Kia tau te rangimarie ki a koutou,
In these post Lockdown days it seems to me that many people are talking a lot more than ever about prayer and what helps them to pray. Many discovered new ways of praying when we were not able to gather for public liturgies, and many have rejoiced at how they have discovered God whispering to their hearts. People have told me that they have found the value of silence and solitude, they hope that they can keep something of that in their lives, and not allow busyness, work and frenetic activity to take over again. There are not many positives about Lockdown and Covid-19, but if new discoveries have been made about prayer, then that is most certainly a positive. On24th June Pope Francis spoke about “The prayer of David” at his General Audience in the Library of the Apostolic Palace. I want to share a little of that with you, the whole catechesis (about two pages) can also be found on the website http://www.vatican.va/ content/vatican/en.html.
This is one paragraph from the Audience…….
“Look at David, think about David. Holy and sinful, persecuted and persecutor, victim and murderer, which is a contradiction. David was all of this, together. And we too have recorded events in our lives that are often opposed to each other; in the drama of life, all people often sin because of inconsistency. There is one single golden thread running through David’s life, that gave unity to everything that happened: his prayer. That is the voice that was never extinguished. David the saint prays: David the sinner prays; David, persecuted, prays; David the persecutor prays. Even David the murderer prays. This is the golden thread running through his life. A man of prayer. That is the voice that is never silenced. Whether it assumed tones of jubilation or lament, it is always the same prayer, it is only the melody that changes. In so doing, David teaches us to let everything enter into dialogue with God: joy as well as guilt, love as well as suffering, friendship as much as sickness. Everything can become a word spoken to the ‘You’ who always listens to us.”
Notice how the Pope speaks of prayer as one single golden thread running through David’s life. What helps you to have a golden thread of prayer in your life?
Then there is that wonderful line, “Everything can become a word spoken to the “You” who always listens to us.” Are you trying to make everything become a word spoken to God?
With every blessing
Naku noa
+John