Vine and Branches

Look at the set of senseless reasons the enemy gives you
for abandoning your prayer.
‘I have no time’—when you are constantly wasting it.
‘This is not for me.’
‘My heart is dry…’
Prayer is not a question of what you say or feel, but of love.
And you love when you try hard to say something to the Lord,
even though you might not actually say anything. – St. Josemaría Escrivá

Happy feast of St. Catherine of Siena. Let me start by sharing a Catherine quote you likely don’t know:

These tiny ants have proceeded from his thought
just as much as I.
It caused him just as much trouble to create the angels
as these animals and the flowers on the trees.

God thought ants into existence. That’s dope. That God loves his whole created world is a truth that gives me more joy than nearly anything else. It reminds me of what the Father Zosima in Brothers Karamazov said:

Love God’s creation,
love every atom of it separately,
and love it also as a whole;
love every green leaf,
every ray of God’s light;
love the animals and the plants
and love every inanimate object.
If you come to love all things,
you will perceive God’s mystery inherent in all things;
once you have perceived it,
you will understand it better and better every day.
And finally, you will love the whole world with a total,
universal love.

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Okay, on to today’s topic…

In yesterday’s Gospel, Jesus says that we are the branches grafted to him, the Vine, and that apart from him we can do nothing.

This “grafting” is prayer — our life of prayer every day.

I was at the public library a few weeks ago and, while I was waiting for my coffee, a woman told me she liked my tie and then introduced herself to me. She told me she was a retired lawyer, and then asked what I did for a living. Of course, as soon as I told her I worked for the Catholic Church, she felt the need to tell me her religious history. In particular, she began vigorously sharing why she had stopped practicing as a Catholic. Then she asked me about why I practice the faith with all the scandals out there. When I got to the part about the importance of clinging to Jesus as the only rock and mentioned the role of prayer in my daily life, she said:

Okay, that’s interesting. Tell me what that looks like. Describe to me what a day in the life of Tom Neal looks like in terms of prayer being so important for you. Tell me about today.

What a great question! What a good lawyer! And what a moment get down to the nitty gritty of the reality of what my self-described ‘priority’ really looks like. Today! It was the Holy Spirit keeping me accountable, and it ended up being a very interesting conversation. Would that every day someone would ask me such a question.

That makes me think of an AME pastor who came to visit the Rector at St. Thomas More in Tallahassee, Florida when I was working there in the late 1990s. We spoke when he arrived and I asked him if he’d like to see the inside of the Cathedral. As we entered the church building, he asked me to explain the art and architecture. When I got to explaining the tabernacle and why I genuflected when I approached it, he said:

You know, I’m gonna shoot straight with you. You know what makes it hard for me to believe what y’all say about the real presence of Jesus here? Look around us, no one else is here. Empty. All these Catholics belong to this Church, so where are they? If I believed what you just said about him being here, present, like nowhere else in the universe? Well, you’d be hard pressed to pry me from my knees in this church.

Okay, back to prayer. As I think about this, I realize that woman was pressing for the same thing: if you believe this, show me the money. You say prayer is what keeps the sap flowing into you from God? Tell me what your practice of prayer looks like.

As we were speaking, I pulled up on my phone a speech from Pope Francis I had read just before I met her. It was on prayer, and I said, “this is what makes prayer so worthwhile to me.” So let me share here the full text of his speech, even though I only shared with her the very first part.

I am so grateful for Pope Francis. Here he offers a perfect illustration of what we Christians mean when we say prayer is what grafts us to Christ the Vine…

Prayer transforms a person’s day into grace,
or better, it transforms us:
it appeases anger,
sustains love,
multiplies joy,
instills the strength to forgive.
Prayer is a constant reminder that God is nearby
and so the problems we face no longer seem to be
obstacles to our happiness, but appeals from God,
opportunities to encounter him.
When you start to feel anger, dissatisfaction or something negative,
stop and say,
‘Lord, where are you and where am I going?’
The Lord is there and he will give you the right word,
a piece of advice for moving forward without this bitter, negative taste,
because prayer is always — to use a secular word — positive.
It moves you forward.
When we are accompanied by the Lord, we feel
more courageous, freer and also happier.
So, let’s pray always and for everyone, even our enemies.
This is what Jesus advised us, ‘Pray for your enemies.’
By placing one in touch with God,
prayer inclines us toward an overabundant love.
In addition to praying for one’s family and friends,
pray above all for people who are sad,
for those who weep in solitude and despair
that there still might be someone who loves them.
Prayer helps people love others,
despite their mistakes and sins.
The person is always more important than his or her actions,
and Jesus did not judge the world, but he saved it.
Those people who always are judging others
have an awful life;
they are always condemning, judging.
It’s a sad, unhappy life.
Jesus came to save us.
Open your heart,
forgive,
excuse the others,
understand them,
be close to them,
have compassion and tenderness,
like Jesus.