Prayer and Spirituality

Greetings to our Columban supporters once again. The theme for this month’s magazine is “Prayer and Spirituality.” Very profound and personal to all of us.

For many, “prayer” is a way of thinking about the prayers we “say.” We pray the rosary. We have a whole handful of cards with a rubber band around them with prayers on the back, prayers to St. Joseph, to the Blessed Mother, to St. Jude, etc. We pray for healing for someone. We pray for safety for our children. We pray for reconciliation in stressed relationships. We pray for peace in the world and our own lives. We pray for eternal rest for the Pope. Some people are very good at praying for forgiveness for our sins. Some at giving thanks for so many blessings received. All of us are familiar with all of these forms of prayer. They are good and a blessing to do. These are the ways we learned to pray as children. And I am sure that our loving God is very happy to be sent all these prayers. God hears us and will answer us in a way and time that we might not expect.

All of these kinds of prayers are ways of letting God know our feelings and thoughts and desires and hopes. They are forms of communication with God. The spirituality behind them often is one where we see God as “up there” and us as “down here.”

Of course, communication needs to be two-way. We’re very good at saying our words to God. But often, we’re slack when it comes to listening to God’s response. I often tell people in confession who are busy and tense and unhappy to just sit in a comfortable chair, close their eyes, take a deep breath, and tell God or Jesus that I just want to rest with Him for a while and let him bless me. I want to be blessed with peace, with courage, with wisdom, with many things (but not a long list!). So often we’re busy asking God for blessings, but we don’t sit down and let God actually answer us. We need to shut up for a while! This takes some faith. We can be afraid that nothing will happen, or that something big will happen! It requires a different level of spirituality. The prayer of silence is a prayer of faith. Don’t be afraid.

I am sure that our loving God is very happy to be sent all these prayers. God hears us and will answer us in a way and time that we might not expect.

We have just built a new church for St. Mary’s in Fontana, California. We had to cut down an old walnut tree, over 100 years old, to make room for it. It had survived without any added water all those years in blistering heat, for months with no rain. In winter, scores of crows and ravens loved to come and break open and eat all those fallen walnuts. When we cut it down, I was determined to use the trunk and branches as much as I could for the altar, the cross, legs for the tabernacle. That tree became a symbol of the “tree of life” in my mind from the Book of Genesis. We also planted a big camphor tree in the plaza in front of the church, not a statue or fountain. My own spirituality is very connected with nature. It shows in this church building. I hope to leave it as a reminder that among the first gifts of God to us is the “TREE OF LIFE.” I wonder if you might be able to see where your spirituality is expressed.

Many blessings to you. Peace. Fr. Al