Life feels like this sometimes, but we still need to take a break. Photo by Milton CJ.
Hey you.
Stop.
Just stop, and pray. And especially listen.
If you didn’t read the rest of this article, got off the computer, and went and just prayed, even for thirty seconds, I would praise God with great thanksgiving.
But, nevertheless, I’ll keep writing, just in case you need more convincing.
You see, I’ve found that if you don’t stop on your own, sometimes God will stop life’s distractions for you. How many times have you heard conversion stories of someone living a reckless lifestyle, then something tragic happens and later they’re grateful for the tragedy because they feel they’ve been set back on the right track?
Recently, I spent an hour at Saint William’s perpetual adoration chapel and just stopped. I was amazed by how much discipline it took to do so. I was so tempted to pray a rosary or read a few chapters from the Bible to pass the time. I found myself shifting anxiously in my seat. (I was in adoration, surely I should be doing something.) But somehow, maybe out of sheer mental exhaustion, I felt the need to stop.
I looked into the monstrance and told the Lord, “I love you. I just need to be for a little while. Be with you. Be with me too, ok?” And we did.
As I sat, thoughtless for a while, my thoughts turned to contemplation. How amazing it was that I was able to do what I was doing.
Our Catholic faith tells us that although we are only able to perceive a wafer of bread, it is Jesus Christ truly present – body, blood, soul and divinity.
What a great gift that God has given to us in the Eucharist. The ability to actually, physically be with Him. Man, separated from God through original sin, is allowed through his plan for our salvation (the Death and Resurrection of His Only Begotten Son) to be with Him again. On this earth and for all eternity in the next.
One of my favorite phrases from the new translation of the mass is “like the dewfall.” It came to mind as I was contemplating, because peace descended on me, like the dewfall.
I reflected on that feeling and in my heart I could hear the Lord say, “Thank you for being with me, my precious child. I love you, too.”
If you need a little bit more motivation to stop, check out this site.
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