My column for the Globe

Prayer life feeling foggy?

I work 23 miles away from home.  I really don’t mind the commute at all.  The time is actually the perfect length to pray the rosary.  I’m in the habit now that when I get in the car, the Apostle’s Creed just rolls off my tongue, and I may even be just going to the grocery store.  I’ve been trying to practice “praying” the rosary instead of “saying” the rosary, which is what doing one day last week while I was driving to work in the fog.

Before I left home, I carefully planned the route – go east, turn south, giving me only one corner to find in the fog.  Can’t mess that up!  However, few miles out of town, I realized that I didn’t know how far down the road I was and I didn’t know if I’d missed the corner.   I looked for some familiar landmarks (like the clock barn –cant miss that!), but everything was hidden in the fog. A brief moment of panic struck.  I hoped I hadn’t missed the corner to turn south, but knew if I did, I could always turn around.

A mile or so later, there was my corner and I felt relieved that I now knew where I was heading - still the fog, but staying on the right path, confident that my destination was 14 miles ahead.  Even though I couldn’t see the landmarks, and I couldn’t see what was ahead, I knew all was well.  I had faith that the town was still there, and that no one had moved St. Thomas Church.  Later that afternoon a most beautiful thing happened.  The sun came out, the fog rolled away, the earth warmed.  The bright light and the blue skies made for a most perfect December afternoon.

I thought about that for a while, and I realized that sometimes prayer is like that.  Day after day, hour after hour, we pray, we look for God, and we wait to hear his voice, but it seems like we’re in a fog, feeling desolate.  We know He’s there, but we couldn’t tell by our senses.  Still, we forge ahead, hoping that some day we’ll break through and see or hear His sign.

Even if we’ve taken the wrong path and/or we miss the corner, we can always turn around.  Sometimes we call that “reconciliation.”  Even when praying with the Blessed Sacrament I don’t see or hear anything, but know in faith, that my soul has been strengthened.  Sometimes we need to get back to the Bible, the best map of all.  Then, once again we carry on.  Don’t lose hope.  It’s our faith in God that assures us that he is there.  It may feel like we have to wait a while (a longer while than what we’d like!), and we wonder if this fog will ever clear up.  Maybe God is using that time to remind us who is really in charge!  But have no doubt, soon the Son will shine and envelope us in His warmth and light and burn the fog away.  May 2011 bring you closer to Him who always keeps us close.