The Merit of Prayer

An excerpt from "Heaven is for Real":

"But at that moment, my faith was hanging by a tattered thread and fraying fast. I thought of the times where the Scripture says that God answered the prayers, not of the sick or dying, but of the friends of the sick or dying - the paralytic, for example. It was when Jesus saw the faith of the man's friends that he told the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." At that moment, I needed to borrow the strength and faith of some other believers. After I hung up the phone with Terri, Sonja and I sat together and prayed, afraid to hope and afraid not to."

There are days I don't want to be in Inman, Kansas anymore. There are days where I still enjoy what I do and can make do with the community and fellowship I experience on the weekends. Ultimately, it is the prayers of my dear brothers and sisters in Christ that provide me with the strength to "forge on" to fulfill my contract through the month of May. I may or may not be here again next year, but that is another topic, blog, and decision not yet made with several facets to consider.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to those of you who have prayed for my requested intentions via text, facebook, e-mail, phone, or person to person. Your prayers provide me with strength, perseverance, patience, courage, balance, wisdom, understanding, peace, and many more of the virtues, gifts and fruits I've asked for since January. 

This blog is about my own prayers. I've realized the need to ask for the grace made available to us at the beginning of each day. But I've also witnessed the power of praying for someone else over the course of year, and watching God work in their life. It is these latter mentioned prayers that give me encouragement to keep praying. From time to time, my weaknesses get the best of me. "Why am I still attempting to pray a daily rosary? I'm struggling in prayer right now. I'm not getting anything out of it. I can't even stay awake or give Mary my all by kneeling instead of driving, walking or laying down to say what I can before falling asleep. I'm so distracted..."  The excuses could go on. However, praise God for grace.

I hope you attach an intention to every prayer or sacrifice or self-mortification that you say, pray, endure or inflict. Some one, some where, will benefit from the merits of your love for them. Maybe not instantly, but as I've recently read, the merits of your prayers may build up as a flood wall against a dam of resistance that will one day break.

"It is a much better thing to speak to God than of God." ~ St. Therese of Lisieux

At NCYC recently, I heard Jason Evert speak on "Talking with Teens about Taboo Topics." He stresses first and foremost (the first of ten tips) the importance of praying for students and youth. A few tidbits from his first point: "Fast for your kids," he says. "The merits of which will equal your degree of love." "Offer up your suffering." "Jesus suffered so we would know how to suffer. He redeemed us with suffering. Don't waste your suffering."

Jason followed this point up with a short story about a cardinal who was faltering in his faith. One night, he dreamed about a sister, who through the merits of her prayers and sufferings, saved his faith. Awhile later, the cardinal was visiting Rome, and found himself saying mass for a group of sisters. While distributing Communion, he recognized the sister from his dream, though he had never seen any of them before. He caught the Mother after mass, asking permission to come and meet the sisters. When he arrived, she, the sister from his dream, was not there. Curious, he asked if this was all the sisters. Mother said, no, there is one other but she is very shy. He asked if he could meet her anyway. Mother allotted. Sure enough, this was the sister. The Cardinal asked the sister if she offered up prayers for priests. She responded indicating her morning chores as offered for priests, as well as how she offers the merits of her afternoon. He then asked if there were any she offered specifically for Cardinals. "Oh yes, the laundry, at the end of the day when I am most tired, I offer up for Cardinals," she replied. He thanked her for her prayers, encouraged her to continue to pray, but never mentioned his dream to her. 

I don't tell the story near as well, and have forgotten some of the details. The point remains the same: there is merit in what you do. There is merit in what you suffer, if you suffer with love.

Levels of merit:
speak about God = little,
speaking to God = much,
suffering with Christ = most.

It's Okay to Be Bored

Last Friday, October 28, we had no school, like most of the high schools in the area. I departed from this little town I reside in to visit good 'ol KSU, in particular a few wonderful folks and the becoming ever more and more popular Thursday night Mass at St. Isidore's.

