I don’t know how to pray.<\/p>\n
There, I’ve said it.<\/p>\n
I know many means<\/em> of prayer. Still, more often than not, my mind keeps nattering on, and I can’t tell the voice of God from all the other voices in there. I know I’m not alone in this; the apostles themselves begged Jesus to teach them how to pray, and the fixed result was such a relief that Christians everywhere still use it daily!<\/p>\n Their relief must have been akin to how I feel when I’m able to pray the Liturgy of the Hours with a prayer community. It falls on me like an unexpected gift: my role in it is small, brittle. Whether I expend great effort or flow effortlessly, I produce minimal results. I make little pieces of prayer, nourishing like a small piece of bread, like a host. I am immersed into the prayer, which would go on without me, if I were to disappear. I am brought into a world that has no need of me, and I feel it as a great relief.<\/p>\n Sometimes, in the peace that follows I recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit, mercifully speaking to me from outside, with someone else’s voice.<\/p>\n I will pray for you. Just be. Do what everyone else is doing, and I will pray.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I know many means of prayer. Still, more often than not, my mind keeps nattering on, and I can’t tell the voice of God from all the other voices in there. I know I’m not alone in this; the apostles themselves begged Jesus to teach them how to pray, and the fixed result was such a relief that Christians everywhere still use it daily!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liturgical-spirituality","category-liturgy-of-the-hours"],"yoast_head":"\n