Prayer Retreat

This past Saturday, I had the privilege of leading a Prayer Retreat with Rev. Roberta Egli. We had nine people that attended for some or all of the day. We spent time learning new ways to pray all ways, as scripture urges us to do. We used our imaginations, our body and all of our senses in prayer. God provided us with such a beautiful day that many of us were able to walk outside and notice the beauty all around us.

We don't often use our eyes in praise of God. Instead we use them to see violence on TV or in the movies or to watch each other with an attitude of suspicion or mistrust. When we pray in church or at home, we typically shut our eyes. While this might help us to shut out distractions when we are trying to get in touch with God within our soul, at other times it is very appropriate to leave our eyes open when we pray. This is because prayer is just a form of communication between the Creator and the created. And when we talk with other people we keep our eyes open, don't we?

Edward Hayes, a Catholic priest and prolific author, writes about using all our our senses in his book, Pray All Ways. In this book he writes about praying with our eyes. He states that we need to learn how to let what we see become a way into devotion rather than distraction. When we are in church, we can notice all the symbols around us and let them lead us into prayer. We can notice the rituals that are being done, the colors of the banners, the flowers on the altar and allow them to encourage words of praise to our Creator for the wondrous things that have been created. He states

In this way our eyes can be of great value as instruments of communion and gratitude. We can use them to drink in the sights that meet our eyes and, in silence, to absorb the light that shines within them. We could take our time to truly look at someone we love or at a tree or sunset...not saying anything butsimpling looking and beholding and so being in communion.

Next time you are out for a walk or look at your window at the flowers that are just starting to bloom, let your heart be filled with all the beauty that you see. You might even comment out loud to yourself on what you see so that you will use your ears also to hear the beauty around you. Let both of these senses take you into communion with your Creator and give thanks for the little things that bless us each and every day.