Summertime Slowdown

It’s those gas prices! They have become the universal topic of conversation. The media have all kinds of suggestions about how to conserve fuel and keep your costs down. At the beginning of each summer, I have been a person ahead of our times. This is the time of year when I offer my suggestions for summertime spirituality. So what’s the advice in response to the rising fuel costs: stay home and say your prayers!

The most frequent comment I hear, both here in the parish and on retreats which I preach, is that people tell me they don’t pray, they don’t know how to pray, and that their life seems to spin faster and faster. Since we don’t usually talk of gas prices in the confessional, in my office, or during retreat times, this conversation about praying is the number one topic on spiritual direction lists of concerns.

At Christ the Redeemer, we have a good metaphor of our Northern Virginia culture of a lot of people moving very fast in many directions in their attempt to accomplish their many multi-tasks. Since we are not angels and are affected by where and how we live, Route 7 provides an image of our spiritual lives as well. We are constantly on the move and seem to move faster each day. In all of this, people tell me they seem to accomplish less in their prayer lives as well as in their relational lives with family and friends.

It's About Going Green
In our Church liturgical life, we have switched to a green time. The so-called “Ordinary Time” of liturgical prayer and ritual will fill up our summer right into the fall. We have completed a very active celebration cycle. The community has moved from Advent-Christmas-Epiphany during the winter months. Very quickly this year we hurried into Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. Easter came quicker than the springtime this year. Now we move to the “green time,” when the altar coverings and priest’s vestments are a verdant green, signs of a lush life in God’s grace.

How is it possible to find a richer and more intense spirituality for ourselves? The media continues to urge us to go green to insure the earth’s continued life and to maximize the energy which is entrusted to us. Ordinary Time in a similar sense urges us to go green. It’s a great time to reprioritize your prayer life.

There are no major religious seasons or festivals during this time. We continue to be fed with the scriptures and their regular rhythm at Sunday Mass. The Lord’s Table is still an open invitation for us. These could be the starting place of our re-greening efforts in spirituality. One could further the image by suggesting bringing car-pooling to Church. Bring all your family members in one vehicle. Invite your friends, family, and neighbors to a motor trip to Sunday Eucharist.

There’s nothing to stop the group on the way to or from Church for breakfast fellowship.

As Ordinary Time slows down spiritually, summertime is a great complement to that pace. The price of gas might give us that needed impetus to stay home, slow down, and sit still. Next to the Church I often suggest the back deck as the place of prayer and reflection. Who hasn’t enjoyed God’s Presence over a cup of coffee in the early morning? Or isn’t the sunset a great time to celebrate our evening prayers of thanksgiving and praise?

In the Cool of the AC
If the deck gets too hot during the day, why not move inside for some spiritual reading or some prayer over scripture? With the quiet hum of the AC, pick up a good book to your spiritual advantage. Quietly center yourself, read a bit of the text, and think on something that catches your attention, pray over it. Then wait for God to happen.

Or maybe the summer is the time to enrich yourself with reading and praying of the scriptures. Pick a favorite section or pick a new passage which challenges you. The prayer rhythm is always the same: invite God’s presence, sit-still, relax, read a bit of scripture, think, pray, and wait for God.

Another indoor activity is journaling. Keep a spiritual journal for yourself. All it takes is an inexpensive spiral book and pen. (Skip the pretty hard bound covers – they’re not worth the money.) Reflect on a part of your life, pray, write as you are moved in the Spirit. Re-read and meditate on where God is moving in your life. Be still and wait for God.

If such “at home” activities drive you crazy, there’s always the drive-by prayer at the Church or Chapel, while you going to the market or the mall. You get to save your AC and to use the CTR air-conditioned space. Stop by have a sit (or a kneeler), invite God’s Presence, pray and again wait for God. Stay as long as you like. Resist the temptation to run down that Route 7.

The Pattern
You notice the pattern of this green time of prayer. It is wildly exciting and counter to our hurried culture. Prayer re-patterns our life. If you have that need to re-prioritize your life and values, try this way of new living: take time, slow down, come into God’s Presence, and wait patiently for God. Savor the new energy and be refreshed in this summertime prayerfulness.

Prayer is learned best by doing. When asked about prayer by his disciples Jesus told them to pray. He didn’t teach technique, he taught them to pray “Our Father.” Prayer isn’t for experts. It’s for believers! The invitation is always the same: “Come and see.”

CDH