Description: thoughts from along the way
July 28, 2013
In the book Clinging, the Experience of Prayer , Emilie Griffin begins this way: “There is a moment between intending to pray and actually praying that is as dark and silent as any moment in our lives. It is the split second between thinking about prayer and really praying. For some of us, this split second may last for decades. It seems, then, that the greatest obstacle to prayer is the simple matter of beginning, the simple exertion of the will, the starting, the acting, the doing. How easy it is, and ye
When one of the disciples asks Jesus how to pray, it seems to be inspired by the fact that Jesus has been out actually praying. The disciple admits he is familiar with John the Baptist’s teaching about prayer, but seems not to have made a beginning. He still stands at the abyss, unable to pray, in that split second that can last for decades. I know that abyss, that broad span of silence between desiring and doing. How relieved I am to hear Jesus not chastise his friend, or embarrass him, but to say, confide