Recently the following was posted on the web site of The Society of St. John the Evangelist. It was part of a sermon given by Br. Eldridge Pendleton on February 11, 2007. It spoke to me and I trust it speaks to you. I offer no more comment that that.
“I doubt there is anyone here this morning who does not recognize the critical importance of one’s relationship with God or know that to keep the friendship honest, healthy and fruitful we have to maintain contact, we need honest prayer lives. But it is one thing to know this intellectually and quite another to put it in practice each day. Robert Wicks, a leading psychotherapist and spiritual director, who has worked with literally thousands of priests, ministers, monks, religious sisters and others in Christian ministry to teach them ways to avoid stress and emotional burnout reports that a majority of those he has interviewed do not have honest prayer lives even though they are supposed to be women and men of prayer whose work is grounded in prayer. This is startling news, but is it really surprising? Look at your own life. You may desire a life grounded in prayer and a close relationship with God. You may even dedicate a space in your home for silence and solitude where you can go and pray undisturbed by domestic hubbub. And yet, in any given week how often do you go there to pray, to sit in silence, to offer up your concerns or ask God for help? When the pace and demand of daily life increases often the first casualty is one’s prayer life. Wicks discovered that even in situations where major life decisions had to be made those in ministry did not often pray for discernment and direction. Ask yourself, when you are facing those big questions and have critical decisions to make do you seek God’s help or do you forge forward as though it all depended on you? Be honest with yourself. What is you standard practice?
http://ssje.org/ssje/2007/02/11/an-urge-to-hug-sycamores/
“I doubt there is anyone here this morning who does not recognize the critical importance of one’s relationship with God or know that to keep the friendship honest, healthy and fruitful we have to maintain contact, we need honest prayer lives. But it is one thing to know this intellectually and quite another to put it in practice each day. Robert Wicks, a leading psychotherapist and spiritual director, who has worked with literally thousands of priests, ministers, monks, religious sisters and others in Christian ministry to teach them ways to avoid stress and emotional burnout reports that a majority of those he has interviewed do not have honest prayer lives even though they are supposed to be women and men of prayer whose work is grounded in prayer. This is startling news, but is it really surprising? Look at your own life. You may desire a life grounded in prayer and a close relationship with God. You may even dedicate a space in your home for silence and solitude where you can go and pray undisturbed by domestic hubbub. And yet, in any given week how often do you go there to pray, to sit in silence, to offer up your concerns or ask God for help? When the pace and demand of daily life increases often the first casualty is one’s prayer life. Wicks discovered that even in situations where major life decisions had to be made those in ministry did not often pray for discernment and direction. Ask yourself, when you are facing those big questions and have critical decisions to make do you seek God’s help or do you forge forward as though it all depended on you? Be honest with yourself. What is you standard practice?
http://ssje.org/ssje/2007/02/11/an-urge-to-hug-sycamores/
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