time
I was actually praying, I recall sitting in a graduate Theology class and reading
an article much similar to this and things finally made sense. Our individual
prayer lives are our unique opportunity to carve out a specific relationship with
Christ. In this chapter Robin Ryan, OP, reminds us that that works for me may
not work for others but it is mine. I needed to create a sacred space that enabled
me to dive into deep conversation with Christ, to be honest, to listen to my
heart and make prayer a priority in my daily life; this is always evolving and
will continue to as I grow and change as an adult.
Do you have a strong prayer foundation?
What is your favorite prayer or method of prayer?
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