Prayer as Conversation with God

Out of all the disciplines of Exodus 90, prayer is the most essential. For some, it may also prove the most difficult. "What do I do for an hour?" many will ask.

Fundamentally, prayer is simple. It is conversation with God, sitting in his presence and allowing ourselves to be slowly transformed by his love. Rather than staying busy for an hour, our holy hour invites us to rest, opening our minds and hearts in relationship with God. Our Spiritual Guide for Exodus 90 this year, Fr. Boniface Hicks, writes in Personal Prayer that vulnerability “is the key to the most fruitful prayer” and “the meeting point of God and man.”

At first, it will be hard to embrace the silence that stands at the heart of our encounter with God in prayer. Exodus 90 seeks to draw you out of distraction so that you can focus more on God, who is always present but so often overlooked in our noisy busyness.

Bishop Erik Varden, host of our podcast, Desert Fathers in a Year, reflects, “The more I depend on distraction, the harder it is to recollect myself in prayer and stillness. As a result, I depend on distractions even more, to fill my days and nights with something” (Entering the Twofold Mystery). This is so true for all of us.

We must tear ourselves away from the noise so that we can sit still, listen, and share our innermost selves openly with God. As we embrace silence, we will learn to focus our attention on God and become attune to his still, small voice that speaks within us.

The time men spend in prayer during Exodus 90 is the most important part of the journey. Reading the daily Scripture passage and reflecting on it have been crafted to help men start the conversation with the Lord each day. We find this so important that we offer them for men like you every day of the year, not just during Exodus 90, and we hope to become a trusted guide for your personal formation throughout the year.

During Exodus 90, we strive for an hour of daily prayer, and within that hour, we encourage men to spend at least twenty minutes in silence, listening and opening themselves to the Lord. This will become an oasis of peace and a source of transformation in your life. However, given the responsibilities of each man's life and vocation, an hour of prayer may not be possible every day. That’s okay. Do not become discouraged or give up on prayer because you cannot hit an hour. Do the best you can with the time that you have. If you need to start small with a few minutes and build up your time over the coming weeks, we encourage you to do so.

From experience, most men find it easier to pray early in the morning or late at night, and it is most likely to happen if we schedule our prayer time and make it a priority in our plan of life each day. The Disciplines Tab in the Exodus 90 app is designed to help you stay accountable to prayer.

As intimidated as you may be when you begin to pray, listen, brother: you can do it. The more you practice prayer, the more familiar it will become for you and the more confidence you will gain, like so many other things in our lives. But we need to persevere, no matter the challenges we face, because apart from a life of prayer, we quickly get lost and forget who we are. And how can we possibly lead our families, parishes, and local communities if we are not led first by our Lord?

As we enter more deeply into prayer, by the grace of God, our prayers will become more still and silent, formed by listening and receiving. We will start to enter into deeper contemplative forms of prayer, which is “understood as vulnerable, attentive, loving presence in the relationship between God and man.”

Your Father in Heaven awaits you now and every day of the journey and beyond in his loving presence.