It is said that Thomas Edison’s success with the light bulb was preceded by hundreds of failures. I’m going to tell you about one time that I got it right, but just know that I have had many more failures than successes.
About 25 years ago I was teaching 7th & 8th grade religion and science at a Catholic parish school in my hometown back east. And I discovered that religion isn’t the favorite subject of 8th grade boys! And that the favorite subject of 8th grade girls is 8th grade boys! It was a very challenging year, and most of the time I felt discouraged.
The parish had just started perpetual adoration, and I made it a practice to park my car next to the chapel so that I would be more likely to go there before and after school. On particularly rough days, I would go to the chapel during my lunch break. I found strength sitting in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. In fact, I think it’s the only thing that got me through that first year.
One afternoon I was feeling very discouraged and I told Jesus, “Lord, these kids aren’t interested in religion. They’re too young. It’s a waste of time to try to teach them.” He said to me very clearly, “I want people of all ages to come to know me.” Well, that removed my doubts about teaching religion to adolescents. If Jesus wanted them to know him, then I would do whatever I could to help that happen.
One of the things I did was to use contemporary Christian music, especially Christian rock, to get the message of Jesus across to the students. I found that they would listen if the message was packaged in a musical style that they connected with. My challenge was how to play it for them. The school provided me with one of those little cassette players, but it just didn’t have the right sound. This was the mid-80’s, and boom boxes were big, the bigger, the better. And at a starting salary of $8,000, I couldn’t afford to buy one.
Fortunately, one of the students had a nice big boom box, and he would bring it whenever I asked him to. It had a great sound that would fill the room and get the kids into the music and the message. But by about Thanksgiving, I was tired of always asking him to bring it. I wanted one that I could keep in the classroom all the time and use more often. I managed to save up a little money to buy one and was planning to go to the store one day after school.
I was excited and could hardly wait to get my own boom box, but after school I made myself stop in the chapel for a time of prayer, as was my practice. But I was so distracted thinking about the boom box that I could hardly pray. That wasn’t a problem for Jesus, however. As I was sitting there before him thinking about the boom box, he said, “No.” I was horrified. No boom box? Are you saying that you don’t want me to get a boom box? But I need one, Lord, I need it to teach the students about you! “No.” I kept arguing with him, but he just kept saying, “No.”
I was so disappointed and angry, but finally, I surrendered. I didn’t understand why, but I obeyed. Well, more or less. I still went to the store and looked at the boom boxes, just in case Jesus changed his mind. But he didn’t, and I went home empty-handed.
About three weeks later it was the last day of school before Christmas break, and the room mothers organized a little Christmas party. The kids were so excited about their vacation, and I was too! But they were also excited because they had all pitched in to buy me a special Christmas present. I’ll never forget the joy and love on their faces as they presented me with a big, beautifully wrapped boom box! It was one like I had never seen, with all kinds of wonderful features that I loved. It was the perfect boom box on so many levels, and I used it for many, many years. It was the perfect gift.
I tell this story today because it always reminds me of the importance of prayer. If I hadn’t prayed, I would have never heard Jesus telling me that he wanted people of all ages to know him, and I might have quit. If I hadn’t prayed, I would have bought my own boom box and would have deprived myself and my students of the joy of that wonderful Christmas gift.
The point is that prayer is the rock foundation of our Christian life, because prayer is our communication and communion with Jesus. Without prayer, how can we know what he wants us to do? How can he guide us? Without prayer, how can we really come to know him? Without prayer, we cannot know or do God’s particular will for us in daily life, and we run the risk of being those people to whom he says, “I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.”
That’s shocking, what Jesus tells us, isn’t it? That Christians can run around and do all kinds of great things in the name of Jesus, but not be actually doing his will. Yet, if we look at Christian history and some behavior of Christians today, we see that it is quite true.
Convincing ourselves that we’re doing God’s will and actually knowing and doing God’s will are two entirely different things, Jesus tells us. In fact, they are as different as a house built on sand versus a house built on rock. One will collapse, and the other will stand firm.
And prayer is the key to building our house on the rock, to building our lives on what God wants. Without prayer, I would have been convinced that God wanted me to go out and buy a boom box so that I could do great things in his name. But because I prayed, I found out that he had a different plan, a much better plan.
And, as my story illustrates, prayer isn’t where we sit around telling our God what we want him to do. That is as crazy as it sounds! Prayer is where we sit around and let God tell us what he wants us to do.
At our parish mission last week, Fr. Jack gave us some wonderful practical teaching about this kind of prayer, the prayer of listening to God. He led us in an experience of lexio divina, of meditating on a short passage of scripture, and letting God speak to our hearts through it. He also taught us about turning to God during the day and at the end of the day, and letting God speak to us through reflecting on the day’s events. And, as my own story demonstrates, sitting before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is also a powerful way to know God’s will for us.
Whatever technique or practice we use, what is essential is that we do it, that we take some time every day to listen to God, so that we may know him, so that we may know his will, and so that we will have the strength to do his will.
As we prepare to enter into the season of Lent this week, let us make this our top priority. If we’re going to have a Lent that is pleasing to God, that accomplishes God’s purposes in our lives, then we need to start by asking God, “God, what do you want me to do this Lent?” We might take some time meditating on the scriptures for Ash Wednesday, and let God speak to us through them.
God has a will for our lives. He has a plan for our lives, and it is a plan for blessing and joy, greater than we can imagine or achieve by ourselves. It’s the best and most perfect gift!
