Some people like to talk. Perhaps you know someone like that. They demand to be listened to, but they don’t have the same interest in listening. It has been said that you can’t truly listen unless you are used to silence. St. Teresa of Calcutta wrote that prayer is the fruit of silence. When you are with someone who knows a lot about a topic that interests you, you dedicate yourself to really listen. Likewise that means our main interest in prayer should be listening to what God wants to tell us.
Jesus tells us the Father knows what we need even before we ask him. Still, we should ask, because in asking we become closer to God and his will for us. When asked by the apostle how they should pray, Jesus taught them the “Our Father”. In saying this prayer we essentially ask for three things: that God has the first place in our lives, that he give us our material and spiritual sustenance, and that he grants us his forgiveness.
This Lent in our pray time, I suggest we meditate upon these three things.
Thank him for the truth revealed in this prayer that we often say without contemplating the words. Ask him whatever questions come into your heart. Then please quiet yourself to hear his answer !
St. Joseph, pray for us !
DeColores, Deacon Doug
