Still Stuck on How to Pray?        There are some people who, no matter what you say, still feel stuck in trying to pray. They don’t know how to start. They don’t know what to do. God seems far away and they feel like they don’t have a clue.       Hey, all is not lost! If you are one of these people there is a little booklet, available on Amazon, Barns & Noble, and elsewhere in English, Spanish, and many other languages. You can even get it for Kindle. The booklet is by Linda Schubert and is called “Miracle Hour, a Method of Prayer That Will Change Your Life.”       What Schubert proposes is dividing an hour into five-minute segments. We can do anything for just five minutes, right? See, it’s easy! Only five minutes! You can pray it a segment at a time, or pray 6 segments for a half hour, or all twelve for an hour. The 12 segments are:         Praise    ...

Distractions in Prayer, Part II       The prior discussion on Distractions in Prayer applies most of the time. But not always. Sometimes it depends on the nature of the distraction.       One very simple but incredibly effective strategy for certain distractions at prayer (or when trying to sleep!) is to have handy paper and pen. When some thought, some anxiety – especially one of those never-ending to-do items! – comes to mind, just jot it down quickly, and then return to trying to pray (or trying to sleep). No need to think about it anymore; it’s there. The thought can go.       Other times a distraction is a real concern. Sometimes maybe we are supposed to pray about it. For example, if your mind wanders to some tragedy in the news, just gently turn to the Lord and pray for the people involved in the tragedy. Or say your child’s struggle with addiction comes to mind. Gently turn to the Lord and pray for the chil...

Distractions in Prayer       It doesn’t take very long for a person to begin regular daily prayer when he throws up his hands and wants to scream – in good Charlie Brown style – “ARUGGGGH!” Distractions! Distractions! Will they never end!       Well, welcome to the human race. We all know visiting with friends and all the while thinking about a million other things. Our mental capacities allow for multiple levels of awareness and thought. But then we want to have a heart-to-heart conversation with someone – then we naturally try to stay focused. The same with prayer. We just keep trying to focus on God no matter what comes.       Every little “try” is a turning from self and back to God.       Consider Jesus praying in Gethsemane. Did He have a sweet time of communion? No! What about when he was praying and fasting 40 days in the desert? No! He was fighting against enormous temptations....

Prayer as Placing Ourselves in the Way of God's Love       In continuing with our series on prayer, this article will generously quote from the book, The Hermit , by David Torkington, and specifically from a dialogue between the narrator, who is seeking spiritual help with his rather dead spiritual life, and a man recommended to him, Peter.       Peter speaks of how a ne’er do well cousin totally changed his life when he fell in love and received deep love from a remarkable woman who became his wife. Peter says, “I was fascinated by the tremendous power of love in action. No power on earth could have done anything for my cousin. It helped me to realize that if we could somehow place ourselves in the way of God’s love, put ourselves under the influence of His creative power, then like [my cousin], we might be radically and permanently changed; not superficially, but from our innermost parts.       “When I began to rea...

The Christmas Crèche       “The enchanting image of the Christmas crèche, so dear to the Christian people, never ceases to arouse amazement and wonder. The depiction of Jesus’ birth is itself a simple and joyful proclamation of the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God. The nativity scene is like a living Gospel rising up from the pages of sacred Scripture. As we contemplate the Christmas story, we are invited to set out on a spiritual journey, drawn by the humility of the God who became man in order to encounter every man and woman. We come to realize that so great is his love for us that he became one of us, so that we in turn might become one with him.”       So begins Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter dated Dec. 1, 2019, Admirabile Signum , or “The Meaning and Importance of the Nativity Scene.” In the letter he encourages not only families to set up the nativity scenes, but also to have them set up “in the workplace, in schools, hospi...

The Two Waits of Advent        Advent is a time of waiting. While we wait for the coming of Christ, the Church reads from the prophet Isaiah during Advent as the clearest prophetic expression of Christ. Isaiah 30:18 has an interesting take on this waiting. It says: “Blessed are all those who wait for” the Lord, which we hear often from many passages in Scripture. But this verse actually begins by saying an astonishing thing: “The Lord waits to be gracious to you.” We wait for the Lord; but first the Lord is waiting for us so that He might shower us with grace. Part of our Advent reflection, then, is: how open, receptive, and available are we to this God of grace who is waiting for us?       The Christmas and New Year’s schedule for Our Lady of Lourdes Church is as follows:       This Saturday, Dec. 21, our Pastor, as Vicar of the High Desert Region, must be in Fresno for a priestly ordination, and therefore ther...

Meditative Prayer        Continuing our series on prayer, we have looked at the expression of prayer that is vocal, and now we look at the expression of prayer that is meditative, sometimes called mental prayer or just meditation. Christian meditation is always in the context of Christian faith (doctrine) and prayer by which we seek communion with the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit, one God. We surrender ourselves to the “You” of God. It is interpersonal. It is opening of our hearts to receive the love of God always present, and then to return love to Him.       In ordinary friendship we get to know one another by talking and gradual self-disclosure. When people fall in love, even more they want to know everything about the other. Or say you’re playing the lead role in a play. Don’t you want to learn everything you can about the character you are playing so you can imitate him perfectly?       Well it...