Prayer and Adoration
When I was a student for the priesthood, we spent a Christmas holiday decorating rooms in a convent in the West Country. One evening we joined the sisters for their recreation or social time. Sitting with one of the sisters, she didn’t begin with small talk, but started the conversation by asking, ‘What do you find helps you in your prayer life?’
I was taken aback by this direct questioning, but quickly recovered when I realised she just wanted to talk about prayer, and was genuinely interested in my experience. I don’t remember what I said. But in sharing our ways of praying with others we can encourage one another. I have lots of books on prayer that describe different ways of praying. But in the end, it is no use just reading about prayer — I need to have a regular time of prayer every day. How we use this time of prayer is another matter.
The reason I bring this up today is that some of the images that we encounter in the readings at Mass point to prayer.
In the first reading, Elijah is hunted by Jezebel who wanted to kill him, and he arrives at Horeb, the Holy Mountain. God makes himself present, not in a spectacular earthquake, or strong winds or storms, but in a gentle breeze. When the prophet hears the sound of the gentle breeze he knows he is in the presence of God. He covers his face with his cloak and goes out and stands at the entrance of the cave. God is more easily encountered in the silence of our day. God is never absent from us. We need to create moments of silence every day.
There are a couple of things in today’s Gospel that might be useful to note.
Jesus puts the disciples in a boat, and then goes up into the hill country to pray by himself; they had all just experienced the feeding of the five thousand. From the Gospels we know that Jesus often went alone to prayer. These were times of intimacy when he was alone with the Father. For us at the end of the day it is a good practice to spend time reflecting on the events of the day and the people we have met, asking the Holy Spirit to recognise how God has spoken to us in all that has happened to us.
Meanwhile, as Jesus was praying, the disciples were caught in a storm and saw Jesus walking on the water. In their fear they thought they saw a ghost. Jesus called out to them, saying: Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.
Impetuous Peter responded: Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you across the water.
Come, said Jesus.
Peter would have been fine as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus. But as soon as he took his eye off Jesus, and turned his attention to the turbulent water, he began to sink. In prayer there is one way that can encourage us to focus on the most important person, Jesus: this is to spend time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The Pope, in Portugal last week, said:
‘We have lost the prayer of adoration and everyone needs to recover it, this ability to be quiet in the Lord’s presence. Mother Teresa [of Calcutta], busy about so many things in life, never neglected adoration, even at times when her faith was shaken and she wondered if it was all true or not.’
So, we need to allow silence in our lives. In the silence we can find Jesus. At the end of the day, reflect on the ways God has shown himself to us. Reflect with gratitude. Cherish those times when we can gaze on Christ, especially in the Eucharist.
