Home Columnists Fr Paddy: Prayer – a sacred gift

Fr Paddy: Prayer – a sacred gift

In a growing secular world it seems much more Cool to do mindfulness as opposed to pray.

Last week the minister of education announced huge funding for training teachers in the art of mindfulness for their future students to partake in.

My Sense is that mindfulness empties our minds of clutter ….a process of deleting what’s blocking us from entering into an inner silence of peace and presence.

Essentially prayer similarly brings us to a sacred place of peace and serenity. Prayer is a gift.

The spirit prayers within us. Like any relationship it needs to be communicated regularly in order for the experience to become wholesome and part of our day to day lives.

Prayer is never magic, it’s much bigger than just our feelings, prayer points us in the direction of hopefulness and well being.

Prayer is simple and doesn’t need to be complicated by too much words or noise.

The best way to pray is with our heart

“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”

Wisdom

Gandhi in his spiritual wisdom brings us to the heart of prayer.

In the same way St. Therese of lisieux beautifully said ” I have not the courage to force myself to seek beautiful prayers in books; not knowing which to choose I act as children do who cannot read; I say quite simply to the good God what I want to tell Him, and He always understands me.”

I love the simplicity of the following story….

A man’s daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray with her father. When the minister arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows. An empty chair sat beside his bed.

The minister assumed that the old fellow had been informed of his visit. “I guess you were expecting me,” he said. “No, who are you?” said the father.

“I’m the new minister at your church,” he replied. “When I saw the empty chair, I figured you knew I was going to show up.” “Oh yeah, the chair,” said the bedridden man. “Would you mind closing the door?”

Puzzled, the minister shut the door. “I have never told anyone this, not even my daughter,” said the man.

“But all of my life I have never known how to pray. At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right over my head. I abandoned any attempt at prayer,” the old man continued, “until one day, about four years ago, my best friend said to me, ‘Joe, prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus.

Here is what I suggest. Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair.

It’s not spooky because He promised, “I’ll be with you always.” Then, just speak to Him in the same way you’re doing with me right now.’

So, I tried it, and I’ve liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day. I’m careful though.

If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she’d either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm.”

Moved

The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old man to continue on the journey.

Then he prayed with him, anointed him with oil, and returned to the church. Two nights later the daughter called to tell the minister that her daddy had died that afternoon.

“Did he die in peace?” he asked.

“Yes, when I left the house about two o’ clock, he called me over to his bedside, told me he loved me and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found him dead. But there was something strange about his death. Apparently, just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on the chair beside the bed. What do you make of that?”

The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said, “I wish we could all go like that.”

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;

enjoying one moment at a time;

accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

taking, as He did, this sinful world

as it is, not as I would have it;

trusting that He will make all things right

if I surrender to His Will;

that I may be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy with Him

forever in the next.

Amen.

– Fr Paddy Byrne

SEE ALSO – Fr Paddy: A time to let go …