Friends,

I start each day with Fr. Richard Rohr’s daily meditation, delivered overnight to my email’s inbox.  I was especially struck with his July 16th mediation on prayer entitled “A Superior Lens” and this concluding quote in particular:  “Despite what Christians have often been taught, prayer is not a technique for getting things, a pious exercise that somehow makes God happy, or a requirement for entry into heaven. It is much more like practicing heaven now by leaping into communion with what is right in front of us.”  In particular I have often observed that prayer isn’t about wish fulfillment (as we are so apt to think it is) but about communing with God, who may feel hidden to us outside of applying our intention. Contemplative prayer opens God’s larger reality to us, a reality that we are apt to forget in the busy-ness of our lives.  
Rohr goes on to define contemplation “as an exercise keeping your heart and mind spaces open long enough for the mind to see hidden material.”  I have to think that Christians could learn a lot from Eastern religions, which employ meditative and contemplative practices in everyday spirituality.  Contemplative prayer reminds us of who we are—and more importantly, whose we are.  Join me in resolving to set aside time each day “to be still and know…” (Psalm 46:10).  To read “A Superior Lens” for yourself, go tohttps://cac.org/a-superior-lens-2021-07-16/ https://cac.org/a-superior-lens-2021-07-16/. While on the website, consider signing up for Fr. Richard Rohr’s daily meditations.  You will be blessed by them each morning.

Peace,

Co-Pastor Sandi