Imagine life without a God, Jesus Christ, Lord, Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah we can turn to in our times of need. Imagine, if during a pain, a misery, a danger, a darkness, an illness, or a feeling of joy, of victory, of jubilation, there is no one we can turn to say “Help Me,” or “Heal Me,” or “Save Me,” or “Lead Me” or simply “Thank You.”
Even those who claim to be far away from God, those who are not so spiritual or so religious, have, at certain point in their lives have uttered the phrase “Oh My God.” Imagine not having a concept of God at all. A life when everything just stops in our feeling of grief or pain or joy.
It is hard. I cannot imagine a life without Him. I cannot imagine life without someone we can turn to in prayer. I may not be very religious, if by standard, religiosity means being able to recite a lot of prayers from the book or doing the rituals that we were taught to practice. But in my mind, I do call on Him every opportunity I have no matter where I am or what I do.
Years ago, I wrote about having a running conversation with God. And since then, I tried praying in that manner. Prayer does not really have to be done in a certain standard fashion. Brother Bo Sanchez said in his talk that his prayer is as simple as Lord please embrace me today…Fr. Mario Sobrejuanite in one of his homilies (Studio 23) mentioned a man who would simply sit at the back row of the church staring at the altar. When asked what he is doing because the priest noticed that he is just staring and does not really appear to be praying. The man replied, that he just said “Hi, Lord, I am here, because you are here.” And he just stayed there for minutes to feel His presence.
In my case, I recently use a lot of creativity in my prayer life: I do pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy everyday because it is my way of asking for healing. I recite the Peace Prayer of St Francis and the Psalm 23 because it calms me a lot. Then just recently, I used my laptop to provide me background music and some meditation parts as I pray the Holy Rosary or whenever I read the Bible. It just feels good that I am able to do this before I start my chaotic day. I am a very busy and easily stressed-soul; I need God to be with me every step of the way.
After my prayer routine, I am trying not to be disconnected from Him. I am trying to embrace the belief that He lives in me that at every moment we feel like talking to Him, we are free to do so. That is why prayer should be a running conversation with Him. I call on Him if I need to decide on something, if I am being impatient, if something irritates me, if there is something or someone that I need to deal with. I call on Him when laziness hit me, or when I feel tired, or useless, or bored. I call on Him when I made a bad move or wrong decision. I would ask Him where I have been mistaken and what lesson does that situation has for me.
I call on Him in times when I receive rewards, bonuses, treats, or simple joys…I call on Him when my kids are being stubborn and they are just getting on my nerves. I never have a single day when I have not called on Him!
But a lot of times, especially in my pain and sadness when I no longer have the strength to pray in the usual manner, I just imagine Him hugging me. And while hugging Him, I always say in between tears, (di ba) Lord, you love me??? And I know that you can see everything, so you will turn things around…you will fight my battles for me…I usually fell asleep in His arms.
I made it sound so simple, yet I know that in the deepest of your soul you know what I am trying to tell you…
Brother Bo beautifully puts it in his prayer book Embraced: “the ship of our lives should be anchored firmly on the depths…The anchor is our hope. Let us anchor our souls in prayer…the more violent the storms above, the deeper the anchor digs itself into the ocean bed. So with life! The circumstances of our surface life may be in chaos, but the position of our inner life will be unmovable because of our hope in God nourished in our daily encounters with Him.”
Friends, call on Him as often as you can…There is nothing that He cannot carry. He will be there for you as He has always been here for me…God Bless.
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