Spiritual accompaniment

Daily prayer is a critical component of a faith-filled life. There’s a saying: “There can be no faith without prayer” (source uncertain). Within a theistic vision of faith, a life of faith must involve a relationship with the divine. Our relationships with the people in our lives are defined by relationship: social interactions. This also applies in our faith life – there can be no spiritual life without a relationship with God. Thus, a relationship with God through prayer.

Relationships are two-way. I like the analogy of comparing prayer to a phone call (it might be Fr. Mike Schmitz, “Bible in a Year” who put forward this analogy). We don’t sustain relationships with the people in our lives by phoning someone and saying, “I’m calling to tell you X” – then hanging up. Rather, a phone call is a give-and-take, two-way interaction. Prayer is the same way. We don’t just send our communication to God in a one-way phone call.  We both communicate to God in prayer and also rest in stillness to allow God to present to us.

This two-way nature of communication with God came to mind yesterday morning. I normally view prayer-based two-way-communication-with-God as “me communicating with God in a style that suits my prayer style, while God’s response is to be present with me in prayer.” That concept was “tested” yesterday morning. I was at a medical clinic getting an MRI. I knew I was going to be in the MRI tube/machine for about an hour and wouldn’t be able to move. Perhaps five minutes into the MRI, I realized “This would be a good time for prayer. I’m rendered unable to do anything other than to lay perfectly still while I’m in this machine. Prayer would be a good use of my time. ” So, I started to pray. I wasn’t thinking of imploring God’s aid; rather, this could be a good time to simply spend time with God. A brief moment after I started to pray, a perfectly audible voice asked me – plain as day – “Are you okay?”

Smile, irony….. The perfectly audible voice asking me “Are you okay” was the MRI technician speaking through the MRI’s microphone to ask if I felt physically comfortable in the machine.

“Yes,” I replied with a smile (“This is an ironic moment of communication,” I thought), “I am okay.” (….well…. I want my test results, but…yes….In this moment, I am okay…”).

There are many ways to pray:

• Talking to God as we would talk to a friend (either verbally or through what’s often called “mental prayer”)
• Simply being present with God, resting-in-God’s-presence as I’ve heard this called (we can do this anywhere)
• Lectio Divina (a method of praying the scriptures reflectfully)
• Attending church services (church is itself a form of prayer)
• Religious singing (“Those who sing pray twice”)
• Contemplative prayer (for example, learn about this form of prayer through an organization called Contemplative Outreach)

Interested in reading more about prayer? A couple of great books include:

Clinging: The Experience of Prayer (Emilie Griffin)

The Tradition of Catholic Prayer (The Monks of Meinrad Monastery)

Kim Burkhardt blogs at A Parish Catechist and The Books of the Ages (and a member of the Association of Catholic Publishers). If you are a new visitor, it would be great to have you follow this blog (thank you!). If you know someone who would like this blog, please share it with them (thank you!). You can also support this blog by clicking here when you are going to shop on Amazon (that lands A Parish Catechist a commission on Amazon sales).