How can the weeks pass so quickly??! Already another week has gone by, and it seems as if last week just started. Then I think, oh, right, there was a lot that happened last week, including trips to Sacramento and North Carolina. Perhaps that is why the weeks seem to pass so quickly. I am never in the same place for more than a couple of days in a row. With all this traveling, one thing for which I am very grateful is those Bibles that the Gideons place in hotel rooms across the country. I, for one, use them. This week, I continued to read Matthew, but I did not make it very far because Chapter 6 is so very rich, including the relation of how Jesus gave the Lord's Prayer to us. It was not the Lord's Prayer that drew my attention, however. It was the very short verse 7: "When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words."
Reading: Matthew 6:7
Meditation: While there are times that I do find myself "babbling," those times of prayer that I enjoy the most are the times when no words are used at all. I love the quiet walking together with God, as well as quiet periods of just sitting side by side. No words are really needed for very deep, intense, joyful, and inspirational communication. Perhaps that is why we are told not to go on and on. If we never stop talking, when can we ever hear what God has to say to us?
Contemplation: That is far as I can go with you this Monday morning. I now retire to private prayer to praise God for all the information He has passed to us through Jesus and His prophets so that we better understand Him and know better how to communicate with Him. I will, of course, also ask God to help me to hold my tongue, and I will repent for each time I have talked too much and failed to listen to what God would have me hear. As always, I will thank God for prayer, for wanting us to communicate with Him, and for wanting to communicate with us.
I will leave you now to your prayer and contemplation. First, though, I would like to bring to your attention a Monday morning prayer post that you might enjoy:
Fr. Austin Fleming, priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and pastor in Concord, Massachusetts, posts a prayer each Monday morning that he calls "Monday Morning Offering." I enjoy his prayers very much. I think you also will find them inspirational. He has graciously given me permission to include a link to his blog on my Monday Morning Meditation posts. (During the week, he also posts great homilies and other thoughtful discussions. I enjoy reading those, too, as do readers of this blog who have taken the stroll over to his blog.)For additional inspiration throughout the week, I would point out two sets of blogs: (1) the list of devotional blogs on my sidebar and (2) my blogroll, where I am following a number of inspirational priests and writers about spiritual matters. I learn so very much from all these people. I highly recommend them to you.
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