“Teach us to pray.” (Luke 11:1). Those are the words of the disciples to Jesus in the Gospel of Luke right before he taught them the words of the prayer that we know as the Our Father. Prayer is an essential part of our journey of faith & I’ve heard it described, very aptly so, as our relationship with God. We may not all do it the same way, but we are all called to pray, to pray together as a community & to pray individually, by going to our inner room & closing the door as the Gospel of Matthew describes (Matthew 6:6) Over these early weeks of summer, I’ve found myself being drawn to doing a homily series, I guess you could call it, on prayer. Obviously I won’t be able to cover every single thing that there is to say about prayer, but my hope is that this series will help all of us to deepen our own prayer lives.

  Last weekend, I preached about dryness in prayer, those times where we pray but it feels like our prayer isn’t making much of a difference & we’re just going through the motions. So many of the great Saints of the Church have experienced dryness in prayer, so when we experience it, we are not alone. Times of dryness in prayer may be God’s call to conversion, we may have gotten into a prayer rut & could use a change in our prayer routine, or maybe God is preparing us for something even greater. When we experience those times of dryness in our prayer, the key is consistency, don’t give up, keep showing up, keep praying. Remember, our relationship with God isn’t simply about good feelings, but a long, enduring relationship of faith, love, hope, & growth. This weekend, I’m introducing us to a form of prayer called the Examination of Consciousness. We are likely very familiar with the Examination of Conscience that we do before we go to Confession, looking for any sins that we may have committed. The Examination of Consciousness is a prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola & calls us to examine our day for when & how we were & when & how we weren’t aware of God’s presence & activity in our lives. Did we rush by someone who needed our help? Were we gossiping about that person who hurt us a little too freely? What were the blessings that God poured into our life that day?

  We begin the Examination by taking a few minutes in a prayer of gratitude, thanking God for the blessings of the day. Next, we make a petition...something like, “Lord, help me to see me as you see me,” or “Lord, can we talk about the day today.” Then, we discern. We discern, not if we were good or bad today, but we share our day with God, the actions, the conversations, all that went on & with Him we discern where we saw Him & where we missed Him. Next, we ask God for forgiveness for any times that we may have missed His presence or not respond to Him in the way that we should have.

  Finally, we make a resolution, not necessarily a radical step towards conversion, though it might be, but more times a concrete, practical, doable resolution for the next day. Maybe we might slow down when someone says, “Can I talk?” or we may resolve to take a deep breath before we respond in anger. I’d invite you to try this form of prayer out, even just for a few days. Who knows, it might just be a vehicle that helps you & me grow in our relationship with God. Have a Blessed Week!