Come into my heart today

In God be at rest, my soul.

A peasant regularly sat at the back of an empty church in Ars, France, gazing at the tabernacle.   When the village priest asked him what he was doing, the peasant replied, “I look at him, and he looks at me.”   What a beautiful illustration of someone whose soul was at rest in God!   So many of the things we seek in prayer—peace, confidence, hope—that man found as he sat quietly focused on the Lord.

Any one of us, from a contemplative religious to a parent of six, can be at rest in God.   It starts with the kind of prayer that French peasant knew: sitting quietly.   Focusing our mind and heart, thoughts and affections, on the Lord.   Being content with what and where and who you are.   God knows.   He is more aware of the good, the bad, and the ugly about you than you are yourself.   And he loves you.   He is delighted when you turn your gaze on him.   He is eager to meet you and sit quietly with you.

Everything in our lives, even in our lives of faith, can be so focused on performing, accomplishing, and solving things.   We might think the only measure of a good prayer time is whether we are able to focus on the Lord for ten minutes.   But it’s not!   Remember how Jesus told his apostles to come away with him and rest.   He knew their drive to produce.   He knew their feelings of guilt over not producing.   He knows we experience those same drives.   So he calls us too to come away with him and to find rest with him.

Pick a time and a quiet place to sit with the Lord.   It could be a park bench, an unused office, or an empty church.   For ten or fifteen minutes, just sit quietly.   If it helps, picture Jesus sitting next to you.   Be still and know that he is God.   Invite him into your heart, and see what happens.   “One need not say much to pray well,” counseled that French parish priest, who would become the patron of parish priests, St. John Vianney.   “We know that Jesus is there: let us open our hearts to him, let us rejoice in his sacred presence.   That is the best prayer.”

word among us