Reflection On Prayer To God

Before entering this class, I never really prayed to God on my own. Growing up, I lived in a Catholic household, in which we prayed before every meal, we prayed in church, and we prayed the Rosary together. I thought we prayed because my mom told me that doing so was the moral thing to do. I knew that we were talking to God, but I didn’t fully know who God was. As I grew into my middle school and high school years, I thought I didn’t know how to pray; I felt that I wasn’t worthy enough to talk with him. And to be honest, I didn’t think about God that much – after all, faith and praying was a rare topic of discussion among friends and family, and I only went to church because my mom said I had to. I also thought that prayer was for people who

I’ve learned that God wants us to live our lives by pursuing our deepest desires; he does not have a blueprint made for us and we don’t have a predestined path to take. Although, coming to realize your deepest desires and your unique gift to God and the world can be challenging. God wants us to figure it out – he made us to be free. This can seem overwhelming, because most people think they know what they want and have their lives all figured out before realizing they made a wrong choice and are unhappy. However, practicing discernment in life can ultimately lead to happiness by deeply considering what your heart wants and what your mind knows. Obviously, though, this is easier said than done. I’ve learned that each person is extremely unique and everyone has that one thing, or “thread” that runs through their life and holds them together. In chapter 3 of “The Messy Quest for Meaning”, Stephen Martin also stresses the importance of desire. One quote from the book that really caught my attention was, “if we had a week in which we were totally free to do the things we enjoy, what would they be?” (62). This quote caught my attention because I think I would spend the week baking cookies or other food for people but I don’t know what that had to do with desire. Martin mentions that it can take a long time for us to found our “authentic desires”, but it’s never too late to “begin or recommit to the quest” of pursuing our

This theme was apparent when reading about how St. Frances de Sales and Jeanne de Chantal utilized Salesian spirituality in their lives and in their letters to one another. I think this is beautiful, because Salesian spirituality emphasizes that God is our friend, and we should live from the heart, in his image and likeness. Chantal and St. Frances de Sales set an example for how our prayer should be – with love. In class, one quote from the “highlights from the Salesian spirituality” handout stuck out to me, which says, ‘The motivation with which you perform some action may be far more important and powerful than the action itself”. I pondered this quote because in my life, there have been a lot of things that I feel like I was forced to do, but didn’t always like doing them. On the other hand, there have been some things I have done in my life with a lot of passion, and it was difficult for me to understand why others weren’t as motivated. If your heart isn’t present and you’re not passionate about what you’re doing in life, then your heart may not be fulfilled. I learned that whatever I want to do, I must do it with love, because God is love. That is the concept of Salesian spirituality – just as prayer should be intimate, personal, and use the touch of the heart, so should your life be filled with love, compassion, positive energy and sincerity. Coming to know and understand God becomes much easier when