Guest Column / Richard Etienne

Have you given thought to a quiet morning prayer routine?

How do you start your day?

Do you stumble in to start the coffee maker? Do you turn on the news to see what larger community and world situations will need your possible attention and prayer during the day?

Do you reach for the Bible to include Scripture in determining your actions in the coming hours?

I have found that a period of quiet prayer must be a priority (in addition to my Scripture reading) or the day will be overtaken by the many seemingly urgent and immediate events that will appear soon after waking.

If you have a regular ritual of quiet meditation and silent prayer, how do you pray? Where do you pray? Author Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Be silent at the beginning of the day, because God should have the first word. …”

I really can’t expound further on such a profound utterance. Find space in your early schedule to just be still.

I have a very strong memory of my parents sharing prayer time in what my mother called her “sunroom,” which faced the east. With their first cup of coffee in tow, they would gather around their prayer books. And while others were always welcome to sit quietly and listen, this was their time of prayer.

Of course, a person is always encouraged to celebrate eucharistic liturgy whenever possible. But this specific rite of the Church is a communal prayer, overflowing many spoken words while punctuated with a few small periods of silence.

Personally, I have found a need to also create quiet space in addition to the larger group prayer forms and rote prayer formats to allow a regular structure to listen for God’s direction. So, if a person is never quiet for those longer periods of time, how will he or she ever hear God’s voice?

Centering prayer has become my method of choice for quieting the many distractions in life so that I can just be with God. But each person has to find the prayer form that is most helpful. This specific format would have been much more difficult when I had little children at home and was still working full time.

Depending on where you are in your life cycle, what would work for your morning quiet routine? Quietly pondering a passage from the Bible before everyone else in the house is awake? Sitting silently (once the vehicle is safely parked) after delivering a child to day care just long enough to still your mind and heart? Even taking a moment between errands to stop at church, and again, sit quietly with the Lord?

How have you structured your routine to include time to listen for his voice? If you haven’t, take a moment now to formulate a plan.
 

(Richard Etienne has a degree in theology from Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad and resides in Newburgh, Ind.) †