A Concord Pastor Comments: Praying 10 minutes today: TUESDAY 5/29

We celebrated Mass in our parish cemetery yesterday, on Memorial Day. A warm morning in late May, a bright sun against a blue sky: the liturgy was simple, our singing a cappella. Early on I noticed that in the background of our prayer there was a chorus of natural sounds, an ornithological ostinato, offered by birds hidden in leafy branches, in choir stalls of trees around and among the headstones.

I was reminded by the birds' song that indeed one often needs to go to a very quiet place -a graveyard is a quiet place- if one wants to hear something truly divine... Be still... and know that I am God...

I first noticed the birds' when I was sitting in silence near the table that was our altar, just before we began to pray... Be still... and know that God is near...

We all need quiet time in a quiet place if we hope to hear the sound of God moving within and whispering his word, his song... Be still... and know that I am God...

Find a quiet time and place to pray... take a few deep breaths... be still and know that God is near...

A word to reflect on:

Be still and know that I am God...
- Psalm 46

Especially when I can't stop the merry-go-round on my own, Lord:
   slow me down...
When my ears and mind, when I am filled with noise,
   show me a path to a quiet place...
When I'm standing still but moving at 60 inside,
   put the brakes on and bring me to a stop:
      by your side, in a place where I might hear my own breathing
        and the breath of your Spirit stirring in my soul...
Help me make enough time to find the calm, the quiet I need
   to hear the birds sing, the tide come in, the sun to rise
      and the moon to wax full in the skies above...
Let me find a time, Lord, when the rhythms of my life
   might grow slow and rock me, not to sleep but to peace,
      that serenity wherein I know I'm in your presence...
Let this place and time of prayer become for me
   a well of sweet waters for a thirsty heart,
      a place where I will want to come often, every day,
   to draw and drink from its depths,
to slake my thirst for what truly satisfies
               and gives me life...
Bring me to quiet places, Lord, wherever in my day they may be
   and let me find the time to sit with you there
      to drink in the peace that's only yours to give...
Help me to be still, Lord,
   that I might know that you are God,
      that I might know that you are near...

Here are some tips for praying 10 minutes a day. If you find these daily prayer reminders helpful, please let me know - and share them with others. You'll find an archive of these daily posts here.