Real Life Disciples: The beautiful gift of prayer

This past year, my wife and I have had the gift of leading a discipleship group at our parish; 12 teenagers who we meet with every week. We have been reading C.S. Lewis books together the past semester and taking time to discuss them when we meet. It has been incredible watching these young people grow spiritually and come alive in our weekly discussions. I’m always amazed at the deep capacity young people have for growing in their faith.
 
A couple of weeks ago, one of these teens went on a trip with the archdiocese to the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis. She had an experience that I want to share.
 
One day, during the conference, her small group had free time and went to the Catholic church across the street from the convention center. They spent time in prayer. She told us afterward that she really didn’t know what to do. She went and just sat in a pew and said to herself, “Well, I guess I’m supposed to pray.”
 
But, as she sat there, she felt that she was supposed to take out her journal. And, then she felt the prompting to just write. This is what she wrote in her journal that day:
 
“A mother’s love for her child is like my love for you. YOU are my child and I love you. 
Love is patient, kind and forgiving. You are forgiven and I patiently wait for your return.  I am longing for you to run toward me and embrace me.
 
You may ask, ‘How am I to do this?’ My answer is clear: I love you and all I want for you to do is to open the door of your heart. Opening the door is harder than you expect. You have tried and tried, asking me to come in, but it does not seem to work. You end up going through the motions: going to Mass, praying in silence, being a good Catholic.
 
While these are all good things to do, that is not all I want from you. I want to be with you, totally and completely, forever and ever. To do this, you must surrender all to me. Stop trying to figure out your entire life. Learn to listen as well as lead. Lead by example. Listen with love. Show mercy and compassion to those who are different from you.
 
Love is God. God is love. I am love and you are mine.”
 
She shared about this experience in one of our discipleship groups after returning from the trip. As she read what she had written, the other teens in the group were all blown away at how profound it was.
 
I share this young teen’s experience to make a powerful point about discipleship – if you want to grow as a disciple, you need to be able to hear his voice. Obviously, a big part of prayer is discernment. We always have to be careful when hearing God in our personal prayer and be discerning that it’s for sure God who is speaking. There are other voices in our hearts that we can hear. But, I think you would agree that what this young woman heard is in fact the Lord speaking into her heart. There are numerous statements in the message that could be cited with scripture references.
 
This kind of hearing in prayer is critical to discipleship because when we can hear the voice of God in our inner heart, he can speak into our core identity. God is desiring to love us and speak that love directly into our hearts. And, just like what this teen heard, when he speaks that love, it often is connected directly with mission. He loves to tell us who we are because that typically helps us understand why we are here!
 
This time of year provides a great opportunity to spend more time in prayer. It’s the Christmas season. Take some time to think about your New Year’s resolutions. I encourage you to consider doing something like what this young person did; go to the church or better to an adoration chapel. You even can imagine you are making a journey to the manger like the wise men did to visit the Christ child.
 
Just bring a journal and a pen. Take time to stir up gratitude in your heart for all the blessings of the past year. How has God loved you and provided for you? How have you experienced his love through those you are closest to? After spending some time thanking God for all that love, tell him you’d love to just listen to what he has to say.
 
Have your pen and journal ready – I think he has some things he wants to say to you!