I continued to wonder about prayer when we held another "Know Your Rights" workshop at the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women yesterday. I know that one thing (the workshop) does not seem to lead directly to the other (prayer), but for me they are related. Not a day goes by in which I do not pray for our women, especially in their current terrified state of daily living. I cannot imagine what it is like to wonder if I will be swept off the streets one day, separated from my children, and sent far away from all I know and love. This terrifying thought leads me to prayer for the great majority of women who visit the Center. I pray, too, for their children, who spend each day frightened that this will be the day when they come home from school to find that their parents are gone. Life in poverty is difficult enough without that added burden.
I also wonder if we pray enough or if we offer enough opportunities for prayer in this ministry. Sure, everything we do at the Center stems from prayer, is enveloped in prayer, or leads to prayer, but we do not really say that out loud. It's kind of implied since we are a collaborative effort of the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Paterson and its religious communities. Sometimes we tell people we will pray for them and other times we ask them to pray for us. And, our staff consists of a bunch of pray-ers. But, we do not really have a "program of prayer," a retreat day for the staff or the women, or any type of formal prayer. In the past, I have said that these things need to be put on the agenda, looked at, planned for, and funded. But, I'm not totally convinced that such planning is necessary at this time.
Like dew, I think that such things will find their way naturally and gradually into our lives and make themselves known subtly, but decidedly. This is similar to when I realize that my feet are wet because I'm standing on dew-laden grass in the morning. The discomfort of wet feet is seemingly tolerable when it results from the gradual influx of dew rather than from an accidental step into a deep puddle. Maybe that's a message for me about the "formal" place of prayer at the Center -- let it seep in naturally, rather than forcing it in uncomfortably. Notice that Mother Pauline said that our undertakings should be "fructified with the dew of prayer," not saturated by a fire hose of prayer!
Hmmmm . . . Today, I think I might not be wondering about prayer, but about dew. I am inspired to look into dew more closely -- What is it? What are its benefits and detriments? Where (and how many times) is it mentioned in the Bible? Why has it inspired me today?
Wow! When I sat down to write this, I had no idea that dew research was in my future! I wonder where it will lead. Any thoughts?
Initial thought: I like Mountain Dew. A lot.
ReplyDeleteMy parish for over a year has been encouraging us to complete a 1% Challenge: 1% of each day in prayer. 15 rounded minutes. It is the hose to which you refer, perhaps. Or is it more of the regular sprinkler that keeps the grass from dying?
I talk to God a great deal during the day as if he were sitting in my car with me, and we were having a conversation. I will start talking to him in the middle of conversations with others if I am given an "a-ha" moment. As I read something, I shoot him some convo. As I read this, I was asking for him to protect the children. Children of trauma who constantly worry about losing their parents. That was Iggy P.'s source of anxiety when younger...our death. It affected him heavily. These kids are living with this fear every day.
So, I pose this question: What does God want? I find myself referring back to the Our Father: God's will be done. God's will. Not mine. In every crappy thing that happens, I must find the hand of God in the situation. Can that pondering also fall into the category of prayer?
Is our definition too limited? Can we define prayer as the recognition of God's hand in life?
I do not think the 15 rounded minutes represent the hose to which I referred. The hose, in my opinion, is the thought that i must pray in THIS way and not THAT way, at THIS time and not THAT time, with THESE people and not THOSE people. And, from the point of view as Director of the Center, that prayer must be brought in NOW and in THIS way rather than allowing its natural occurrence. An article our SCC Constitutions states: "We nourish our contemplative spirit through cultivating a listening, peaceful heart." Foisting prayer on our women before its time doesn't come from a listening, peaceful heart. I think it comes from trying to be God.
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