Fall Ahead in Prayer: Weekly Message for 8-23-16

Dear Fellow Digital Pilgrim, pax Christi:

I recently asked a dear friend of mine, Donna Garrett, as a lay member of Regnum Christi to offer some words of encouragement to share with you as we begin the Fall season.

The long days of summer are winding down and the anxiety of the busy schedules that come with back to school activities, sports, work projects and college relocations threaten to devour the peace we may have found in the sun.

Christians know prayer is an essential part of every day. The end of summer brings with it an end to the longer days, beautiful sunsets and family gatherings that naturally lend themselves to opportunities to encounter our Lord in prayer. I want to take this opportunity to invite you to plan for the Fall ahead. With Spiritual Smoothies, Ask a Priest, Retreat Guides, Study Circle Guides, and the new awesome RC Essays, the Regnum Christi Spirituality Center has the resources busy people need to bridge the gap between summer and fall and continue to grow.  The RC essays fit easily into a purse or suit pocket and are perfect “on the go” resources ready for that first break in our days to turn our hearts back to Jesus and form our minds in His ways.

Don’t fall into fall, jump in with both feet armed with a Spiritual Smoothie in one hand and an RC essay in the other.  

For any of us sincerely seeking to live out our Christian faith and be an apostle, we know prayer is an absolute must. Yet along with the saints we have to face the all too common human struggles of doubt in the power of prayer, overcoming temptations and distractions, laziness etc., to patiently allow for the unique way God’s grace is working in our lives.

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of making my annual, eight-day, silent retreat. During this time, you, our ‘digital missionaries and pilgrims’, were in my prayers, along with your families and intentions during these special days.

During my retreat, two ‘soon to be saints’; Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta (canonization September 4, 2016) and Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity (canonization October 16, 2016), joined me in a special way with their spiritual closeness. These two women had profoundly different experiences of God’s presence. Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity had an overwhelming experience, almost an inundation, of the presence of God, while conversely; Mother Teresa had the painful ordeal of experiencing God in his apparent absence. Even though both of these women’s experience of prayer was so very different, they both accepted it with ‘saintly’ humility and perseverance.  In this way, God drew them closer into intimacy with him. Each experience of prayer was very real, personal, purifying, and ultimately the source of missionary effectiveness and fruitfulness in their lives.

Prayer is the best preparation for welcoming the Fall ahead so we can be sure that our efforts are blessed by God—especially if we offer it all in an attitude of prayer.

Donna could not have captured the beauty of prayer during Summer and how the change in season brings its unique challenge to continue in our spiritual growth better! I pray we all continue to grow more deeply in our life of prayer, through the many resources we offer at RCSpirituality.

Please keep our upcoming ‘Going Deeper’ pilgrimage October 7th in your prayers, along with sending us any requests or intentions that you would like us to prayer for to: contact@rcspirituality.org. There are still a few spots available for anyone who would still like to join us too!

With the assurance of my prayers,

God Bless!
In Christ,

Lucy Honner
Director, RCSpirituality
lucy@rcspirituality.org