Like a ray of light rising in the early morning eastern sky, there came a thought during a time of prayer today. I hear more often "these days" that prayer is difficult, that prayer is so hard, that prayer seems to have little impact in one's life. If I were selling a product that I would have to advertise as difficult, hard and seemingly useless, there would be very little income. Only one who would want to suffer torture would purchase the produce.
During a private retreat some 25 years ago or more (Fr. Henry Haske, SJ was my director or at least trying to be such) we discussed some of my own challenges in daily meditations. He guided me to a practice that I practice almost everytime I am meditation: I keep a reflection book open and pen in hand. As I move through my thinking and making every effort to listen to the Lord, I find myself writing thoughts that lead to other thoughts that lead me to feel a significant presence of the Holy Spirit with me.
In our contemporary world we are bombarded with thoughts. Many of us find ourselves multi-tasking. Few find time to catch their breath or even the space in a day to change one's mind. We live in a pressurized world. This reality brought a question to my mind today: "Could the writing thoughts as I progress through a time of prayer be an answer for some who find praying so difficult?" After thinking on the matter a short time, I came to believe that it is almost necessary in today's environment to write the "pearls of wisdom" or the gems that the Holy Spirit puts into the heart in a reflection book. Writing while taking time to reflect, to pray, is for me very much like take a rose bud that is about to bloom and slowly peel back petals one at a time. For those who might be more food oriented, it might be like working with an artichoke.
As a metropolitan minister says on a short radio broadcast: "not a sermon, just a thought." My like would be similar: "If it helps, use it." Surely this is would Ignatius would say. Thanks, Fr. Haskey!!
