Listening at Prayer

We will never learn to live the years prayerfully unless we learn to live the seconds deeply and well.--Fr. Benedict Groeschel, from his book, "Listening at Prayer"

 

This life is mostly not about great plans and big ideas, it is about the daily joys, struggles, and the grind of living. It is about the daily Mass, the simple moments of loving someone simply because they are. It is about going to a job and dealing with the same old issues and people. It's about doing one more set in the weight room, and pushing harder when you want to quit. It is about those things that come up unexpected and how we react to them. Fr. Groeschel's book on prayer is eye opening. His main point is that prayer is something we must work at in two facets. Talking to God, but just as important, listening to God. If you have a friend and you never let them speak, or when they do, you are only thinking about what you want to say, that friendship is not a friendship. Take time before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament to listen. Just sit there and clear you head. This takes much patience and effort. It does not come easy. The second facet of prayer is to just do it.  Whether we feel like praying or not, pray. When we are angry, pray. When we are despairing, pray. When we are bored, pray. When life is going great, pray. Confused, pray. Bitter, pray. Hungry, pray. God loves it when we talk to Him, but He also loves it when we listen.

 

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