Wait for the Answer!

Jesuit priests and authors named Frs. Barry and Connolly defined contemplative prayer as; “a conscious willingness and desire to look and to listen to God.” In my opinion, this definition suggests that it does not constitute so much of talking or saying prayers, but that it is an activity that requires more listening. I believe that this is another level of prayer, a higher level of prayer I should say. I’d like to compare this contemplative prayer to a man and a woman who love each other and desire to build a loving relationship. A man who always talks and never allows himself to listen to his beloved simply cannot build a relationship with the woman he loves. A loving relationship requires good communication. Good communication consists of speaking and listening. It is the same with building a relationship with God. It is good that one would pray the rosary, chaplet of the Divine Mercy or different novenas but it is also equally important that one stops saying one’s prayer, be quiet and be still and allow God to speak. I believe that God desires so much to speak to us; we may just too be busy “saying” our prayers to hear Him.

 A couple of years ago, a woman spoke to me who was deeply depressed. She mourned the loss of her daughter. It had been eleven months since her daughter was accidentally hit by a truck. She told me that she asked God consistently in prayers whether she was a good mother to her daughter. She sent her daughter to Catholic school, educated her to the faith, her daughter was in fact an altar server. She had raised her daughter alone because her husband left her for another woman. She tried to love her daughter the best way she could.

When her daughter grew older, she started to change and chose a different path for her life. She became an atheist and chose to be miserable and the mother couldn’t do anything except pray. She told me that for eleven months she had been asking God if she was a good mother because there was so much guilt in her heart. Regularly, she went to the adoration chapel. Every day, she prayed the rosary and novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, but she told me, “God is not answering my prayers”. 

 I asked her to take a deep breath, and calm herself. I then asked her if ever she allowed God to talk to her. “What do you mean?” she inquired. I told her that she always “said” her prayers, but did she ever “listen” in her prayers? Did she allow silence to be part of her prayers and simply listen to God to answer her questions? She paused, looked at me with a little smile, and said: “No, Father, I never did that.” She told me she never thought of that and would gladly do it the next time she prayed. We ended our conversation on a happy note and she was smiling and very hopeful for the new found enlightenment with her prayers.

 I believe that God has answers to the questions and inquiries about our lives, experiences, struggles, and situations. But an individual must lovingly and patiently wait for the answers. Answers to life’s questions can sometimes be found in contemplation.