Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
James Martin, S.J.August 23, 2019
Photo by Amaury Gutierrez on Unsplash

Subscribe to “The Examen” for free on Apple Podcasts

Subscribe to “The Examen” for free on Google Play

Join our Patreon Community

Do you ever find it hard to pray? Sometimes it can seem like nothing is happening or that no one is listening.

And yet there is still an invitation there from God to remain faithful and to keep praying. God of course has made a commitment to you, and with every breath you take, God fulfills that commitment. How does God do this? Basically, by giving you life, by providing you with friends and family to help you flourish, and also by encountering you in prayer.

In turn, your commitment to God is expressed through living out the gospel, but also in your fidelity to prayer. Day in and day out. “Showing up and shutting up,” as my friend likes to say about daily prayer.

That fidelity is the reason that things are able to happen in prayer. If you don’t show up to prayer, then you can be assured that nothing is going to happen. It’s something like being a birdwatcher. The birds are always there but sometimes they’re hard to see. The good birdwatcher knows that he or she has to show up, be patient, and sometimes use those binoculars to see what’s going on.

Patience and careful attention has a payoff in both birdwatching and prayer. Witnessing a bluebird flit across the sky after hours of waiting will fill your soul. And the same will happen when you are are consoled by God’s presence during prayer. So, be faithful and be patient—especially during those quiet periods.

[Don’t miss any of the latest writings, podcasts and videos from Father Martin. Sign up for his newsletter.]

More: Prayer
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
Michael Bindner
5 years 9 months ago

Never pray for patience unless you like to wait.

The latest from america

Paola Ugaz, a Peruvian journalist who helped expose the abuse committed by leaders of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, gives Pope Leo XIV a stole made of alpaca wool, during the pope's meeting with members of the media May 12, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Pope Leo offered a heartening message for a global media that has endured a pretty awful year.
Kevin ClarkeMay 23, 2025
If you think our enthusiasm for our basketball team was intense, just wait until you see our support for Pope Leo XIV.
Jack DoolinMay 23, 2025
“I don’t think he’s the kind of man who sends coded messages,” Cardinal Michael Czerny says in this exclusive interview with Gerard O’Connell.
Gerard O’ConnellMay 23, 2025
First-grade students finish an assignment at St. Ambrose Catholic School in Tucson, Ariz., in this 2014 photo. Arizona has one of the nation’s strongest school choice programs, with vouchers available to every child in the state. (CNS file photo/Nancy Wiechec)
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ruling denying state funds to a Catholic charter school in Oklahoma. What should American Catholics be asking about public funding for school choice?
Beth BlaufussMay 23, 2025