The movement to pray...

The movement to prey is the movement of God in our souls. Our ability to pray depends on the power and the place of God in our life--we pray because God attracts us, and we pray only because God is attracting us. We are not, in other words, even the author of our own prayer life. It is the goodness of God, not any virtue that we have developed on our own, that brings us to the heart of God.

Sister Joan challenges us with this notion. Many of us would like to believe that we have such great insight into the world, into the universe, that we can author our own prayers. But if we look closely at the words that we choose, at the elements of our life that draw our attention, at the goodness that we seek to accomplish, we suddenly realize that these are not our works alone. 

I believe he is the author of these actions; the author of these prayers. He authors these so that we might see what he desires for us, and in time, I believe we act with Him motivated by his love for us and His love for the world in which we live.

Many of these prayers come from deep within us, that is true. But so He resides deep within us. He is the very heart of our soul, the soul of our lives. Once we embrace this, once we accepted this, then I think the conversation begins. Prayer life, grounded in faith, conversation with him growing daily.