​  This morning my post on acottagebythesea told of my commitment to stop watching the news, stop being obsessed with it, stop letting politicians run my life. I have no chance of being the person God wants me to be if I spend my waking hours being judgmental and angry, and for sure the news will lead me along that path.
     Specifically, if God is calling me to prayer for people, I have to do my part to keep my heart open. Being angry and judgmental closes my heart, closes out God, closes out communication between God and me, which is where true prayer lies. It’s as simple as that, and as challenging as that. Focusing on God, not on the news, is a way to start. 

One of my go-to prayer churches in Florence is St. Trinita, a small, gothic style church on Piazza Trinita, and near Ponte Trinita. A trinity in itself.
I sit in a pew that gives me a view of Christ’s life through art.

    What do I have to say about prayer today as I wind up my two weeks walking with God in Florence? Always, always start with gratitude! Indeed I am very grateful for this time alone in my beloved city. There is no excuse not to pray, but there are distractions, such as food, museums, and walking to avoid, and appreciate, puddles and people.
    If I’m serious about prayer, I have to keep doing it. Abstaining is not an option, although my prayer practices vary and change. My prayer may be more verbal, or less verbal; I may feel God’s presence in a different ways; sometimes I sense that God isn’t there at all. Regardless, one of the things I have learned on this trip is that I have to keep showing up. Return to the breath I tell myself, whether I am in a church, eating a pizza or walking the streets.

Does this resonate with you? I struggle so hard to do it right with God, to pray without ceasing, to see the Christ in everyone I meet….I could go on and on. But, of course I fall short: I end up doing it right for me, I forget to pray, I project my faults on the people I meet…I could but I won’t go on and on.
A spiritual friend suggested that as a way to stop beating myself up I ask God what God wants of me. When we release our worries about how we act, and give them over to God, we become God centered, not self-centered. I know this, but in my self-involvement, I forget; I forget God. I wouldn’t be surprised if you resonate with this as well.

     How much time do we spend praying? Christian tradition reminds us a time when churches were open for services night and day, and when monks and others participated in the Daily Office. But nowadays? We’re on the run, at least those still working. As a retired person I have the luxury of time to pray, and since I have this call to pray for people, I’d better take the time. Intercessory prayer takes time. The preparation is intense in itself. Empty my mind of chatter and judgments so that thy will be done can enter.
     “Could you not watch one hour with me?” (Matthew 26:40), Jesus asks his disciples. He is asking me, for I am a disciple. I try to do just that for the first hour of my day. It’s a good practice, and for me it feels like a privilege.

     Did you know that Elizabeth Warren is a practicing Christian? Her faith was revealed in an article entitled “For Warren, faith is (quietly) critical to her public life” on the front page of the Boston Globe on September 3rd. I never knew this, nor I gather, do most of her fellow citizens. Those who knew are pastors of churches where she come to worship.
Evidently Warren is very private about her faith. She prays, reads the Bible, and follows Jesus. We have a little Jesus in all of us, she believes.
Recently, at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Warren spoke on (Matthew 25:40).
     Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my breathren, ye have done it unto me
 
“He [Jesus}is saying to us, first there’s God in everyone of us, there’s Jesus in every one of us—however you see it in your religion, that inside there’s something holy in everyone.”
 
     What a powerful public statement for us Christians sitting to the left of the political spectrum. An affirmation and inspiration for us to speak out about our faith. It is also a powerful statement for all people working for peace, longing to be compassionate, and who can see Jesus as an model of human good.
 
     It seems that Warren’s life, both public and private, receives its energy, not from ego but from God. The Jesus in her speaks and acts for the poor, the powerless, the disadvantaged, and the underprivileged. It is worth noting that Joe Kennedy III recently referred to Matthew 25 in his plea from the senate floor for health coverage.

     Give us this day our daily bread. This prayer that Jesus taught us to pray can be interpreted in many ways. Here are a few of my thoughts before I start supper and put our daily bread on the table.
     Bread can mean food: enough to eat, enough to sustain us, enough for every day, not just when we become hungry. It can mean life force: our meaning and purpose in life. It can represent the bread that Jesus gave his disciples in the evening before he died and that we receive in communion. It can mean the Christ presence in our life.
     Although there are times when I am alone saying this prayer, the words aren’t only for me. Whether alone or with others, give US rolls off my tongue. Jesus must have been thinking of community. His message isn’t just for individuals; he wants us to think collectively. I love working on my own personal salvation, but that’s not point.

    I've posted this on my cottage by the sea blog. Of course you readers know that this morning meditation time is my prayer time. If we pray in the morning, we will pray throughout the day. A good way to live.
    Silence, solitude and simplicity are hard to catch in this world, especially when the first offerings of the day come from technology, politics, and the lure of money, or when my morning starts through the lens of computer, newspaper and TV. Friends tell me they love to start their day with a cup of coffee and the newspaper. I get the coffee part, but the newspaper part—not a good idea, at least for me. I find it almost impossible to avoid reading the headlines as I walk up the driveway with the newspaper, or commenting on them as I hand the paper, along with coffee, to my husband, who, needless to say, he is a coffee/newspaper man. Our one reprieve is that we start the morning mentioning what we are grateful for—which is often coffee and newspaper.
     While my husband continues with coffee and newspaper, I go to the Angel Room and once again commit to meditating for twenty minutes before continuing my morning routine of silence, solitude, simplicity, and, coffee. Starting with meditation is a daily challenge, but when I give myself this time with the Holy, the lure of technology, politics and money fades into the background, with less chance of taking over during the day.
     This centering time is important to me, not just personally, but for the planet. I believe this fragile, negative world we live in can only be turned around when the majority of its inhabitants feel, think and act positively, the essential ingredients for sending out love. Love and coffee.

     I’ve just finished writing an article entitled, “How about a Writing Vacation in Florence?” Now I am considering writing one about prayer, working title, “Walking around Florence with God.”
     You don’t have to be Roman Catholic or even Protestant to do this. Maybe you don’t have to be Christian, but it probably helps because Jesus is present wherever you go in this city. It’s hard to get away from him. On the other had, if you meditate, any church will do. People leave you alone; it is socially acceptable to sit in church with your eyes closed.