A friend was told by a priest once that she needed not an hour of adoration, but an hour and fifteen minutes of adoration every week. Why? This is the most interesting answer I’ve ever heard, and I think of it often when I am sitting in the Presence of our Lord, distracted as all get out.
It takes an hour to get the octopus of the world off your back.
Then you can have focused prayer for the next 15 minutes.
The octopus of the world.
Do you know it? Have you experienced his twisting tentacles twining around your consciousness, pulling your mind away from that which you desire to think about, interrupting your meditation and reflection with reminders of all the things you have to do and your worries for the day?
The octopus and I are unfortunately well acquainted.
We’ve had three weeks now to work on our focus, to try to get away from the world, even as we live in it and are entrenched in it. We’ve allowed ourselves to pull prayer into our busy-ness and tried hard to slow down our busy-ness to allow time for quiet prayer. Has the octopus loosened his grasp on you, just a little?
This week it’s entirely tempting to wrench our focus back to the to-do lists and the hubbub surrounding our celebration of Christmas before and after we celebrate Christ’s birthday at Mass.
Don’t let it happen to you.
Concentrate on prying the octopus’s last tentacles from its grasp on your attention. Keep your focus on Christ. Make time for prayer. Take time for prayer. Don’t try to find time for prayer. It’s not going to fall into your lap. Prioritize, and choose Christ. Choose eternity over earthly goods.
Happy Birthday, Jesus.
Find all the Advent Daily Dose reflections here.
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Since that “friend” is me, I cannot stress how many times God has truly spoken to me in those last fifteen minutes and/or I have found tremendous peace in that time when I have managed to stick it out for an hour and fifteen minutes. The first hour, I’m anxious to leave the chapel. After those last fifteen minutes, I could stay for an eternity. The lesson for me, as Katie mentions, has been to really try to peel off the octopus and strip myself down to the vulnerability that God sees and God loves. When I have nothing left to say, God can finally get a word in!
Thanks for the reminder, Katie, to shake it all off this last week of Advent!
.-= Jenny´s last blog ..December 21 — O Dayspring! =-.
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Katie Reply:
December 21st, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Jenny,
Oh, if only I could take my own advice! I wasn’t sure if you’d want me to link to heart of a mother, but I’d be happy to if you’d like. Sorry to steal your octopus!
Merry Christmas!! Katie
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