A Daily Dose of God

 

 

 

Some Thoughts on Prayer

 

 

 

Pope Francis taught us, “Prayer is the breath of the soul.”  The more faithful we are to prayer in our daily lives, the more our soul will breathe, breath the breath of life.  

 

   

The Holy Father, also, said, “The prayer of thanksgiving begins by recognizing that we were thought of before we learned how to think; we were loved before we learned how to love.  If we view life like this, then “thank you” becomes the driving force of our day.”

 

Take a few minutes to ponder these two stories, “A father took his small son with him to town one day to run some errands. When lunchtime arrived, the two of them went to a familiar diner for a sandwich. The father sat down on one of the stools at the counter and lifted the boy up to the seat beside him.

 

They ordered lunch, and when the waiter brought the food, the father said, "Son, we'll just have a silent prayer."  Dad got through praying first and waited for the boy to finish his prayer, but he just sat with his head bowed for an unusually long time. When he finally looked up, his father asked him, "What in the world were you praying about all that time?" With the innocence and honesty of a child, he replied, "How do I know? It was a silent prayer.”     (Our Daily Bread, Adapted)

 

Reflection and Listening are key components in our ongoing renewal.  Think about the noise that constantly surrounds us, maybe this story about a monk who joined a very strict monastery can help us.

 

The monks were only allowed to say two words every 10 years: The Abbot met with the monk and said, you get two words, the monk replied, “Bed Hard”, 10 years later the Abbot said to the monk you get two words, the monk replied, “Food Bad”, after another 10 years the Abbot said to the monk you get two words and the monk replied, “I Quit.”  The Abbot replied, “Thank God you’ve done nothing but complain since you got here.”

 

 

We are not going to run into that situation, but time for silence, time for quiet, time for listening to God should be part of our daily To-Do List:

1.         pray

2.         be patient

3.         be present to my family

4.         spend time listening to God

5.         pray

 

 

This year 2021 put prayer, patience, being present to my family, listening to God and prayer on your To-Do List and follow it each day.

 

 

                                                        Saint Joseph, pray for us.

 

May God Be Praised!