Chaplain’s Column

The Difference Prayer Makes

Jesus said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest awhile.” (Mark 6:31).

How do we rest so that we can continue to do our work?

Today more and more people are praying less and less. The major obstacle for many is just saying “yes” to prayer and setting aside time to spend with God.

One of the most common reasons people give for not praying more is that “they have no time.”

There is a poem by Alan Grant that helps to see the difference prayer makes in our lives:

“I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day; I had so much to accomplish that I didn’t have time to pray. Problems just tumbled about me and heavier became each task. ‘Why doesn’t God help me,’ I wondered.”

“He answered, ‘You didn’t ask.’ I wanted to see joy and beauty, but the day toiled on, gray and bleak. I wondered why God didn’t show me; He said, ‘But you didn’t seek.’ I tried to come into God’s presence; I used all my keys at the lock. God gently and lovingly chided, ‘My child, you didn’t knock.’ I woke up early this morning and paused before entering the day. I had so much to accomplish that I had to take time to pray.”

St. Francis de Sales once said, “Everyone of us needs half an hour of prayer each day, except when we are busy, then we need an hour.”

The foundation of prayer is God’s love for us. God cares for us as his children.

A Roman war hero was returning home one day and soldiers were lined along the streets to keep the crowd from getting in the way of the parade.

A little boy tried to break through the line when a soldier grabbed him and said, “Don’t get in the way of the Emperor.”

The boy replied, “He may by the Emperor to you, but he is my father.” God is our Father, and this makes all the difference in the world when we pray.

This is why Jesus taught us to pray the perfect prayer: the “Our Father.”

St. Teresa of Avila wrote, “We already have Heaven within us, as God has come to dwell inside of us.”

However soft we speak; God is so near that He will hear us.

We need no wings to go in search of God, but have only to find a place where we can be alone and look upon Him present within us.

Imagine our soul to be a great palace, adorned with beautiful things, and living inside of it is a great King who is our Father. Imagine he is seated on a throne of the greatest price and worth: our heart.

We must learn that we have God within us, who is far more precious than anything outside.

St. Teresa said, “Is there anything so wonderful? He whose beauty would fill a thousand worlds hides Himself in such a little dwelling as our soul.”

Jesus’ words are just as important for us today as they were for his first followers two thousand years ago.

Resting, being still and spending quiet time is most valuable and even necessary. We truly rest by taking time to spend with God in prayer.

This is the rest we look for, the rest we need, and the rest that God alone can give us.

And this makes all the difference.