Saturday, January 29th, 2011

Falling in Love with Prayer, SLM Retreat 2011

During the First weekend in February, all the 12 SLMs from Bolivia were able to meet up in Cochabamba for a much needed spiritual retreat.  It was so nice to see volunteers that I hadn't seen for over 7 months! Every site gave a presentation or a talk on a particular aspect of their spiritual journey.  Our site presented a talk on the importance of prayer in our lives and how when we fall in love with prayer, we fall in love with God.  Enjoy! 

"When you fall in love with prayer, your life is set apart from others, no matter how you pray or spend time with the Lord.  When you fall in love with prayer, it allows us to fully fall in love with God.  This personal relationship with God, according to Pope Benedict, is what matters most in one’s life, it is one’s friendship with God.  What happens in normal human relationships, we should share with God, we need to spend time with God.  “Making” time for God is essential, we have to remove the obstacles from our lives, such as being “too busy”, because if John Paul II was able wake up early every morning at 5:30am to pray and Christ here on earth placed even more importance on prayer, then if somehow those crazy “busy” men found time, so can you!  It requires discipline, the root of that word being disciple – key if you desire to faithfully follow Christ and fall in love with Him.

When you finally do make time, it is not time to think about what you need to do, or what you would like to accomplish, rather focusing on God, even when we don’t know what to say.  Praying and spending time with God is the most important task of our day, being distracted “busy Martha’s” actually waste time, with chatting, Facebook, cleaning, or the many other endless activities that fill every last second of our day…but when you are truly close to someone and truly are on fire with love for them could you honestly tell them, “I just don’t have time, I’m too busy!?” Seriously you won’t go very far in a human relationship with that kind of attitude, nor will your personal relationship with Christ grow if you have nothing more to say than every other little activity, thought, and preoccupation takes precedent over You LORD! That hurts. You might start to understand the consequences that come from not placing the one you love…aka GOD, first, not last, but FIRST and LAST and ALL day long!

Prayer is something supernatural, it is very useful to ask for help, “Lord, please teach me how to pray, will you help me?” This was the simple prayer of the little saint from Calcutta, and she had the one of the most beautiful relationships with God from our time, and yet she still, in her humility asked that God teach her how to pray, give her the words daily, in her sweet desire of wanting more intimacy with out LORD. The Pope Benedict further explains that our prayers become hope in action, bringing everyone around you closer to God and His love!  Praying and asking God, “I know I don’t understand how YOU do things, but I know YOU are there, please give me faith!  And, ask friends, family and the saints above to further intercede for your request to pray and strengthen your relationship with GOD.

            Make a resolution to keep with persistent prayer, and form a sweet tangible sweet relationship with GOD.  Poco a Poco, little by little, send God whatever troubles, offering anything and everything to You, LORD – in the hopes of attaining a relationship which is the most powerful, beautiful and sweet and seeking it through effort every day and through God’s Grace.  We are called to pray without ceasing, so the idea of spontaneously seeking God throughout the day, and making quick visits to the chapel, while in class, running, or singing, we can praise God & seek Him, because you have fallen in LOVE with Him!"

"Who except God can give you peace? Has the world ever been able to satisfy the heart?" - St. Gerard Majella