“Consider what you are saying, who is saying it and to whom.” (Saint Josemaría).
Like so many Catholics, I have greatly enjoyed reading the autobiography of Saint Therese of Lisieux, “Story of a Soul”. In this text, Saint Therese wrote about her experience with great spiritual dryness, and how she coped during those times of apparent isolation and separation from God…
In her text the saint wrote, “Sometimes when I am in such a state of spiritual dryness that not a single good thought occurs to me, I say very slowly the ‘Our Father’, or the ‘Hail Mary’, and these prayers suffice to take me out of myself, and wonderfully refresh me.”
And I have been thinking about that refreshment over the last few days. You see, it is one thing to say all the prayers that I pray in a great clatter of sound and quite another thing to actually sit with my Beloved and slowly speak to Him in the words that He has taught me to say… “Our Father…”
And He – God Himself – did actually teach me to pray… He gave me the words from His very own mouth twenty centuries ago when He said…
“And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:7-15).
And when I pray that prayer today, I consider the advice of Saint Josemaría, who wrote, “Consider what you are saying, who is saying it and to whom. For that hurried talk, without time for reflection, is just noise, the clatter of tin cans. And with Saint Teresa, I will tell you that, however much you work your lips, I do not call it prayer.”
And so it is that today I am trying to follow the advice of the saints. Today I am done with the clatter of tin cans and instead I want to sing the music of the angels, slowly and carefully into the Holy ears of God.
For if I have not the time to speak to my Beloved in the gentle whispers of a sleepy child, then how could I possibly expect Him to listen to what it is that I am trying to say…?
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.