Today’s Psalm reminds us that God is close to the brokenhearted. Yet, is seems that during our moments of brokenness we often feel the furthest away from God. If God is indeed close to us in our brokenness as scripture tells us, and he indeed is, then how can we actually feel his presence?
Stages of Healing
I believe the first step to feeling God’s presence is understanding where we are on our healing journey, something I talk about in my blog titled The Seven Stages of Healing. It seems to me that, generally speaking, humanity is trapped in the lower four stages; Denial, Anger, Bargain, and Depression. We seldom break free to the next stage – Acceptance. And further, too many of God’s children never experience the beauty of the highest two stages – Love Entering In and Love Consuming. Our great saints experienced the later stages – stages we are invited into as well.
So how do we experience Love Entering In and Love Consuming? Well, there is only one way – through prayer; prayer for self and prayer for others. During our brokenheartedness we are presented with unique opportunities to grow closer to God through prayer. I know it sounds hard. After all, when we are upset with someone or something the last thing we want to do is settle our hearts and minds with prayer. Our human nature seems to call us to claim and eye for an eye and repay hurt with hurt. As we know, that is a slippery slope that only leads to further heartache.
Praying Through The Pain
Prayer is our pathway into healing and it is especially powerful during moments of turmoil and pain. After all, prayer is communication with our Triune God and he alone is the one who can free us from pain. Reach towards your divine physician and ask for healing during the acute phase of your troubles. He is close to you – as promised. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are always near you – living within you. Catching ourselves during our moments of pain is the first step, and this often takes practice. All too often we take things into our own hands, falsely believing we can handle and control everything. And God, well, he sits within waiting patiently for us to turn to him in prayer.
There are two steps we must take during heightened pain. First, we must pray for ourselves and ask God to rescue us from our painful emotions. I like to think of this prayer as asking for divine monkey bars – something to hold on to when you feel yourself going down. You know, when you are angry, frustrated, jealous, fearful, or just plain upset you need a lifeline. I invite you to cry out to God during these moments, let him know you “are falling” and ask him to rescue you by filling your heart with his love and peace. Remember, he is already there. During moments like these I have even told God that “I’m doing it again God – I’m going down! Please rescue me and make my heart come alive with your peace and love”. This step could take a while and you will likely need to persevere in prayer.
Praying For Another
Once you experience peace in your heart, after you have taken the log out of your own eye, the next step is to pray for the person you are upset with. After all, most of our grievances are between us and another person aren’t they? Jesus did tell us to pray for those who persecute us. I have found it is helpful to pray for God’s will in the life of the person we are upset with, sometimes asking that they become immersed in God’s healing love. On occasion I ask God to place holy people in front of them. While you can certainly prayer for another when you are upset, I have found that prayers become more fruitful when they come from a loving, peaceful heart. When we pray with a loving, peaceful heart we imitate Jesus. By imitating Jesus we will come to know Father God and receive true healing into our hearts.
So there it is. The next time you are brokenhearted reach inward to God in prayer, ask for healing. Then pray for those who you have a grievance with. With God’s help, and by imitating Jesus, we can do it differently than the people in today’s first reading who were “thinking not aright.” Their thoughts led to the condemnation of the “just one”. Our thoughts, when united with Christ in prayer, will lead to life.
Contemplative Prayer Retreat
If you have read my reflections before then you know I am a fan of contemplative prayer. I feel this type of deep prayer brings us into direct contact with the heart of God. If you live near Indiana (in the USA) I invite you to consider attending a retreat on contemplative prayer at Saint Meinrad titled Contemplative Living. It will be held April 27 – 29. I will be attending. If you would like to learn more about contemplative prayer I invite you to visit Fr. Richard Rohr’s website page: Contemplative Appendix to the Daily Meditations
Our Prayer Community
I don’t know about you; however, my love for our little prayer community grows each and every day! Even though we live all over the globe, somehow, there is no distance between us.
Last week I asked for help naming for our prayer group – so many beautiful suggestions came it! I could feel the love behind each one. As I sat with your suggestions one thought stood out to me. A name that points to the global nature of our community seems fitting. Then after sitting with the readings from last Sunday, March 11th about light, I felt that we are called to be a light for the world in service to the One who is the light of the world – Jesus Christ. Funny thing – my favorite Christian song is “Go Light Your World” – it is even my alarm ring tone that I wake up to every day. So what do you think of “Global Light For Christ” as a name for our little prayer community? I see us as a light for Him – a light unified through his love that spans across the globe committed to serving others through prayer.
This is the glorious duty of man: to pray and to love. If you pray and love, that is where man’s happiness lies. – Saint John Vianney
Our prayers are powerful my friends. Last week I asked you to pray for my oldest daughter. Well, Friday evening she reached out to me and we had a beautiful conversation about the goodness of out Triune God! I can see His hand is over her and she is feeling his love like never before. There is still a long road ahead; however, as Julian of Norwich received from God in her visions – “ All will be well, all will be well, and all matters of things will be well.”
Please share your prayer requests below so we can all pray for each other. Or, email them to me privately. This week I am praying that each of us receives the healing we need so that our divine light can shine as God desires.
God bless all of you. See you next week Friday! – Carolyn
God the Father – draw us into your Fatherly love.
God the Son – continue to help our hearts heal and forgive.
God the Holy Spirit – embrace us in your divine love.
