Br Shawn Conrad, CFR on:

THE BROTHERS LIFE OF PRAYER

Our life of prayer as consecrated religious is without question the most important aspect of our lives. Our growth in sanctity depends entirely upon the quality of our prayer life. This includes not only observing faithfully the established times of prayer, but making a sincere effort to lay down our interior lives before God and humbly listen to Him.

It is this humility which is the starting point of true prayer. This is especially important for us as Franciscans. The prayer we say after mass each day to St. Francis identifies immediately the true state we are in, as we admit to being lukewarm, languid, negligent, hesitant, and weak. We must know we are nothing compared to God, and not just knowing it but living it in a way that is clearly evident to the world. If we are not vigilant in keeping a humble spirit in our prayer life, we will soon slip into worldliness and pride. While we may maintain the exterior look of humility and even put in time for prayer, without true humility our prayers will be nothing more than empty and superficial piety.

Poverty and austerity dispose ones heart for openness to God. This photo is of the interior of a CFR hermitage in upstate New York.

As lay brothers it is crucial to embrace humility. Which one of us has not been

questioned as to why we aren't going on to the priesthood? Many people who ask this question, I think, do not understand the lay brother vocation, and we are often labeled as ones who "couldn't make it". What a tremendous opportunity for humility, a head start to deep and authentic prayer. On the other hand, a priest can very easily fall into the ego trap that he is really something special in the eyes of others. He must overcome this obstacle; his path to humility is not so simple. Therefore his path to real prayer can be more difficult as well. Because of this advantage, the brother has an even greater responsibility to pray well, and also to pray more. Being freed from sacramental demands, they should have more time to devote to contemplative prayer. We have been given more in the spirit by having less in the eyes of the world. It is only right that lay brothers should be expected to be men of fervent and humble prayer.

In regard to the differences between the prayers of friars and those religious men who are monks, not long ago I experienced the difference first hand. Having recently spent a week with the Maronite Monks,I found myself in an atmosphere of extreme peace. The monks take extraordinary measures to ensure that their environment is conducive to contemplative prayer, and they keep outside distractions to a minimum. In our life however, though we've made radical decisions to ensure an austere environment beneficial to prayer, we certainly do not have quiet neighborhoods. On the contrary, the neighborhoods the friars reside in often make attempts at living a contemplative life almost impossible if not for the help of God. We must therefore include our environment into our prayers. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta said if some one around you is making noise, don't pray for him to stop, just pray him. Include him into your prayer. Our prayer life is like that: down to earth and tangible. We can still reach the heights of contemplative prayer by spiritually facing down our distractions and poverty and not by shutting them out.