I remember when I was younger, being on a retreat and praying alone in a chapel for the successful talk a friend was giving at the same time. What was different on this day was I decided to pray the psalms aloud since no one else was there to judge either my singing ability or my mode of prayer. For about thirty minutes I sang aloud, one psalm after another. Towards the end of my prayer time, I felt a very strong presence of God. There is much more to the story, but suffice to say that it was an experience that made me break down into tears and one that I will never forget. God had broken through my ordinary life and was present to me in a way that was extraordinary.
I often tell people that one reason I love being Catholic is that for us the supernatural is really the natural. We believe bread and wine become Jesus Christ, we understand the supernatural reality of all the sacraments, and we hopefully are never surprised when we see the powerful results of prayer. There should be no separation between our ordinary lives in the natural world and the elements of the supernatural world.
When the apostles see Moses and Elijah before them in this week’s Gospel from Luke, they want to immediately pitch tents for them to stay. That is a pretty natural response to the supernatural. What would your response be to seeing Moses and Elijah? Fear? Confusion? Hospitality?
Being prayerful is a primary characteristic of an Everyday Steward. The goal is to make our entire day a prayer and to allow God into every moment. The more we practice this type of prayer, the more the supernatural and the natural blend. We become more open to being used by God for his glory. And who knows, the chance may increase that one day we might just say without surprise, “Hello, Moses and Elijah! Would you like something to drink?”
Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS
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