Soul Food for Teachers February 2007

“We learn to pray at certain moments by hearing the Word of the Lord and sharing in his paschal mystery, but his Spirit is offered us at all times, in the events of each day, to make prayer spring up from us.” (CCC 2659; cf. Matthew 6:11, 34)

“Prayer in the events of each day and each moment is one of the secrets of the kingdom revealed to ‘little children,’ to the servants of Christ, to the poor of the Beatitudes. It is right and good to pray so that the coming of the kingdom of justice and peace may influence the march of history, but it is just as important to bring the help of prayer into humble, everyday situations; all forms of prayer can be the leaven to which the Lord compares the kingdom.” (CCC 2660; cf. Luke 13:20-21)

“But do not imagine that prayer is an action to be carried out and then forgotten. The just man ‘delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law day and night. Through the night, I meditate on you’ and ‘my prayer comes to you like incense in the evening.’ Our whole day can be a time of prayer – from night to morning and from morning to night.” (Blessed Josemaría Escrivá)

(From Handbook of Prayers, James Socias, Midwest Theological Forum, available from Our Sunday Visitor)