Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius
May 24, 2014
Spiritual Ponderings
Going Deeper in Prayer

As we look at our prayer life and how we can make it stronger, I would like to continue to share with you some quotes from Fr. Bartunek’s book: A Guide to Christian Meditation. Quotes from his book will be in bold and my commentary will be in the normal font.

Preparation
+ Remote Preparation. You don’t meditate in a vacuum. The more you live in God’s presence during the rest of day; seeking his will and finding other times here and there to pray (vocal prayers; the Rosary, examination of conscience), the easier it will be for you to turn your heart and soul to God at the start of the meditation. This is your remote preparation.
+ Proximate Preparation. You will also avoid a plethora of distractions if you get your meditation materials (the book you will be using, your notebook or journal for writing down thoughts) ready the night before. You can evenly briefly look over the passage you will be mediating on before you go to bed: this too primes the prayer-pump. This is your proximate preparation.

My house growing up was crazy after school because there were six of us and we all had different amounts of homework. There were times, where I sat at the kitchen table “trying to study” but found myself willingly distracted by the television that my brothers and sisters had on because they either had finished their homework first or had none. As I grew older, I realize that for me to study, it was important for me to go to a quiet place and so when it was time for me to study, I would put up a card table in my bedroom or other quite spot. It was amazing how my grades improved. In the same way when we take time to prepare properly and to remove distractions our prayer life will get better also.

Sometimes you never seem to find the highlights at all. In these cases too, God is at work. Never doubt his active presence. When the material you have set aside for consideration doesn’t yield any insights worth savoring, you can feel free to turn to your favorite biblical images, your favorite vocal prayer or your favorite verses—go back to the waters and pastures that have nourished you in the past.

We do not always have to talk about new things when we pray. Sometime God likes hearing about the things of the past just like my grandmother liked to hear about my favorite memories of our time together. One of the great things about being a friend is that you can both be in a room and not feel the need to speak and the silence does not get awkward.

Towards the end of your meditation, it will be time for you to draw this heart-to-heart conversation to a close. There is a need to bring all the sentiments together, to wrap things up. Before you step back into life’s hectic activity, you need to renew your commitment to the mission God has given you. In your prayer, he has renewed his call and now you renew your answer, accepting once again the life-project that gives meaning to your existence—that of following him, of imitating Christ by your fidelity to God’s will in the big things as well as the small.

All blessings from God lead us to action. Blessed Virgin Mary upon hearing that she would be the mother of God goes forth to serve Elizabeth her cousin. Peter upon being blest with the boat load of fish is made a fisher of men. Peter upon receiving the Lord’s forgiveness is made the head of the Church. When we receive the Eucharist at Mass we are sent out to “glorify the Lord with our lives.” So prayer should lead to action.

If you can link this recommitment to the concrete tasks of your day, all the better.

One of the problems with religion is that it can remain too theoretical. We need to make it concrete. “Love our neighbor” has too become a concrete action like “I will hold the door open for a stranger,” or “I will donate to my local St. Vincent DePaul society.”