Early morning Holy Hour proved difficult, fighting sleep throughout the time of prayer. I recall a spiritual master declaring the prayers we are forced to struggle through are the most efficacious. On the natural level, I recall John the Hermit exclaiming that if we are fighting sleep during our prayer time it is our body speaking to us, crying ‘I need more sleep’. I am working at least six days a week, ten hours a day. The toll was obvious this morning. I am content with work, settling more and more comfortable into my position, at peace and liking my coworkers. The time is not difficult at work, perfect in regards to my desire to accumulate cash. Perched upon a mountaintop is the allurement of a life with the Carthusians, a life dedicated to prayer, the end of a life succumbing within rest in God, obedient and within the Church. I have been overwhelmed throughout the week with thoughts of the Franciscan Brothers Minor during Adoration at St Paul Shrine, deeply considering a letter to Father David Mary regarding discernment. Tomorrow, after the downtown luncheon with the Shrine gathering, I will spend the day with the Man of Prayer. He is a man who intentionally managed his life around his prayer life, working a nondemanding job for lesser pay than his qualifications and skills could acquire, solely for the purpose of freeing his time for prayer, a greater devotion to the ways of God. The effort intrigues, lingering as a possibility. God is good and all giving.
Morning prayers from St Dominic Holy Hour on the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes:
Come, O lord Our God, from Your throne of glory in Your kingdom. Come and sanctify us, You who sit above with the Father but who is invisibly present with us. Come and help us give worthy thanks to You for all the gifts You have lavished upon us. You who have given us these gifts allow us to be faithful witnesses to Your real presence in the Holy Eucharist and let us be united to Your Body and Blood so that we may have Christ dwelling in our hearts. We pray this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, forever and ever. Amen.
On this feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes, we remember that Mary is the model of human wholeness—a wholeness that is joyfully and utterly surrendered to God. And so she reflects her Son Jesus who reveals the merciful face of the Father, touching the world with healing and wholeness….We too can echo Mary’s cry ‘The Almighty has done great things for me!”
