Prayer

At the beginning of  our Saturday afternoon meditation time at Hesed, our leader often dedicates a few minutes to the listening to some of John Main's talks on Christian meditation. Yesterday, I heard him encourage each of us to not think of our meditation time as our own time, but rather God's time. I found that helpful for it reminded me that the invitation to sit with God is always present. Too often my sense of time is really more of an agenda than anything else. God invites us to set our planning and plotting aside, and simply sit in the love that is God.    

 

Lately, I have been thinking of an activity assistant, whom I will call Nadia. I always think of the activity room as her room. It is bright and sunny, much like her disposition, and is always colorfully decorated with the results of her various craft projects.  She always greets us with much warmth, and enthusiastically joins us in our singing. As she sings, she helps the residents with their song sheets, talking with them and encouraging them by name. However, these elders are among the frailest of the frail; there is little, if any outward response. Yet, if you watch only Nadia, you would never guess that. Her call and response are from and to a very deep source within her.    

  

If you look at the center of this rose, you may see what looks to be a figure at prayer. At least I do. I like the image of prayer moving ever outward. This is how our prayer affects the whole world. John Main writes, "And meditation is a pure opening of the heart, a being energized by God's infinite love."     

 

May we all be energized like Nadia, and simply tend to our work with love. 

    

 

John Main, Silence and Stillness in Every Season, 1997, p. 173.