Praying with the Heart

We know that the prayers of the heart are pleasing to Our Lord but how to we do this?  How do we pray from the heart? 

It has been my humble experience that Our Lord uses suffering to teach us how to pray with the heart. As I have shared in the past, a genetic disability has resulted in severe joint instability throughout my body and especially my hands.  As a result there are many unexpected injuries that occur as well as daily weakness in my hands that cause me to ask others for help with most tasks.

It is in those times of acute injury that I can feel how quickly ones prayers migrate from a most superficial level to the very depths of the heart.  It is as if in one moment Our Lord pulls you from across the room to the most intimate of conversations.  Through this school of suffering I began to see these trials and injuries as special graces which help us pray more and more deeply.  Such repeated trials begin to teach a soul that it is completely vulnerable and the only place of security is with Our Lord. The more dependent one becomes on Our Lord the more child-like we become in our approach to Him.  It is as if Our Lord uses such times of increased suffering as a special protection for us.  A way to keep us very close to His Heart.  

Padre Pio spoke of the importance of suffering. "Jesus said to me; 'How many times would you have abandoned Me, my son, if I had not crucified you. Beneath the cross, one learns love, and I do not give this to everyone, but only to those souls who are dearest to Me."

Indeed the Children's Rosary has been no stranger to suffering but there is an appreciation of the good that comes from it.  There may be other ways to learn to pray from the heart but in my humble experience suffering is one of the fastest and most effective ways Our Lord can share with us to deepen our prayers.

Over the next week we have many Children's Rosary groups meeting.  Please consider joining the children in prayer.  The children always pray for those unifying prayers with them.

Friday March 13th
Children's Rosary at St. Mary's School Orange TX 7:05AM CT
Children's Rosary at St. Mary's School in Pontiac IL 9:05 AM CT
Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Lagos, Nigeria 1PM ET
Children's Rosary at St. Paul Church in Fenton, Missouri 7PM 
Saturday March 14th
Children's Rosary at St. Mary's Church in Corvalis Oregon 9AM PT
Children's Rosary at St. Michael's Church in Garden City SC at 10:30 aM ET
Children's Rosary at St. Michael the Archangel Parish held in Kibera Slum in Langatta Nairobi Kenya 10 AM local time
Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Lagos Nigeria 1PM ET
Children's Rosary at Holy Trinity Church in Nairobi Kenya 2PM local time. 
Children's Rosary at the Daughters of Charity Convent in Bridgeport CT 2:30 PM ET
Children's Rosary at St. Peter Claver Church West Hartford CT 3:45 PM ET
Sunday March 15th
Children's Rosary at Our Lady and St. Patrick Parish in Nottingham England 9AM local time(4AM ET)
Children's Rosary at Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Parish in Nairobi Kenya 6AM ET
Children's Rosary at Assumption Church in Nairobi Kenya at 7AM ET
Children's Rosary at St. Thomas Church in Thomaston CT 11AM CT
Children's Rosary at St. Patrick's Church in Tacoma WA 11:30 PM PT
Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Lagos, Nigeria 1PM ET
Children's Rosary at the Daughter's of Charity Convent in Bridgeport, CT 2:30 PM ET
Children's Rosary at St. Anthony Church in Lorain, Ohio 3PM ET in front of the Blessed Sacrament
Children's Rosary at Annunciation Church in Hanover, PA at 3PM in the Adoration Chapel
Monday March 16th
Children's Rosary at St. Joseph Church in Wakefield MA 9:30 AM

Children's Rosary at Our Lady of Grace Home for Children in Meru, Kenya 10AM ET
Children's Rosary at Holy Trinity Academy in Shenandoah, PA 12:20 PM ET
Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Iba Estate Lago Nigeria 1PM ET
Children's Rosary at Holy Family Church in Gladstone Michigan 4:30PM  ET
Children's Rosary at St. John the Evangelist Church in Mahopac, New York 4:30 PM 
Children's Rosary at St. Patrick's Church in Kennett Square, PA 5:45 PM ET in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

Tuesday March 17th

Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Iba Estate, Lagos Nigeria 1PM ET
Children's Rosary at Holy Redeemer Parish in Menominee, Michigan 6PM ET

Wednesday March 18th
Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Iba Estate, Lagos Nigeria 1PM ET
Thursday March 19th
Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Iba Estate Lagos Nigeria 1PM ET
The Children's Rosary at Resurrection Parish in Rye, NY 5PM ET

The Children's Rosary at St. Martin Church in Kingsville, Texas will meet at 6:30 PM

Other posts you may enjoy:
How to Start a Children's Rosary
A Long Winter
Suffering a Call to Come Home