|
|
|
|
|
Ralph Martin, is the President of Renewal Ministries and the host of the weekly television program "The Choices We Face". He is the author of several books and audio albums on the teaching of the saints. He is also a part-time lecturer in theology at several Catholic institutions. St. Helen Church in Vero Beach, Florida, hosted Ralph at St. Helen Charismatic Prayer Group in the Parish Hall. Ralph talked about prayer and how important prayer is in our daily lives. Ralph Martin began by giving an example when most people pray. Prayer is often preempted by other things we must do. We get up, in the morning, sleepy, kids need to get prepared for school, getting showered, shaved, dressed, eat something as we fly through the kitchen on the way to the car, and off we go. And so it goes all day long, and often, prayer just isn't part of the equation. So lay people think that the priests will do all the necessary praying. You would think priests pray a lot... well, nowadays with the shortage of priests, which is much, much worse in the Northern states than in Florida, for example. Priests often cover more than one church, sometimes four or five and in Europe 8 or more, and they have much on their plate. Parish missions, the Sunday homily, people who come in for confession or consultation, ministry to the sick and hospitalized, and the daily Masses, 16 Wake services a week, funerals. A priest never sits still. And that's true at St. Helen Church also. We've actually heard people say (at St. Helen), that after celebrating Holy Mass, Father goes to the rectory and is free all day long. Nothing is further from the truth! So the priests figure at least the religious orders are praying. Nowadays friars in mendicant orders are all over the place. Order priests fill in for diocesan priests, giving parish missions, hearing confessions, assisting the diocesan priest on Sundays with preaching at the Masses, giving retreats, etc. Because of this, as a community, their prayer life suffers. And so, they feel the contemplative orders are praying all the time. Well, those in contemplative orders such as the Benedictines, Trappists, Cistercians, and Poor Clares, and the like, they pray more, but they also have gift shops to run, e-mails to reply to, and a long list of items of work. That's not bad but often times their communal prayer life suffers. And that's especially true in orders or communities that only have 3 to 7 members. But they know that the hermit in the woods prays all the time. Hermits do pray a lot, but they also, sometimes, have computers (email), and as wonderful and instructive computers can be, they can also be a terrible distraction. So who prays? Who prays well? Ralph Martin told us never to underestimate the power of prayer. God is delighted in us, wishes us well, loves us as no other ever has. Loves to converse with us (prayer). When we do not pray, we actually do ourselves harm. A lot of sickness can be the result of not praying. And sometimes, God allows sickness to give us the opportunity to offer the suffering up and save some souls. And God will love us more. To pray we can use prayers out of a prayer book, or the Lord's prayer, the Hail Mary and Glory Be. Many use Christian Prayer (Morning & Evening prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours) - those are great prayers because they are being prayed every minute of the day, in churches, friaries, monasteries, convents, in family circles, communities and by the laity, all over the world, and many different languages and also, still, in Latin. And, priests and religious usually use the 4-volume "Liturgy of the Hours" set which includes the Office of Readings (Vigils), daytime prayers, and night prayer. Besides praying, it is also necessary to be silent. For it is in prayerful silence that the barely audible voice of the Holy Spirit can be heard, giving you an idea, a word, and His love. Meditation, contemplation, mental prayer, are forms of prayer practiced not only in monasteries and convents but by many lay persons who are friends of God. Ralph Martin talked about all of this. It confirmed to me, many truths I've learned through prayer especially when I was for seven years a member of a religious order. I've written this reflection on what Ralph said by memory, so the text is, of course, not word for word what Ralph said, but it is the substance of his talk. After the talk Ralph's assistants sold tapes and books authored by Ralph Martin. To learn more about Ralph Martin and his ministry, Renewal Ministries has a wonderful website with much information. Fred Schaeffer, SFO
|
RALPH
MARTIN'S TALK