A Jesuit Catholic University
in Omaha, Nebraska, since 1878

[242] Hos 6:1-6 Ps 51:3-4, 18-19, 20-21ab Luke 18:9-14

Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer The Daily Reflections

Have you ever wondered why Jesus appeared to St. Faustina but not to you?  Why could St. John of the Cross and St. Theresa of Avila converse with God while you have trouble articulating yourself to Him?  Did God just love those saints more than you?  I used to ask myself many of these very same questions.  I do not believe that God loved these saints more than any of the rest of us, and yet, I had to acknowledge that these are some of the greatest spiritual masters of the last twenty centuries.  How did they develop such deep, intimate relationships with the Lord?  I have come to realize that it is simply because they learned how to pray. 

In Luke 11, the disciples come to Jesus with a petition.  “Lord, teach us to pray.”  Today’s readings provide us with a beautiful format for what it means to pray.  Hosea says it simply but powerfully.  “Let us strive to know the Lord” (Hosea 6:3a).  That is what prayer is.  Jesus continues in the Gospel, giving us two examples of prayer, but we must return again and again to Hosea.  “Know the Lord.”

Right.  Get real!  How can you possibly know God?  He is the almighty, eternal, transcendent, imminent, and omniscient King of the Universe, and I am a sinner.  But the great mystery of the Incarnation is that God became human so that he could meet us on a human level.  Jesus Christ came down out of Heaven to reveal to us the person of God.  In doing so, he invites us to a level of intimacy deeper than anything we could ever dream of.  We often describe Heaven as being intimate with God, but that intimacy can begin here and now.

I think that there are two reasons people don’t pray.  First, they say that they do not have time to do so.  What a wonderful Lenten resolution this could be!  I challenge you to strive to give 1% of your day, or about fifteen minutes, to God in silent prayer.  Can we be quiet enough to listen to him speak to us for fifteen minutes?  The second reason I believe people don’t pray is that they don’t think they are doing it right.  There is no right or wrong way to pray.  I find it particularly helpful to journal.  Each day, I try to write God a letter.  It sounds cheesy, but I begin with “Dear Jesus…” and then proceed to tell him about what is going on in my life.  These are my thoughts, feelings, and desires.  These are my worries and fears.  This is what I am struggling with.  At the end I sign my name.  Then I pick a Biblical passage, usually from the New Testament.  My personal favorite is Matthew 14, where Jesus walks on the water.  I put myself in the boat and see Jesus walking toward me.  I hear him call my name and beckon, “Come.”  I can feel the wind and the rain blowing.  I am left with a choice.  Do I leave myself behind and pursue Christ, or do I stay in the boat?  I finish this with another letter, but this time, I begin “Dear James…”  Then I write whatever I feel that God is putting on my heart, whatever I think he wants me to hear.

Prayer is not something that we master the first time.  It takes work.  It takes practice.  Prayer takes repetition.  But prayer is also the most rewarding thing we can do on this earth.  There is no safer place to be than in prayer because it is then that we are experiencing God.  In prayer, we encounter Jesus Christ in a real way.  The greatest tragedy in the Church today is that many know about Jesus, but so few actually know Jesus.  Many know about their Faith, but so few truly know their Faith.  This Lent, let us all strive to meet Jesus in prayer and, like Hosea tells us today, to “know the Lord.”

“If you want to know who you are and why you are here, start praying every day.”  -Jim Beckman in God Help Me