Divine Dialogue of God With the Soul
In the first reading and in the Gospel for today’s Liturgy we are urged to pray deliberately, with confidence and with perseverance. Jesus spoke in many different ways of the importance of prayer, and He set the example of frequent prayer by often withdrawing from the apostles and the crowds to go to a place apart to pray. He also taught us through His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before His death and as He hung on the cross. It would be hard to read the New Testament without recognizing that prayer is vital to our relationship with God.
But rather than reflect on today’s readings about prayer I would like to refer to Matthew’s Gospel chapter 6, verse 6, where Jesus teaches us specifically how to pray. He says, When you pray, go into your inner room, close the door, and there speak to your Father in private. Now not all translations, but many, use the phrase your inner room. Last month I was on retreat at St. Joseph Retreat House in Milton, Massachusetts (incidentally, it’s a splendid place to go for a 5-day, 8-day or 30-day directed retreat!), and one of the Ignatian meditations suggested to me was on this passage from Matthew. I’ve read, heard and prayed over these verses countless times through the years, but this was the first time I ever noticed the phrase, your inner room. I reflected for many days during my retreat about my own inner room. Where is it (in my heart, my soul? my mind)? Does the door have a lock on it? What is it like inside? How large is it? Is there a tabernacle there, or are there arm chairs where the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are present? When I step into the room to pray, do I find them waiting for me with open arms and do I run to Them, or do I choose to kneel in repentance first, preparing myself for prayer? Do I sing, or chant or whisper or dance or sit at their feet or silently pray the rosary? Do I choose to be alone with Jesus (the Father and the Holy Spirit surely wouldn’t be offended if I did), and is Mary there? My guardian angel? Perhaps I don’t need words. Maybe Love is enough. Yes. Maybe love is enough for a while when I enter my inner room to pray in secret.
The contemplation of (and in) that quiet, inner room can help you immensely—as it has helped me over the last month—when you go to pray. It might take a few minutes to settle in, but if Jesus told us to go there, He must be waiting for you there. You can ask Him anything, bring up everything, reflect on something or just listen. All of these ways of praying are pleasing to God, because He loves to have you all to Himself in prayer.
This week, think about your inner rom. If you don’t have one, the kind Jesus was talking about, now is a good time to ‘build’ one. Make sure it’s right there inside of you so you can slip into it when you first open your eyes in the morning, a place within where you and God can be at home together for a few moments or for an hour of adoration every day.
You can ask God to make your inner room His home address.
He’d like that. So will you.
and then