Prayer. When we were little kids and we said our prayers at night it was simple, it was cute. We probably all said about the same prayer. “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, and if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. and we finished with God bless Mommy, God bless Daddy, God bless my sister, even if she’s mean to me, she stinky, she’s got cooties, etc. Mom and Dad were always proud of their child. They said their prayers. Than we learned the adult prayers, the mainstays of our faith. The Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, the long one, The Apostles Creed. We had our First Communion, Confirmation. Now and again our parents told us “Don’t forget to say your prayer” “I won’t” and that was probably the last instruction we were given in our prayer life.

We got older, said our prayers when we remembered, usually took about 30 seconds or less and we felt pretty good about ourselves. Got married, had kids, taught them their prayers. Sounded just like the ones we said when we were little. We were proud of ourselves, “Our kids were growing up, said their prayers, they were well on their way to having a good life.”  Our kids got older, we worried more, started saying a few more prayers for them. Maybe they got into trouble, if not, we still worried, still prayed for them. Time for them to grow up, go to college, get a job, move out, get married. We worried more, prayed for them more. Maybe we had grandchildren, we worried more, prayed some more, and our prayer life was growing, developing.

We had more time, read more, watched more, maybe spent some time learning more about our faith. We definitely spent more time praying for our kids, even for our health or for those of our loved ones. Prayer brought a sense of peace, smoothed the troubles in our lives, helped us through the hard times. But……..

But…. when was the last time you talked to your children or your loved ones about their prayer life. Helped them to pray better, even just let them know that you were praying for them. I’ve started telling my parents, my spouse, my kids, my family the usual “I love you”, but I’ve added “God bless you” at the end. They kind of hesitate, not sure if I’m going to go Holy, Holy on them, but some of them now tell me “God bless you” in return. So simple, so important to let people know that we think God is important in their daily lives, and that we say it and share it.

Why are we so embarrassed to say “God bless you” or “God loves you”? I’m the same way, but the good thing about getting older, I care a lot less about the perception I make by saying something that I know is right, or that might help someone. I’ve been trying to be more open about putting God in front of my life, sharing and saying what I’ve been thinking all these years.  Just recently, I’ve had some associates I work with, when I’ve spent the time and asked them what was going on with their life, asked some questions. They opened up to me and shared their problems, their concerns. We talked for a moment and than I told them I would have them in my prayers and pray for them. Again, initially hesitation, and than “Thank you”, even tears in the eye. Just knowing that someone cares enough to pray for them, to remind them that God loves them.

God loves us so, Sometimes I think we forget about that, and feel so alone. But when we take a moment and let someone know that we care enough about them to say a prayer, and remind them of the love God has for them. It’s what we all need.

Mary tells us constantly in her messages to pray. Pray for ourselves, pray for others, pray for the needs of our community, for our world. Pray because the world needs our prayers, needs God’s help in our lives. Go to www.medjugorje.com if you would like to read more or learn more about the messages Mary is giving us, the prayers she is saying for us, trying to help lead us back to her Son, Jesus.

I wish you all a good week. You are in my prayers, God bless and protect you, George