Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

June 16, 2016

Many of us might relate to this gospel from Matthew 6:7 in which "Jesus said to his disciples: 'In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words.'" Honestly, as an adult who has said the rosary and numerous memorized prayers on and off throughout my life I also sometimes wonder if I am wasting my time babbling off these prayers.

And yet I know there is value to having words like those from the "Our Father" that come so easily when my heart and mind are frozen, unengaged or bored. Sometimes I simply am not in the mood to pray from the heart, especially after a long and busy day at work. Why then, do I do my nightly prayer ritual, you ask.

The first reason is the power. I will never forget the first night when I learned of my father's unexpected diagnosis. He had emergency surgery that day and had his right leg removed. As I spent that first night in the hospital on a cot next to my dad's bed, I desired to pray more sincerely than I had ever in my life. And yet all I could mouth were the words to the rosary as the tears rolled down my cheeks. I said those babbling words as fast as I could over and over again for hours that night. God knew that my heart's prayer was "let him live" and yet my verbal words were the "Hail Mary" and the "Our Father" over and over again. I babbled but God heard the power of my prayer.