Before parting ways from school, I had anticipated packing a bag of potential lesson plan writing resources and my school laptop to fill the day as I waited for my only pre-scheduled event of my time in Manhattan of catching up with a friend from my CYO days. Fortunately, the janitor (yup the same one that has been encouraging me all semester) said to me while she was cleaning my room, "You need the weekend break, so you can be refreshed when you start next week." That was enough to convince me. I left school pretty much empty handed. After catching the first quarter of the last home football game, I parted. My intent for the weekend was that of accomplishing nothing by chilling and getting away from the daily grind.

Mass was an abundant blessing, as you may have guessed. I love the mass in and of itself, but I love it even more when you celebrate it with those who you know love it as much as you do. I wasn't just seeing my brothers and sisters in Christ in the Eucharist, I was standing beside several of them. Praise God for that!

In essence, my weekend was exactly that. Friday in Manhattan, Saturday at home on the farm, Sunday mass and Knights pancake feed before returning to Inman.  A whole lot of chill and nothingness, time with friends and family, and slight unwillingness to return to school Monday.  Some boredom, some reading, some movie and KSU game watching, and some more "I just don't want to do anything."

Around Wednesday evening, I stumbled across one of the regular emails that comes from Matthew Kelly. This one contained a typical excerpt from one of his books. I don't feel so bad about such an unproductive weekend. Because, in fact, I got to the point where I started asking myself, "What do I really want to do with my life? What is it that I really desire? How can I best serve God and love doing it?" I haven't come up with all the answers, but I am content with giving myself a lazy Sunday afternoon to just think from time to time. Enjoy the read. God Bless you always in all ways.

Feed Your Mind

When we get too busy and too tired, we tend to lose touch with our intellectual desires very quickly. But allow yourself several lazy Sunday afternoons in a row, unencumbered by technological stimulation, and you will find yourself thinking, I’ve always wanted to learn how to play the piano or the guitar, or, ­wouldn’t it be neat to learn Spanish and then take a trip to Spain… I would love to master the game of chess… I’ve always wanted to understand how the body transforms food into energy… Perhaps I should read a little more history or research my family tree… Maybe at this time in my life I should keep a journal…
Leisure ignites our intellectual desires; fatigue banishes them.
  We are born with intellectual desire. You may have lost touch with it, but you have it. Over the years, you may have buried it or it may have become distorted by some childhood experience, but intellectual desire is natural and abundant in us all.
Intellectual desire is best understood in the example of a child. Children have a curiosity that brings a natural sense of wonder to their lives. What are children always asking? Why? They are naturally curious. From the moment they can think and speak logically, one question dominates their inner dialogue (thoughts) and their outer dialogue (conversations). Internally and externally, they are constantly asking, Why? They are naturally curious, eager to understand, and they yearn for knowledge.
Intellectual desire is one of the great signs of human vitality. Are you thriving or are you just surviving?
If you are not in tune with your intellectual desire, what happened? Maybe when you were a child your parents used to yell at you when you asked questions. Perhaps you always wanted to learn to play the piano, but your friends told you it was only for sissies. The simplest things can cause us to shrink back and bury ourselves. You asked a question in class as a child, all the other children laughed, and the embarrassment buried that natural desire.
Life ­doesn’t spare any of us from these and other bitter—sometimes brutal—experiences. Still, we have to get back up and move on. In this case, that means rediscovering our intellectual desires. Leisure brings clarity to the mind. Allow yourself time to rest, relax, and be rejuvenated, and as you do, your intellectual desires will once again begin to emerge.
One of the greatest proofs of our intellectual desire is the number of books we buy. Visit a bookstore for an hour and tell me how many books you buy or would have liked to buy. Maybe you ­don’t buy books anymore because you have bought so many that you have never read. Most of us keep buying them and piling them up. Why? Our intellectual needs are so great and our corresponding intellectual yearnings are so strong that we hope one day we will start to live in alignment with our legitimate needs and our deepest desires.
Feed your mind.
An excerpt from, The Rhythm of Life, by Matthew Kelly