PENTECOST E-REFLECTION 6/4/20

CHARITY AND HUMILITY

The life of prayer is not disconnected from the rest of Christian life. In fact, quite the opposite: the life of prayer fuels and informs the whole Christian life. The life of prayer also, in turn, is enabled by the rest of Christian life. Our daily lives should be filled with individual moments of lifting our hearts to God. Indeed, that is an excellent definition of prayer: the lifting up of our hearts to God.

Since the early days of the Church, Christians have been sanctifying their days by set times of prayer throughout the days. This developed into what we now know as the Liturgy of the Hours. We must enter into prayer throughout the day by offering our whole day, and each part of the day, to God.

In addition to daily offering our lives to God, we can also enter more deeply into prayer by frequent acts of love for our neighbor. Of course, this shouldn't be done in a mechanical manner by counting acts of love. Rather, at every moment, we should be questioning how we can offer this moment to the service of God and neighbor. In so doing, we maintain a constant frame of mind that is dedicated to building up humility and charity in our souls. Humility, because our minds and actions aren't focused on ourselves. Charity, because our minds and actions are focused on God and neighbor.