Sunday, August 7, 2011

Prayers and the teens of today

We only need to look around and it is not hard to notice the kind of attitude that most teens have when it comes to faith and belief in the existence of God.  With so much to distract their attention, most of our teens no longer have time to pray.

During our fraternal meeting with our Provincial Superior, one of the topics that came in to discussion was an observation that was made by one of the Elders of the  Bataan Community in regards to a comment that was given by a teen when they asked them to try to experience what an OCDS community can offer to them,  (in Filipino) "hindi namin kaya ang ginagawa ninyo" we find it hard doing what you do", the teens were referring  to the kind of prayers that the OCDS does.  Well I guess, they know that as Carmelites, our charism is prayer, thus the answer.

When our Provincial Superior learned of this answer, he said ," sadly, to some, prayer is just a job, instead of a way of life".  He explains that to some people, prayer simply means "asking", which is, sad to say is very common to most people.  

As members of the Carmelite Secular Order we are indeed required to set a portion of our time to pray the Liturgy of the Hours and do our  mental prayer.   Yes! we also include petitions in our prayers, but these petitions  are secondary to our true purpose, which is according to St. Teresa of Avila,  we pray in order to have an "intimate sharing between friends".

"Lord Jesus, teach as how to pray, so that we can share our day-to-day experience with you."

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