John Shea, a well known poet and writer stresses the absolute importance of integrating prayer with our daily lives when he says:

Unless the prayers we speak are tightly linked with the lives we lead, they will be babblings we hide behind rather than true speech which reveals who we are in relation to all that is.

We must always remember that the spiritual life is all of life. We must always be careful not to compartmentalize our lives into the 'sacred' and secular'. The truth is every activity in our day can be a spiritual activity if we bring to it the proper mindset. If Jesus is to become Lord of our life, he must be invited to guide and permeate every activity of our day. When this happens our whole day-with its religious and secular dimensions-will become one act of worship to the Father. Jesuit priest Richard Hauser, in his book In His Spirit: A Guide to Today's Spirituality, writes: "The holiest actions of our day are those done most in tune with the Spirit: These may be either prayer or service." What an interesting quote. The holiest action of our day may not be the hour or 10 minutes we spend in prayer, but rather the good deed we did with love and proper motivation. That is good and consoling news. Washing dishes, changing diapers, dealing with conflicts, driving in our vehicle etc. etc. can be holy and sacred activities if we bring to them the mindset of Christ.

Authentic spirituality does not separate formal prayer and secular activities because the same Spirit is present and active in all of them. Ideally one complements the other. True prayer imbues our action with the Spirit of Christ, and action done in God's Spirit not only sanctifies us but also prepares us for formal prayer.

The spiritual life is all of life: God isn't just present in "holy things" like the Eucharist, the Church, and the Bible. God is present in all encounters, events, and objects. Moses met God in a burning bush. Every bush or event in life is burning with the presence of God, if only we had the inner eyes of faith to see it. The challenge is not just to do a few spiritual exercises every week when we attend Mass, read the Bible, or pray the rosary. The challenge is to make every encounter and every event of our week a spiritual exercise through which we grow in our relationship with God. The more we do this the more real God will become for us. God will become a companion with whom we share all of life-not like a doctor whom we only call when we need some help or like a boss with whom we exchange daily greetings and niceties but with whom we have no personal relationship. The more we compartmentalize God and box him in, the more unreal he will be to us and the more we will be alienated from him. Perhaps one reason why God allows our prayer life to dry up is because we have stopped looking for the Lord in the laundry room, the store, or the office and in the "burning bushes" of daily life..

"Spousal Prayer" and "Occupational Prayer"

How do we go about integrating prayer with our daily life? One way is to make careful use of what William McNamara, O.C.D., in his book, The Human Adventure, calls "occupational" and "spousal" prayer. "Occupational prayer" takes place while we are on the job of daily living. "Spousal prayer" happens when we rest from all activity so that we can be totally present and available to God, our Divine spouse. Both forms of prayer-occupational and spousal-are important and interdependent. One feeds into and needs the other.

Occupational prayer is the daily dialogue we have with God as we go about the daily tasks of life and behold the beauty of creation. We accept the fact that the spiritual life encompasses all of life. Occupational prayer makes that statement a reality in our lives. It is the kind of prayer that can give quality and power to the mundane, pedestrian affairs of life. When we pray as we go about the work of our day, God will be our partner in cooking meals, changing diapers, conducting business affairs, playing tennis, making hospital calls, driving the car-whatever we do on the occupational level.

Susan Muto, in Pathways in Spiritual Living, describes her occupational prayer in this way:

Morning dawns. I awaken slowly and take an extra moment to say thanks to God for the gift of this day. While dressing, I try to center my thoughts on the Lord: "Even if I do not think of you explicitly, let me do what I do for your sake." I eat and feel grateful for the food on my table. While driving, I can still take a few moments for recollection. I stop at the traffic light and look over the hills, knowing that his presence is everywhere. I intersperse mental plans for my morning with brief meditations on his providential care. ...By the time I arrive at the office, my working day has already taken on a deeper meaning. What might have been a merely functional approach is replaced by a rhythmic blend of action and contemplation, labor and leisure and all because of a shift in attitude . . .

For occupational prayer to have depth it will need to be backed up with regular periods of spousal prayer. Sometimes the popular slogan, "My work is my prayer", is used as an excuse for not setting aside time for spousal prayer. This is indeed an unfortunate error in spiritual living that keeps our relationship with the Lord superficial. Spiritual guides all agree that only by seeking to be exclusively present to the Lord through spousal prayer on a regular basis will we grow in our ability to be present to God all of the time through occupational prayer. The document Spiritual Renewal of the American Priesthood, reminds us that when everything is prayer, nothing is prayer and without prayer we perish. When we attempt to find God everywhere but not in a particular place, we tend to find him nowhere. Those who pray on the job also need to enter their room and pray to their Father in secret.

The quality of our presence to the encounters and activities of daily life will be in direct proportion to the quality of our presence to God who is the Ground of all presence.

The importance of regular periods of exclusive time with the Lord (that is, spousal prayer) cannot be stressed too much. Unfortunately, most people seem to lack conviction about the pressing need for regular periods of quiet time with the Lord. Yet if Jesus and all the saints through the ages found the need for regular periods of spousal prayer, surely we lesser mortals should be able to see our need for such times of prayer.

You have often heard me say that there are 96 fifteen minute periods in every day or 1,400 minutes. If we cannot set aside one of the 96 fifteen minute periods for exclusive time with the One who moment by moment sustains our lives can we really say he is important to us? One of the blessings of our Adoration chapel is that it gives us an opportunity to spend an hour each week with the Lord. Of course, we can and should try to also have quiet times with the Lord in our homes or whenever we can find quietness.

During our quiet time, we can ask ourselves: what attitude of mind and heart do we bring to our so called secular activities? To what extent do I try to live my whole life with attitudes that reflect life in the spirit: love, compassion, patience, truth, justice etc?

Bottom line: What makes every activity an act of worship is the attitude of mind and heart with which we carry it out. It is awesome to think that every piece of our day can be an act of worship to God. Try making this happen this week.

Reflection Questions