A postponment and a prayer.

So I got everything ready for my essay, posted it and it looked great in my writer page of my blog, but then when I viewed the actual published post it was all messed up space wise and pretty much unintelligible. I'll figure out how to fix and post it some other time. Thankfully, my post had a rather long subsection, so here it is:

I want to share this prayer with you that I really like both because of its shortness and its simplicity. I say shortness because I'm not the biggest fan of long, formulated PERSONAL* prayers. They certainly have their place, and many of them are quite beautiful, but I like contemplative prayer. I like thinking about God and having conversations with him. The way I see it is that one is supposed to have a personal, intimate relationship with God. How can one foster such a relationship if all one is doing is reading prayers at a rate of 25 prayers per hour? There is rather a need to sit still while thinking about God and let him do the rest. Without such contemplation and the resulting intense relationship we are like dry sponges, perfectly useless and totally unable to carry out our respective purposes; whilst with it, we are like sponges that have just been plopped into water--the ocean of love that is God--constantly soaking it up. Through that 'soaking up',  the water becomes part of the sponge and the sponge is totally immersed and surrounded by the water. Then, through the relationship between the two, the sponge is raised to its full potential.

The only problem is that our minds are quite wonder-ish in nature, so we are easily distracted. That is where The Rosary comes in. It is a fusion between formulated and contemplative prayer. And therein lies it's greatness. It is not merely a rattling off of the same acclamations and responses over and over and over again. If so, why would they be called mysteries? There is nothing very mysterious abut repeating a set of words for what sometimes seems like eternity. The words, rather, are there to help our wandering minds to stay focused on our contemplation of the like of Jesus, which was most definitely mysterious at times. It is really a model for sessions of prayer. The ultimate way to pray is  a mixture of formulated and contemplative prayer. Well, that got much longer than I was planning it to be. Funny how that happens, eh? Anyway. Here is the prayer:

As I lay down my head this night, I wish to thank you, Lord, for all the blessings of today; I also wish to ask forgiveness for all your blessings I have rejected through my stubbornness of heart. Lord, please keep my body strong, my mind clear, and my heart pure, so that I may be able to share in your love for all eternity. Amen.

And I realized after I posted my last post that I didn't even mention the dark chocolate and raspberries. Oops. All I wanted to say is that my mom is an angel because of, but not limited to, the fact that she bought me a bunch of fresh raspberries and this really nice natural, sugarless dark chocolate for me.  Which is pretty much the best combination on the planet. In fact THAT'S what our relationship with God should be like: we should go together like chocolate and raspberries. ;) Anyway. Thanks mom! They almost made up for not being able to eat my valentines candy.

You should get some sort of prize for getting to the bottom of all this, but sadly all I can give you is gratitude. Sorry. Imagine all that with an intro and a sizable essay....

-Thomas



  *Note not public. :)