Immersing Yourself in the Life of the Church (Part 1: Prayer)
The above photo is a fire that I started in my firepit a while back. If you look closely, you can see that it is in urgent need of some wood or it is going to quickly burn itself out. While I was trying my best to keep this fire going, it occurred to me that my faith is a lot like this fire. I need to provide fuel for it or it will quickly burn out. That is why immersing your life in the church is so important. It is what keeps that fire of conversion burning strongly.
Going to mass on Sundays is a great start but it’s not going to keep that flame alive. I could not expect to have a great relationship with my wife or my kids if I was only willing to spend one hour with them each week. Nor could I expect my body to be in good shape if I was only willing to spend one hour exercising each week.
The truth is that if I want my relationship with God to be strong, I need to seek him out every day. This starts with prayer and ends with prayer. For years and years (decades really), I struggled with daily prayer. I would bounce around like a pinball trying different types of prayer. The pattern was always the same. When I would start out, the first few days would be great. It would really hold my attention. I felt like I was getting a lot out of it and drawing close to Jesus. But inevitably, after a short while, my prayers would dry up like the Sahara Desert. It would take everything in me just to keep my daily prayer time. Eventually, I would stop and either take some time off from daily prayer or switch to another style of prayer.
It wasn’t until last year that I learned what I had been doing wrong all of that time. I listened to a series of talks on the Formed app by Dr. Tim Gray on the topic of Lectio Divina. Lectio Divina (Latin for “divine reading”) is a way to pray that has been used in our church for centuries. The most basic premise of this form of prayer is that I am going to listen to God first before I start talking. I know, I know. Some of you might be thinking, “Oh boy, this guy hears voices.” But the opposite is true. For years when I prayed, I would try to hear God’s voice in my heart but never could. Dr. Gray helped me to realize that most of us fall into that boat. Yes, there are those people for whom prayer comes more easily, and they can sit for hours contemplating and listening to God. For most of us though, we need some help hearing God. Fortunately for us, we have the Bible, the actual word of God. What could make more sense? I’m trying to listen to God so I start reading from a book that is the word of God.
Although I highly recommend Dr. Gray’s series on this, I will try to give a brief description of Lectio Divina. Each day, I read a small portion of the Bible slowly and deliberately. As I read, a certain passage will stand out to me. When it does, I stop, reread that passage, and then converse with God about how this passage applies to my life.
For instance, a while ago, I was reading Psalm 103 and I came to the passage:
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has he removed our sins from us.
At that point in my life, I was really dwelling on past mistakes that I had made. I had already gone to Confession and received God’s forgiveness for them, but I still had a hard time putting them out of my mind. As I read this passage, I could hear God reminding me of his mercy and his desire for me to put those past mistakes behind me just as he had. I thanked him for forgiving me and asked him to help me in the future when I started to dwell on past mistakes. I ended with a strong sense of peace and his love for me. It was a small moment in prayer but a powerful one.
Lectio Divina has been a godsend for me. I spend about 10 minutes per day first thing in the morning. Instead of trying to randomly pick out portions of the Bible to read each day, I just end up going through the daily mass readings.
A surprising byproduct of daily prayer which I and many others have noticed is that my day is more efficient than days without prayer. So, instead of those 10 minutes adding more chaos to my day, they actually make me more focused and productive.
Silent time with God each day is a must if you want to grow closer to him, to keep the flame of your faith burning brightly, and to help you better see God’s will in your life. Some people can enter into silent prayer without the help of Lectio Divina. For the rest of us, Lectio can really help improve your prayer life to the point where it’s no longer a chore but something you look forward too. I hope you decide to give Lectio a try.
Up Next: Immersing Yourself in the Life of the Church (Part 2: Mass)