The Simplest Prayer
By: Michael Pavano
Many may know that in my parent's house where we are currently living, we have a closet dedicated as a "war room." Our war room was inspired by the film of the same name in which the main character converts a closet into a room dedicated to prayer to unite herself and her family to God. In our "war room," or prayer room, we have many pictures of Christ, candles, Bible passages, and other religious imagery that help us center our minds and our hearts on the things of God.
We've tried to introduce God to Daniel in small ways. We take him to Sunday mass of course, but we also show him images of Jesus, play different Christian songs for Him, pray with Him, and take Him to the "war room." Daniel has very cutely been saying "God" for several months now. Every time he sees an image of Jesus, or listens to a God themed song, we begin to hear him say, "God, God." Lately, every time he passes our little prayer room, he again says "God, God."
One day, I'm upstairs with Daniel, and we are just walking by the prayer room after a diaper change. I realize, I forgot something inside his bedroom and rush back in to grab it. I keep my eye on the hallway and notice the door of the prayer room closing slowly. With the door left slightly open, I stroll quietly towards it and peek inside to find myself taking in a most amazing sight.
Daniel is sitting on the floor, looking down with eyes closed and hands folded, saying over and over again, "God, God, God." Such a profound moment from so simple a prayer.
As per my usual, my mind began racing and a thought occurred to me. Though Daniel is so young and may not comprehend what he is participating in, he is truly showing us what Jesus may have meant by "The Faith of a Child."
God wants to enter into a deep profound relationship with us. This is why he sent His son to us. He wanted us to learn how to enter into communion with Him. His desire is always to be in communion with us. In the modern day, we see a lot of intercessory prayer which in itself of course is beautiful, but we can not forget that prayer is first and foremost, our way to connect with and in simpler terms to just talk to "Our Father."
When asked by the apostles to teach them how to pray, Jesus responded with the most famous prayer in all of Christianity which is in itself a very simple but also very profound prayer.
Matthew Chapter 6: 9-15- "Our father in Heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as in Heaven, Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and do not subject us to the final test, but deliver us from the evil one."
This prayer opens with the line "Our Father." There is no more amazing and so simple a way to begin talking to God than to just call Him. Call His name. Daniel in his own simple way is showing us that sometimes prayer is as simple as saying, "God, God," in a whisper or even in a shout when we are feeling the most lost or confused.
I, even at the best of times, still suffer from severe panic attacks. They occur most often at night in bed. I've grown good at hiding them. Following repeated negative thoughts, I will sometimes go into a full blown panic. In response, in the past I would just yell and cry, but in the past year, I've found myself as if out of nowhere, shouting God, God, or more often Dad or even Daddy. In that moment, I am telling God in a few words that I am sad or anxious and want to talk to Him.
The spiritual life as Bishop Robert Barron calls it, does not end there, it only starts there. Daniel too will call for me, Daddy, Daddy and I can't begin to tell you just how much those simple words warm my heart. But as he grows older, Daniel will learn how to communicate with me in new ways and will learn how to express, I hope, his deepest longings, fears, and joys to me. God wants it all and that is why we have so many different ways to connect with him through prayer.
It all starts, however, in the simplest of ways, and if prayer can be as much a struggle for you as it can be for me, I advise you to take Daniel's example: Shut the door, close your eyes, lower your head, fold your hands, and call Him through the simplest prayer: God... God... Dad... Daddy...
