The Practice of PrayerSeptember 22, 2025

The Practice of Prayer

Prayer is sitting in silence until it silences us, choosing gratitude until we are grateful.
~Richard Rohr

. . . A very beautiful quotation that inspires me to reflect on my own practice of prayer. I invite you to join me in this reflection. Sitting In silence can seem interminable, especially when we are trying to pray. A thousand thoughts distract me. I believe that God is with me but I don’t feel God’s presence. Then I fret about why! Sitting in silence seems so unproductive. My mistake is to view prayer as I do so many of the other tasks in my day – as valuable only to the extent that it is productive. Here I stop my analysis and ask God to hold me close and bless me with the assurance that just be-ing is my purpose in prayer. Only then can I experience silent depths.

Exploring prayer as choosing gratitude sounds so simple. “Of course,” I say to myself, “I often thank God for the people in my life who love and support me.” Choosing gratitude when it’s difficult to see why anyone might do so in a particular circumstance calls for openness to grace. Choosing is an act of the will that defies a natural impulse to shut down, drag my feet, and make excuses when I know that gratitude is what I am called to offer. If I turn to God in silence, remaining in holy silence, perhaps that is a key to gratitude when it seems impossible. It’s in the silence that I can slow down enough to rest in the goodness of God which always leads to gratefulness.

So silence serves as a door to gratitude and the reverse is also true. These stances support one another in prayer that nourishes our daily life. May we grow in our trust that God gifts us in surprising ways when we sit in silence and gratefulness.

Sister Virginia DeVinne