+Lent2010: Prayer+

Simone Weil said: "Nothing is more difficult than prayer. In all other tasks of religious life, however exacting, one can sometimes rest, but there is no rest in prayer, up to the end of one's life." (Courtesy of Inward/Outward)

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I think this speaks to the power and importance of prayer. Because of some situations currently going on, I will admit that I have probably prayed more in the past several days than combined in my life. I've become more comfortable with prayer. Instead of calling my mom on my walk back to my room, I'm praying. Instead of just falling asleep right away at night, I pray.

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Weil's comment really drives home this idea of praying with every step... with every breath. Thomas Merton once said that the only words we need to pray are, "Lord, You know." That's easy. Weil suggests prayer shouldn't be easy... so how do we reconcile this? There's responsibility on my part as a Christian to recognize the world's concerns, the joys of my friend's lives, as well as the sorrows, the pain and shortcomings in my life..... But maybe it is in those quiet moments that we can just say "God, you know..." and let that be enough.

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It isn't easy... especially because we have so much weighing on us... and that's the point of prayer, right? To give it to God... and let God worry about it... But when we pray we bring all of our hurts and issues to the forefront of our minds... and it puts it back on our shoulders... what's that about? What does it take to hand something over to God? I don't know how to do this...

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It's hard. Simone Weil even said so...