Tuesday, December 12, 2006
trust & prayer
St. Teresa of Avila tells us that trust is very necessary for people who aspire to contemplative prayer. I used to wonder about her emphasis on that, but as I grapple with dryness in prayer, her words mean more and more to me.
Ten seconds into prayer, I find myself thinking about work that I did or did not do. When I realized why it is so hard to let go of these thoughts, this planning, even when I am reminded that I am distracted, I understood why trust is so important. I need to trust that the time I give to prayer is time that God will "work on" me, and continue to create me, and this seeming loss of my work time will not hinder the quality of what I do. St. Teresa says that contemplative prayer, which spawns a contemplative attitude, actually enhances one's efficiency.
So my prayer plan is a little like the TV ad for real estate. While I am doing what I am supposed to be doing during the hour of prayer, God (my Agent) is taking care of everything else that impinges upon my life. I can trust this, for as the ad suggests, "Our Agent knows life."
Pray the News
Ten seconds into prayer, I find myself thinking about work that I did or did not do. When I realized why it is so hard to let go of these thoughts, this planning, even when I am reminded that I am distracted, I understood why trust is so important. I need to trust that the time I give to prayer is time that God will "work on" me, and continue to create me, and this seeming loss of my work time will not hinder the quality of what I do. St. Teresa says that contemplative prayer, which spawns a contemplative attitude, actually enhances one's efficiency.
So my prayer plan is a little like the TV ad for real estate. While I am doing what I am supposed to be doing during the hour of prayer, God (my Agent) is taking care of everything else that impinges upon my life. I can trust this, for as the ad suggests, "Our Agent knows life."
Pray the News
