In the Backpack - Prayer

Prayer, we hear a lot about it, but what is it really? What purpose does it have? Prayer is a way of connecting with God, with the divine - traditionally through prayers of praise, thanksgiving and petition. We know those fairly well in the Catholic Church. It's the prayers of "wow", "thanks" and "I need". We've perfected those styles of prayer in the Church. The Mass is full of those various forms of prayer. But there are other forms of prayer that aren't quite so well known... contemplation, meditation.

Sometimes, when we're praying, we can end up firmly entrenched in our heads. We're thinking about our prayer - we're thinking about what to be grateful for, we're thinking about what we need, we're thinking about whether or not we're doing it right. But in our thinking... we're not really praying. Prayer comes from the heart... and is born in the stillness and silence. In the Catholic Church, at least in my experience, we're not so good with stillness and silence. I sometimes think that's why the Latin Mass is gaining popularity among young people... they are craving something different. Praying words that you don't understand gets you out of your head and your thinking.

There is of course contemplation and meditation - two prayer forms rooted in our Christian tradition. But as anyone who has attempted them knows... stilling the mind is... well, quite a challenge! It takes practice... and most of us give up long before we achieve any proficiency in it. It's also not something that most parishes promote and teach. "Come and sing and listen and speak and pray and participate at Mass". When all we really want to do is just come and listen for that voice that says "be still and know that I am God".

So what to do... well, the thing I've learned is this... contemplation/meditation and silence are the key. God is present in the silence, as Moses discovered. God is present when our minds can calm down and be still. It is then, as we peer into the mirror of our soul that we see the divine reflected clearly, not distorted by the turbulence of our thoughts and worries and concerns. If we can learn to be still and listen... amazing things can happen.

There are also many ways of meditating... from sitting cross-legged on a yoga mat, to chanting a mantra (maranatha or the Rosary or... whatever), to listening to someone else give a guided meditation. But there are other ways too... walking meditation, singing meditation, cooking meditation, gardening meditation, painting meditation, writing meditation, photography meditation. Anything in which we become so connected to the activity that we forget ourselves and are just present to what is in front of us. In those moments, our minds take a back seat and we can be recipients of divine inspiration. For myself, I love to take my camera and go for a walk and just be present to what I see around me. The praise and thanksgiving come naturally then... often in wordless murmurings of the soul and the heart... often as a smile.

As humans, we come from the divine and we are headed back to the divine. Connecting with the divine, with God, through prayer, is what draws us up that mountain. It is what gives us our direction. It is what motivates us to continue the journey. Prayer is pretty much non-negotiable... when I forget to pray, through writing or walking or just being still... the rest of my day does not go smoothly. I should know the lesson by now.... but sometimes we just need to be reminded. How do you pray? What is prayer for you?