“Perfecting” prayer time in itself is a worthy Mission.
“Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” – Luke 19: 5
Last week, I remember asking a parishioner how her relationship with Christ changed after her total consecration to Jesus through Mary 10 years ago. She candidly shared with me how in her daily praying of the Rosary, her reflection on the mysteries had become more vivid and deep. How instead of simply being a witness of a scene of the Visitation, she was brought deeper into the details of the scene… Like noticing the simple stitching on Mother Mary’s veil. How she felt the joyful leap in Elizabeth’s womb. How she felt Mary’s burning love for her Son… The kind of experience generated in a passionate worship, but attained simply by trained and faithful recitation of every Hail Mary… Hold the stutters, the forgetting of Mystery names, accidental dropping of Rosary, etc.
Yesterday, I was having a phone conversation with a sister about Saints. How there were so many Saints to get to know, and how she was still learning more about them. For many years, Saint Rita of Cascia, Patroness of Impossible Causes has been my favorite Saint. Back then, it was her lifelong trust and surrender to the Lord’s will even after being denied her desired vocation for religious life at a young age that first drew me to her. But it was in the recent revisiting of her life this week that I remembered specifically how she was a strong source of unity to her family rival families. A very comforting fact considering discernment for FTPW brought to light, which will make every uttering for her intercession that much more intimate. In sum, we may not know every biographical fact about a Saint, but the more we start invoking them in our prayers (“Saint Rita of Cascia, pray for us.”), the more we will eventually find a real friend in them.
Jesus wants to be close to us. And so to guide us, we have been entrusted with the Saints and Mother Mary, who enlightens our minds, guides our wills, and empowers us in our efforts to “perfect” our prayer time. After months of sporadic traveling from coast (Maritimes) to coast (Pacific) and seeing no more big conferences to go to up ahead, the foreseeable loss in the fight against “spiritual sluggishness” is real. But no matter where we are called or what we are asked to do as a Missionaries (the actual “going out and making disciples of all nations”), renewing our will every day to “perfecting” prayer time first … is in itself a worthy mission requiring our utmost attention and care.
(A Prayer for After Communion by Saint Padre Pio): Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You. Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often. Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life, and without You, I am without fervor. Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light, and without You, I am in darkness. Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will. […]
