Prayer. Prayer is the lifting of the heart and mind to God. It is man’s life blood. In a real sense, it is all we have that makes us human. Scientific discoveries come and go, some are good, some cause death and destruction, but all come from human ingenuity and keep us earthbound. Only prayer lifts us to Heaven and truly brings God into our life.
Prayer Is Everything
Ann and I had been discussing this on the way to Mass Friday morning and after Mass Ann showed me the meditation she was reading in the Magnificat for the day. Here it is:
Man, the creature, is as free as God. The only thing of importance in this world, in this total universe, is prayer. It is prayer which gives knowledge and charity. Here is the reason why it was of the utmost necessity that man be free to pray or not to pray. Prayer was given to him as a golden key, and the universe as a box full of diamonds and stellar rubies. The key was unique.
Your pride rebelled against the idea of using the only key invented by someone other than you. You threw the key into a well and you kept the indestructible box, a night-colored box, hermetically closed forever. But the golden key has been found. God is king. He is not a tyrant. He does not force any of his gifts upon us. He wants to be importuned. One cannot be more liberal.
I, who pray, am free. You, gentlemen, who tomorrow will split atoms and yet will not strut about in the milky ways that are two hundred thousand light-years away, you, gentlemen, who do not pray, are free too. But it is I who am the master of the treasure.
Oscar Milosz, who lived in France, died in 1939. So he wrote that before they split the atom and sent a man to the moon, but he had the key to the box and so do you and so do I and prayer is, after all, the only thing that matters. When we die we will all — and I repeat all — wish we had prayed more than we did.
So let’s do it now. Pray for those who love us and those who hate us. Pray for the worst sinner and the greatest saint. Pray for the soul deepest in Purgatory and the one just about to get out if you pray for him. Pray for the miserable world, the dealers in smut and pornography, the abortionists, the cheaters and the other prayers, that they pray better. Just pray for everything. After all, it’s all we have.
Upcoming Events
And here are a few more things: I speak in Lombard Saturday, Jan 10, following 8 o’clock Mass at Sacred Heart Church, 114 South Elizabeth. Stop by.
If you’re calling from Tucson or Phoenix, AZ, I’ll be speaking in those towns January 17 and 18. Check around for times and places.
We’ll be in Washington for the March Jan. 22 and back for SpeakOut Illinois on Sunday, Jan.25, at the Hyatt-Regency Oakbrook starting at 1p.m. Sandy Rios is MC, Erika Harold is keynote speaker, there will be exciting workshops and a banquet at 6 p.m. For information call us at 773-777-2900. Don’t miss it.
Also pray for the soul of Bob Ciesla, long-time pro-life activist who was buried Thursday. Bob, a founding member of the Illinois Right to Life Committee, was only 67.
Face the Truth 2004
And for your information, the League will be sponsoring Face the Truth days on March 10, the very same day that abortionists will be honoring baby killers nation-wide, on April 7, May 5, and June 2, with the two-week Face the Truth marathon July 7 through 17. Try to make one or all of these special educational events.
