Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, religious

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062112.cfm

Jesus said to his disciples:
"In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them.

Periodically, as a chaplain in the VA hospital,  I come upon a Veteran who is suffering acute pain. Perhaps the patient has just received an effective pain killer but the medicine has not yet taken hold. Or the Veteran’s anxiety is such that the pain overcomes the medicine. I don’t pretend to understand why the pain is there. But I find a person who is suffering and I want to help.

Several times I have knelt down and put my face within inches of the patient’s face and asked him to pray the Our Father with me. “But,” I say, “let’s do this together, one word and one breath at a time.” Very slowly and with great concentration, we pray the Lord’s Prayer word by word, breath by breath. It usually takes several minutes. Often, by the time we have finished, the pain has passed. Perhaps the medicine has taken hold; perhaps the prayer has been effective; perhaps the patient has let go of the fear of pain. I don’t pretend to understand what happened. I’m just glad the patient feels better.

During the celebration of the Mass, we recite the Our Father with a half-dozen or more breaths. Saying the rosary, especially in company with others, we can usually say the Our Father in two or three breaths. The leader exhales the first set while the congregation inhales; the congregation exhales the second set as the leader inhales. Both are good way to pray.

But once in a while it’s good to slow it way down and express one word, one breath at a time. I often do this in meditation. The idea is not to think about the words. I am not here to think; I’m here to pray. So I pay attention to the word and to the breath. The word is God; the Word became flesh. The word is my God as I pay attention only to one word, even to the lesser words like the, a and and. It’s healing power is not in its meaning but in its presence. It is there, welcome and beloved in my mind, and effective. It is medicine. 

Jesus gave us this prayer.