As I was walking to class one day recently I was thinking about what seemed like a very mediocre (at best) holy hour I made that morning. It seemed to me like I had been having many of these types of holy hours where "not much was happening." In many talks I have given as a seminarian on prayer I have told people that prayer is developing our friendship with God. I then began to think about my friendships. This led me to an interesting realization.
When you spend time with friends what do you do? Many times at the beginning of a friendship, you will find out many interesting things about a person; where they grew up, what their childhood was like, what they do for a living, favorite movies, how many brothers and sisters they have, what they hope to do in life, etc. This period can last for quite some time as each person is unique and has a history spanning many years, even several decades. However, even if this initial stage of getting to know someone last for a few years, eventually the friendship will change, it must change! Eventually, we will no longer learn something new about the other person every time we get together, at least not one that will make us think twice. Despite this change, or rather because of this change, our friendship will go to a new level, it will continue to grow and deepen, only in different ways.
Reaching this new stage of friendship, we will simply be happy to be in the other's presence. We will not need to learn anything new about them, or even do anything. I'm sure we have all had the experience of going to the movie with someone...you don't say anything to one another in the movie (hopefully, especially if you are sitting next to me), but you still enjoy your time together. This also applies to our relationship with God. God is infinite, and His Word can always speak to us, revealing something new. But God is not going to entertain us. At the beginning of our relationship, he will try to "woo" us, to draw us into his loving presence. However, once we make that gesture of returning our love to Him, he may seem to fade away. Many of the great saints have experienced this and some have gone through intense periods of what felt like abandonment by God called a "dark night." In reading the writings of people in a dark night of the soul, the reader can tell that God is actually close to the person. The one going through this pain, however, is so close to God that they cannot see his presence.
I went through a period when I was in minor seminary where I would walk into the chapel in the morning and the first thing that would come to mind is the Eric Clapton song that goes "hello old friend, it sure is good to see you once again." After a couple of days of this I started to ask what was wrong with me that I would think of such a song in the presence of our Lord. Once I recognized it and thought about it, I realized that it was not necessarily a bad thing. I had become familiar with God and simply being with Him was enough, I didn't need to do anything, to have any major revelations. I started to see this as a blessing to be able to walk into the chapel and say hello, to realize that God truly was an old friend!
All this being said, we must always be alert in our prayer life so that we do not become lazy and allow our minds to wonder. There is a difference between God speaking to us in silence for our own good and us coming to prayer distracted and not putting in the effort. The next time you are thinking that your prayer life is boring, spend some time in prayer to see if maybe your friendship with God has progressed to the point where He no longer has to entertain you, then persevere through the difficulties!
O Come Let us Adore Him,
Patrick
When you spend time with friends what do you do? Many times at the beginning of a friendship, you will find out many interesting things about a person; where they grew up, what their childhood was like, what they do for a living, favorite movies, how many brothers and sisters they have, what they hope to do in life, etc. This period can last for quite some time as each person is unique and has a history spanning many years, even several decades. However, even if this initial stage of getting to know someone last for a few years, eventually the friendship will change, it must change! Eventually, we will no longer learn something new about the other person every time we get together, at least not one that will make us think twice. Despite this change, or rather because of this change, our friendship will go to a new level, it will continue to grow and deepen, only in different ways.
Reaching this new stage of friendship, we will simply be happy to be in the other's presence. We will not need to learn anything new about them, or even do anything. I'm sure we have all had the experience of going to the movie with someone...you don't say anything to one another in the movie (hopefully, especially if you are sitting next to me), but you still enjoy your time together. This also applies to our relationship with God. God is infinite, and His Word can always speak to us, revealing something new. But God is not going to entertain us. At the beginning of our relationship, he will try to "woo" us, to draw us into his loving presence. However, once we make that gesture of returning our love to Him, he may seem to fade away. Many of the great saints have experienced this and some have gone through intense periods of what felt like abandonment by God called a "dark night." In reading the writings of people in a dark night of the soul, the reader can tell that God is actually close to the person. The one going through this pain, however, is so close to God that they cannot see his presence.
I went through a period when I was in minor seminary where I would walk into the chapel in the morning and the first thing that would come to mind is the Eric Clapton song that goes "hello old friend, it sure is good to see you once again." After a couple of days of this I started to ask what was wrong with me that I would think of such a song in the presence of our Lord. Once I recognized it and thought about it, I realized that it was not necessarily a bad thing. I had become familiar with God and simply being with Him was enough, I didn't need to do anything, to have any major revelations. I started to see this as a blessing to be able to walk into the chapel and say hello, to realize that God truly was an old friend!
All this being said, we must always be alert in our prayer life so that we do not become lazy and allow our minds to wonder. There is a difference between God speaking to us in silence for our own good and us coming to prayer distracted and not putting in the effort. The next time you are thinking that your prayer life is boring, spend some time in prayer to see if maybe your friendship with God has progressed to the point where He no longer has to entertain you, then persevere through the difficulties!
O Come Let us Adore Him,
Patrick
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