"This is what happens when you leave the house. They sit at the window and pine for you."

Sometimes, if I pay attention, things come together in my life like pieces in a puzzle, revealing just what I need.

At Mass on Sunday, I saw a teenager texting through the entire liturgy. She was with her parents. Her distraction from God and her disrespect were openly apparent, but, really, it is all too easy for a person's thoughts to drift away from God to other things: grocery list, upcoming appointments, work, problems, etc. during worship.  

Yesterday, Elizabeth linked the Holy Father's homily from last Thursday's Mass.
I was struck by this portion of his message:

. . . it is a serious illness, this of ideological Christians. It is an illness, but it is not new, eh? Already the Apostle John, in his first Letter, spoke of this--Christians who lose the faith and prefer the ideologies. This attitude is: be rigid, moralistic, ethical, but without kindness...But why is it that a Christian can become like this? Just one thing: this Christian does not pray...I say to pray, I do not say to say prayers, because these teachers of the law (Pharisees) said many prayers in order to be seen. Jesus, instead, says: 'when you pray, go into your room and pray to the Father in secret, heart to heart'...It is one thing to pray, and another thing to say prayers.

I am doing a slow and careful reading of The Way of A Pilgrim--a really excellent book. Last night, I read this passage:

So many things, good and bad, have happened to me, that it would not be possible for me to tell you about them all. I'm sure I've even forgotten some, for my attention was always more focused on what was guiding and prodding my lazy soul to pray. So I did not spend much time thinking about anything else--or, rather, I tried to forget the past, as the Apostle Paul teaches us, saying: "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead." (Philippians 3:13) Even my late starets (Russian monk/spiritual director) of blessed memory would tell me that obstacles to the prayer of the heart come from two sources: from the left and from the right. This means that if the enemy fails to prevent us from praying through vain thoughts and sinful imaginations ("from the left"), then he stirs within us memories of all kinds of edifying things or he entices us with pleasant thoughts--anything at all to tempt us away from prayer, which is something he cannot bear.

This is what is called "right-hand theft", and it causes the soul to scorn converse with God and to turn to the pleasure of conversing with its own self or with other creatures. Therefore, he taught me that during prayer I must reject even the most pleasant spiritual thoughts. Moreover, he taught me that if I should happen to notice during the course of the day that I am spending more time on edifying speculation or conversation than on the essential hidden prayer of the heart, I should consider even this as being immoderate, or as a form of self-seeking spiritual gluttony. This applies especially to beginners, for whom it is vital that the time they spend on prayer must significantly exceed even the time they spend on any other pious activities."

The Way of A Pilgrim is a book about learning how to pray, as Christians are instructed to "pray without ceasing." (Thessalonians 5:16-18). In essence, we are called to give our constant attention to God (kind of as we do with our phones, computers, televisions, and books.)

More important than attending to breathing, one must learn to call upon the name of God at all times, in all places, and during all manner of activity. The apostle says: pray without ceasing; that is, he teaches constant remembrance of God at all times, in all places, and under any circumstances. If you are busy doing something, you must remember the Creator of all things; if you see light, remember Him who gave it to you. If you look at the sky, the earth, the waters, and all that is in them, marvel and glorify the Creator of all. If you are putting your clothes on, remember Him Whose gift they are, and thank Him Who provides everything in your life. In short, let every action be an occasion for you always to remember and praise God. And before you know it, you are praying unceasingly, and your soul will always rejoice in this. (Philokalia, St. Peter of Damascus)

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!