Nurturing our Prayer Practices

Friends,

In his book Contemplative Prayer, Thomas Merton wrote, "By meditation I penetrate the inmost ground of my life, seek the full understanding of God's will for me, of God's mercy to me, of my absolute dependence upon him. But this penetration must be authentic. It must be something genuinely lived by me." 


This weekend I will join a group of St. Georgians at Shrine Mont to discuss how we Christians can nurture our prayer and meditation practices so that we can live into the eternal now of God's love.


It is always a spiritually enriching experience to spend a weekend in the mountains--the quiet, the peaceful scenery, and the ability to just slow down are re-energizing. But how can we keep that feeling when we return to our fast-paced daily lives? How can we retain that prayerful and centered mindset when our attention is pulled in a hundred different directions? 


The answer is as challenging as it is simple: we have to ground ourselves in God through prayerful meditation. However, this prayerful meditation cannot be separate from our day-to-day lives, it must be part of our lived experience. We must see every moment as an opportunity to experience God's presence in our lives. We have to see every moment as prayer, as an opportunity to connect to God's will.

I am looking forward to this weekend and the fruits that will come from our discussions and prayers. We will bring those fruits back with us and use them to continue our work to become a prayerful, peaceful, and compassionate presence in this world.  

Peace,
Daniel Johnson, Seminarian