Every Sunday night, we tell our new group of volunteers about the cornerstones. “We pray a lot here at the Farm,” we say. And the list of prayer times really is…extended, I suppose you could say: When we wake up. Before breakfast. Before we leave for the worksite. When we arrive at the worksite. Before lunch. Before we leave the worksite. Before dinner. In the evenings. There are eight formal prayer times every single day.
But our cornerstone of prayer is about more than just saying a lot of words. We incorporate these prayer times into our schedule in order to remind us that our lives are to be a constant prayer. We are to find God in all things, to see God’s presence all around us and to make that recognition a prayer. We are to listen as well as talk, to create a relationship with Christ that sustains our service.
Most people come to Nazareth Farm in order to do service. The other cornerstones are either pleasant surprises or abstract distractions. But often, the service might be difficult, or even unfulfilling. The day is long, or cold, or hot. Perhaps we mess something up and have to start over, or we just don’t make as much progress as we had hoped. Or we have a great day, but it’s exhausting, leaving us sapped of energy.
Service cannot be sustained without prayer. That’s what gives us the motivation to go out every day, to overcome difficult conditions or rough days. As Mother Teresa says,
“The fruit of prayer is faith, The fruit of faith is love, The fruit of love is service, The fruit of service is peace.”
We are all called to be holy. It’s not just a vocation for the saints – all of us can aspire to live a sanctified life. This week, let us commit ourselves to prayer and the pursuit of holiness. To seeing God all around us. To talk with God. To listen to God. And to make all of our actions prayerful and loving.
-by Jessica Mayo
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