Prayers for Prodigal Catholics
a name="top">top
Back to Archive Menu

Of Babies, and Boxes, and Breakfast Prayers

By Becky Hund

What does it mean to wrap everything up in prayer? I have several "visuals". Just as the baby Jesus was "swaddled" as an infant, Doctors have always encouraged newborns to be swaddled with a blanket those first few weeks as "studies" show that it provides comfort, simulates the womb environment and protects the infant from little arms flailing about and hurting themselves. Isn't that exactly the same thing our Lord wants for us?

I tuck my toddler into bed with her favorite "blankie" and favorite stuffed animals. She tends to toss around while she sleeps. The beautiful part is in the morning when we shake the blanket out, the toys tumble out like gifts, just like those our heavenly Father bestows upon us when we "wrap" up our busy day with prayers before going to bed. By morning, we see the gift of a new beautiful morning, and perhaps some clarity about a problem or issue that was troublesome the night before. The new morning may not bring everything we thought we deserve, but it brings us everything our Father wants us to have at this moment. If the new morning is enough to cause the birds to sing, then why can't it be enough for me to rejoice, also?

Another example is that of a gift. As usual, the gift comes in a box, plain, simple, probably brown (I like to think of Carmelite brown.) or a plain white dress shirt box. Greeting card companies have us convinced that the gift must be wrapped in glossy paper, perhaps with a stamp of a favorite television character or holiday design which lends nothing to the meaning of the gift inside. Are we looking for the gift box our Lord or Blessed Mother sends us, or are we busy and distracted searching for glossy paper and a bow?

As I go through boxes of my late father's possessions, I recall the plain, simple gifts of his unfailing prayer, faith, and love of God. As a kid, I was so "bored" to hear yet another breakfast prayer, or perhaps even embarrassed that my father was the only one praying before we ate at McDonalds. Oh the horror! I am ashamed to admit this. Yet, years later I realize that this was a priceless gift that didn't come from a store shelf disguised in a glossy package or have an expensive price tag. My parents were children of the Great Depression. They knew the value of a dollar, and gave us more than what they had ever hoped to have. Yet, the greatest gift I received was the faith of my parents and the gift of their love for God.

What I wouldn't give to hear my father's voice praying over a family meal, or praying in a restaurant over a loudspeaker. What a simple, affordable, unwrapped gift! Yet, it is the same gift our Lord has given each of us! ♥

Becky is a member of the Leavenworth prayer groups and an active Marian Mantle volunteer.

 

From "Silent Strength"  The Newsletter of the Marian Mantle Group, June, 2005
Copyright
© Marian Mantle Group, Inc.  All rights reserved.  Permission to reprint must be requested in writing.  For permission to reprint email the Newsletter editor.