I have just recently returned from an annual 5-day silent retreat. It was a beautiful time of reflection, meditation, and encounter with the Lord. Out of all the beautiful and challenging elements, one has struck me: the power of prayer.
No moment expresses my own fragility, my utter dependence on Another, than that of prayer. Contrary to mainstream thinking, this fragility and dependence is not something to be mocked or remedied, rather it is to be seen in the light of faith: in prayer we place ourselves before a truly All-Powerful and Living God.
He is a God that listens to the prayers of his sons and daughters and has died so that we learn to depend on him and abandon our most puerile and narcissistic belief in self-sufficiency. This reality is and must be the foundation of every Christian life, a foundation that serves to orient all that we are and do.
Check out this link:
The Beauty of Prayer Brought to Life with 37 Impressive Photos
It is in prayer and fasting, in encountering the fragility of our own efforts and the paternity of God’s gentle power, that we harvest the faith and hope necessary to collaborate in the change that the Lord wants to bring to our world.
For this reason, in returning home, I was overjoyed to see this superb video produced by the USCCB and edited by Likablart. The call to prayer: I think that this must be the foundation and inner source for all the work that we as Catholics must do in the culture. Our efforts to transform must never be reduced to a simple political cause. Its source, its means, and its goal must always be centered in Christ.
Remember then, that to pray for marriage, for religious freedom, for life, is not a mere prayer for votes, but a prayer for hearts. Beyond all the sociological, psychological, philosophical factors in play, we act because Christ has revealed his love and demanded that we share it with the world. Let our actions reflect it.
