Prayer Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated
Do not be intimidated by silence, prayer, and formal theology – but pray to God with childlike simplicity, love, and awe. Go to Him. He is waiting for you.
That would likely be the advice St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the youngest Doctor of the Church, for those of us who don’t know where to begin and put off spending time in prayer, talking to God.
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, whose feast day is Oct. 1, died at the age of 24. Her profound yet practical writings illustrate her love of God and serve as a practical guide for us on spirituality and faith.
She was born on Jan. 2, 1873, as Marie Francoise Thérèse Martin to Louis and Zélie Guerin Martin, who – it is important to note – were declared saints in 2015 by Pope Francis (the first married couple canonized together).
Search her name on our diocesan Facebook page and it will bring up many posts, articles, quotes, photos, and art of her.
Call upon her as you prayer to intercede for you. She said, “After my death, I will let fall a shower of roses. I will spend my heaven doing good upon the earth.”
Honor her by simplifying your look on life and uncomplicate your prayer life in a way that you seek a relationship with God, like she did.
“I (pray) like children who do not know how to read, I say very simply to God what I wish to say, without composing beautiful sentences, and He always understands me.”
Even St. Thérèse Struggled to Say the Rosary.
Again, her advice would be to stop making it overwhelming, “Consider a link to Heaven.”
In her autobiography Story of a Soul, she wrote, “When alone, (I am ashamed to admit it) the recitation of the rosary is more difficult for me than the wearing of an instrument of penance. I feel I have said this so poorly! I force myself in vain to meditate on the mysteries of the rosary; I don’t succeed in fixing my mind on them.”
But don’t give up!
She would call upon the Blessed Mother to help her, noting, “for I love the Blessed Virgin so much that it should be easy for me to recite in her honor prayers which are so pleasing to her… she is my MOTHER, and must see my good will and she is satisfied with it.”
Have a change of heart and attitude like St. Thérèse and look upon the meditative prayer and your Rosary as, “a long chain that links Heaven and earth. One end of it is in our hands and the other end is in the hands of the Holy Virgin…the Rosary prayer rises like incense to the feet of the Almighty.”
