Franciscans and Prayer

Today’s message was written by Chaplain Bob Griffiths

Most of us think about prayer as a petition to God. But can you think of prayer as being about God and our relationship to God? If I use distant and remote language to speak of God, then I will imagine that God is distant and remote. If I use the language of humility and love to pray to God, then I will believe in a God who is humble and loving. The God to whom I pray is the God who directs my life; thus my image of God, the kind of God I believe in, is crucial to the way my journey of prayer proceeds.

So is God essentially engaged with me or disengaged? Is God primarily a judge or savior? Do I treat God as a ruler or lover? Is God faithful and interested in my world? For Franciscans, the journey of prayer is the discovery of God at the center of our lives. We pray not to acquire a relationship with God as though acquiring something that did not previously exist. Rather, we pray to disclose the image of God in which we are created, the God within us. That is the one in whom we are created and in whom lies the seed of our identity.

We pray so as to discover what we already have—“the incomparable treasure hidden in the field of the world and of the human heart” (Clare of Assisi). We pray not to “ascend” to God but to “give birth to God”—to allow the image in which we are created to become visible, to us and to others. We pray to bear Christ anew. In prayer, therefore, we discover what we already have—the potential for the fullness of life, and this life is the life of Christ.

The Good News of Jesus Christ, as the Franciscans understand it, is that we do not “go to God” as if God sat in the starry heavens awaiting our arrival; rather, God has come to us in the Incarnation. “The eternal God has humbly bent down,” Saint Bonaventure wrote, “and lifted the dust of our nature into unity with his own person.” We move toward God because God has first moved toward us: This is the Franciscan path of prayer. So try to love God as God indeed loves us – unconditionally. God is always there! And remember always St. Francis’ call to “preach the Gospel at all times; use words if necessary.”

Let us pray: Lord God, hear my prayer. And help me to listen with the ear of my heart for your response. I know you do not expect perfection from me, but help me to grow toward that goal in how I live my life. Thank you for understanding that I will slip back on this journey, and support me as I strive to catch up and continue.
Amen