Explore The Monastic Rhythms That Make for Healthy LeadershipSample

Experiencing Prayer as Alignment with God’s Heart

The very first of all spiritual practices is deceptively simple: paying attention. Paying attention to the God-breathed, God-saturated world we live in as the currents of God’s intent flow around us, within us, and through us to others. Conversely, we could say that sin enters when we stop paying attention and stop moving in sync with God.

Now that we’ve briefly discussed the three vows of the Benedictine monks, let’s consider their five core practices, starting with the practice of prayer. Over the years of my journey in God, I have come to experience prayer less as an activity and more as a way of being. Specifically, a way of being in step with God’s presence and activity in my world. Prayer begins with paying attention to God and often flows naturally into conversation with God about what we see and care about, but its real power shows up as we come into alignment so that what we see and care about is what God sees and cares about.

This was the example Jesus intentionally set for us, as today’s passage highlights. Despite his divine identity, or perhaps because of it, Jesus’ attention was focused on what the Father was doing in his world and then bringing himself into alignment so that his perspective, motivation, attitude, and action mirrored the Father’s. 

This way of being attentive and responsive to the Father is precisely our invitation as well, bringing us into intimate communion with God and empowering our work in the world with divine effectiveness (John 14:12). As we align ourselves with the Father, we begin to recognize that all of life is sacred and infused with holy opportunity. How can you lean into that reality today?