Reflect
When Jesus tells the apostles to pray in secret, to go into their “inner room” and pray, what does He mean? Is He telling us to go hide in a closet, to create for ourselves a private chapel space with an alter and a candle and a copy of the Divine Office? Or is He speaking about something even more hidden, more interior? A space not inside our house, but inside ourselves; inside our very soul?
Pray
Holy Spirit,
In the hidden silence of my heart,
I come to You in need,
bringing You my weakness and my sin,
my struggles and my joys, my hopes
and my heartbreak.
I place them here before You.
Like the Tax Collector in the parable,
let my prayer be only this:
Have mercy on me, a miserable sinner.
Act
Take a moment today to read Luke 18:9-14, the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Jesus uses this parable to teach us about prayer. What does this parable tell us about what it means to pray in secret? To go into that “inner room?” The pharisee prays about his public image, and points out the sins of those around him, while the Tax Collector offers God the hidden secrets of his sorrow and his sin. Which one does Jesus commend to us as an example?
