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Monday, October 22, 2007

How is Your Prayer Life?

That was the question in the Misselette before yesterday's readings. If you haven't noticed before, take a look at the Liturgy of the Word section in your Misselette. Before each group of daily readings is a couple of paragraphs explaining their message and then a question to ask yourself. You know the kinds of questions, thought provoking assessment types.

I read the couple of paragraphs and the question, How is Your Prayer Life? My instant response was, "lacking". My mind immediately thought about Adoration, Daily Devotions, Daily Scripture readings, and all the other forms of structured prayer and found myself believing my prayer life was lacking. But as father unfolded his homily and gave me some food for thought, I recognized my prayer life is not lacking. It is just about right for a homeschooling mother of four. Prayer doesn't only happen when the eyes are closed or focused on words. Actions can be a form of prayer. Laundry is a time of thankfulness that we have abundant clothing and towels. We only have towels because we have water. Meal prep is a time to pray in thanksgiving for our abundant food blessings and electricity. While reading with my 6 year old, I thank God for the blessing of fertility and for me having teachers who taught me to read so long ago. As DH walks out the door at 6:00 am to begin the daily work of cranberry harvest, I pray thy will be done, God. What, for a moment, appeared to be a life lacking in prayer was discovered to be a life filled with prayer. Sure there is plenty of room for improvement. I would like to pray the rosary on a regular basis; I would like to pray a memorized morning offering each time my feet hit the floor in the morning. Both of these, once habits, will be easily incorporated into my daily living, just as my one-liner prayers are now. And when I'm just too tired or too emotionally drained or too something I can dip my finger in the holy water and bless myself and whoever is closest for the simplest form of prayer of all.