Green Eggs and Prayer

If you have ever found it hard to pray, you are certainly not alone. We all struggle with prayer. How many of these sound familiar?

• I can't find time.
• I'll be late for work.
• I'll look silly.
• It feels so fake.
• I don't know what to say.
• I keep getting distracted.
• It's boring.

Perhaps you have unique additions of your own. Whatever your reasons for not praying, the cause is likely the same. Bishop Fulton Sheen said that "(t)here are not a hundred people in America who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions of people who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church". Likewise. I suspect that we avoid what we think prayer must be; few, if any, of us reject prayere for what it really is.

So we need to understand what prayer is before we can do it. The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls prayer a battle [2725]. We are battling with ourselves and all those excuses above, and we are battling with the devil, who certainly does not want us communicating with God. Divide-and-conquer is a simple military strategy - cut the enemy off from communication with headquarters and pick them off. We need prayer; we need to radio in for help with our daily battles.

We'll spend the next few weeks exploring the arsenal - learning about different forms of prayer - so we can integrate this vital action into our daily lives.

As a child. You may have read Dr. Seuss's "Green Eggs and Ham", or perhaps you've read it to your own child. Sam follows an obstinate character with a plate of the oddly-colored breakfast, trying time and again to get him to taste. "Try it! Try it! You will see!" The would-be fan of green eggs and ham had always rejected what he thought the dish would be like. All the difference is made by going out on a limb and trying.

Start today. Start right now with a simple prayer. Speak it aloud or in your heart. (Try it! Try it! You will see!)

Father, I have had difficulty with prayer. I am stepping out into the dark now. Reach out Your hand to me and guide me to a real prayer life with You. I am ready to explore it with openness to you and patience with myself. Help me, Father.