What prayer is for…

This is the conclusion of a wonderful post by Father Stephen, which you should really read in its entirety. I just wanted to post this extract, though, as it spoke to me of all I find myself called to now:

The things which seem important are often of little true consequence. Does it matter that the President of the United States had a beer with two men? Does it matter that a Hollywood figure dies tragically and suddenly? Does almost anything most people treat as important matter at all?

Who sustains the universe and why does it exist?

The difficulty with political schemes and grand plans is that even at their greatest moment – they have done very little. It may be that everything they have done carries less weight than the prayers of a hermit in the desert.

And so we are called to pray – to stand quietly before that “still point of nothingness” that “disposes all things.”

Such things seem quite hidden – unless the definition of “manifest” means “what God sees.” Perhaps prayer is not about my “prayer life.” Perhaps prayer holds the entire universe in existence.

The last battle may be fought quietly in a human heart that stands sentinel before God and says, “Lord, have mercy.”