Our Lenten theme “Finding God in my Daily Life” doesn’t come easy for me. How do we “find” or “hear” God?
Personal prayer is an absolute essential for anyone who wants to call themselves a Christian. It is not an optional part of our spiritual lives, it is the core and foundation. We Catholics hold a very strong conviction that God wishes to communicate with us. Our job is to open ourselves to that communication through prayer; to make ourselves available. I call my daily prayer “Butt-in-seat-time.” A bit crass, I know. But for me, it makes the goal manageable. All I aim to do is simply show up everyday. I don’t always want to be there, I often don’t have time to be there, but I do my best to just get my butt in the seat; show-up and shut-up, and let God do the rest.
But what are we really trying to “DO” when we pray? How do we hear God? Well, I think we all know that it is extraordinarily rare for God to show up in our lives through the clouds parting and a booming voice saying “Lisa, listen to me!” - and I think we can be thankful for that! Rather, our tradition suggests that we hear God through the channels that God built; God speaks to us though the things that God created, which makes sense, why wouldn’t God do that, right? We are built with everything we need for this communication. So, here are a handful of ways we can listen for God in our daily lives…
1 – First of all we find God in what God has made, namely creation itself. Can we experience God in a nice, long, silent walk in the woods? Or by playing with a puppy? Studying wildlife? Looking at a leaf through a microscope? Watching a spider spin a web? Holding a newborn child? Without question. For some people observing and enjoying nature and creation is an essential part of prayer and listening for God in their lives.
2 – Second, we hear God’s voice in the scriptures, appropriately called the “Word of God.” The Bible is the number one bestseller of all time. It gets 5 stars on Amazon! If you have never sat down and read a Gospel from start to finish, I can’t imagine a better Lenten goal. I would recommend Luke or Matthew. The New American Bible is a solid translation and I have always found the footnotes very helpful. We have bibles available here at the parish if you would like one. When we listen to the scriptures proclaimed at Mass we believe that in this communal context, our scriptures have an even more potent “living” quality; the readings are God’s Living Word, God’s voice speaking to us through our sacred texts.
3 – Third, we hear God in the teaching of the church, the living, changing, growing tradition of our believing community.
4 – Finally, we hear God by listening for and “noticing” God in our own experiences and inner workings.
God created us for this communication, so all the “stuff” within us is actually designed to sense the presence of God in our lives: our mind, will, memory, imagination, heart, and desires - So if we listen to what is going on within us, in our deepest longings, this is there where God communicates with us; this is where we hear God. Our job is to simply put down the phone, computer or turn off the TV and get quiet before God 15 minutes a day. Our prayer is like carefully turning the dial on those old style radios; a kind of “tuning-in” to God’s communication to us through our inner life.
Jim Manney’s book A Simple Life-Changing Prayer that we are reading as a parish for Lent is all about this way of listening for God in our lives. Our Thursday Retreat Evenings are designed especially to help us hone this ability to connect and listen in this way. May this sacred season of Lent be one of deep listening for each of us.
Send your "Crazy Catholic Questions" to Lisa Brown at dre@ctredeemer.org or read past columns at: crazycatholicquestions.blogspot.com.
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