A Listening Heart

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." Luke 11:1

Pope Benedict XVI’s book on Jesus underscores the frequency and consistency with which Jesus communicates through prayer with the Father.

What follows in the 11th chapter of Luke is Jesus’ iteration of the Our Father. Pope Benedict XVI’s book analyzes the Our Father verse by verse and for anyone who is interested I would be glad to blog on this, taking up the Pope’s analysis and explanations verse by verse. I found it quite insightful, and I’m sure many people would also.

But as a form of preamble to that, I’d like to add an observation of my own. I try to pause after each verse of the Our Father to think about what I’ve just said, and how its meaning applies to what I’m currently living rather than just parroting words by rote. It can lead to some arresting moments at time.

A Protestant friend of mine once invited me to his parish to watch some videos made by a British Anglican priest by the name of Nicky Gumbel in what’s called the Alpha Course. I found many of his observations insightful and one of them pertaining to prayer was put in his typically accessible analogies.

Gumbel asked his viewers to think of prayer as a conversation (I’ve adapted his idea to explain to my sons that crossing yourself is a bit like dialling the telephone to God). He explained that we don’t have monologues and then end the chat when we engage in conversation with each other so we shouldn’t either when we pray. So, since having prayer framed in this way, I’ve reminded myself to pray for – among many things – a listening heart.