The Gospel of Awakening
"…but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory…” – Lk 9:32
I tend to find myself—like many others—getting busier as we get deeper into the new year. There’s a lot going on and my mind gets easily fragmented by all the different things on my ever-lengthening to-do list. There are days marked by compassion fatigue: caring for many people where I can get exhausted, distracted, and more easily frustrated. My mind and heart are also on the people of Ukraine, Israel & Palestine, as well as those in our nation who are suffering at this time. In the midst of everything I’m asking myself, “What does prayer look like?”
In today’s gospel, St. Luke tells us about the Transfiguration and how “Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.” I was struck by the sense that perhaps prayer is like “becoming fully awake.” It’s about paying attention. It’s about having a disposition of open hands and an open heart to receive. One of my favorite poets, Mary Oliver, writes in her poem Sometimes:
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
The disciples, although overcome by sleep from the many things going on in their lives, paid attention and they saw and heard things that astonished them. Their hearts were “fully awake” to be hospitable to God’s loving presence through Jesus. Sr. Ruth Burrows shares how prayer is essentially “letting God be God, letting God love us.” That’s what God wants most, to be in a relationship of love with each of us.
Intimate prayer with God isn’t limited to powerful or great moments. In my experience, it often involves noticing the ordinary, little moments, the small gifts both obvious and disguised in the midst of all the busy-ness. These often point us to the Giver – to God’s love present all along.
May our Lenten journey help awaken us to the presence of God around us and within us.
David Romero, SJ