Stage Fright

Matthew 6:5-8

Phrases that spoke to me today:
• do not be like the hypocrites
• go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret
• your Father knows what you need before you ask him

Applying the Word to My Life:
Recently, my sons and I were serving as sacristans before Mass when a young man came in with questions about his job as lector. It was his first time reading at Mass, and he was obviously nervous. I helped him find the book, got the ribbons in place, and went back to getting things ready.

As I worked, it came to me that I should offer to pray with him. I ignored the thought at first, figuring it was just something that had wandered into my head. A little later, it came back. So I decided that if he was still in the sacristy when I returned, I'd do it. He was.

My sons and I gathered around him in that little room and prayed. When we finished, I opened my eyes and the priest was standing there. He smiled and said it was a good prayer.

God had already been in the sacristy before we prayed. He knew the young man was nervous. He knew what all of us needed. The prayer didn't bring Him into the room or give Him information He lacked. It changed our attention. For a few moments, the nerves, the ribbons, the jobs still waiting, and the people outside all moved to the edges, and we became aware that we were standing in the presence of God.

That helps make sense of today's Gospel. Jesus warns against praying like the hypocrites, who want to be seen by other people, and tells His disciples to go to their inner room, close the door, and pray to the Father in secret. The problem isn't simply that others are present. The problem is that the others have become the focus. Their prayer is aimed at the crowd instead of at God.

We don't pray to make God notice us. We pray so that we notice Him.

Real prayer is the opposite of performance. It makes us more present to Him, and that awareness opens the door to relationship. We speak and listen because He is here. We begin to live with Him instead of merely thinking about Him.

St. Bruno understood that deeply. He had spent years near the center of Church life. He was educated, respected, and influential. He challenged corruption when it cost him something and knew what it was like to have people listen when he spoke. Then he walked away from all of it and took a few companions into the mountains.

There, in the solitude of what became the Carthusian life, Bruno chose a different kind of attention. He spent most of each day alone, in silence, without an audience. From the outside, it could look like isolation. For Bruno, it was a way of paying attention to God, who was already there.

Bruno took Jesus at His word about the inner room, and took it about as far as it can go. Most of us will find that same presence in a sacristy, a classroom, a car, a bedroom, or anywhere else we happen to be. A quiet room helps, but it isn't what makes prayer real. The direction of our attention does.

My Response for Today:
Today I'll stop for a few minutes and become aware that God is already with me.

ABOUT ST. BRUNO
Name: St. Bruno of Cologne
Lived: c. 1030 – October 6, 1101, Cologne, Reims, the Chartreuse, and Calabria
Feast Day: October 6
Patron of: the Carthusians; Calabria
Title: Founder of the Carthusian Order
Selected Writings: Letters of St. Bruno — his two surviving letters, including the one to his friend Raoul on the joys of solitude
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