What If Someone Says I Don't Know How To Pray?
There I was casually researching Teresa of Calcutta for an essay I wanted to write. I had been inspired by an internet encounter with
when I came across a thirty-three second video of the Saint who spent the majority of her life serving the poor in India.As autoplay did its thing, I was caught off guard. I was sitting in my office overlooking the lake. The Winter Sun had already set and the sky was dark. I hope to God the office was empty because as the video kept looping, tears came to my eyes.
A man off screen asks Teresa, “What can you recommend for a person… that doubts the real presence?”
Her response was simply, “Pray”. As if the man can’t believe the simplicity of the answer she reprises her response kindly, “Pray”. The interviewer must have been stunned because the Saint charitably explains, “The fruit of prayer is always the joy of loving Jesus and coming closer to him.”
Then the interviewer asks, “What if someone says I don’t know how to pray?”
“I will teach them”, Teresa speaks without hesitating. Laughter breaks out in the room and we catch a glimpse of the Saint smiling in the way Chesterton would say it was Jesus concealing his mirth.
Wrapped up in her unwavering and generous response, I caught a glimpse of the intercession of every man and woman who has walked the earth from the Mediterranean to the Pacific. Generations have sacrificed themselves like this so that you and I could have the joy of loving Jesus.
I have been decades on this journey, yet still at times I must confess I do not know how to pray, and that is ok. The first and third and four-hundred-and-ninetieth prayer can always be, “I do not know how to pray”. For the Glory of God is found in the Saints as they rejoice in his name and say, “I will teach them”.
Until next week,
-Steven
PS. While I am so far from sainthood, I still would love to pray for you. Either leave a comment below or send a reply to this email. May you be blessed abundantly by the Lord’s steadfast love this Advent season.
I resonate with the shock of realizing I don't know something that seems so familiar. It reminds me of the Thomas Merton prayer:
My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though
I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Such a deep and humble post Steven. True to your character. Thank you.
And thank you for bringing Mother Theresa and her love into my heart.