Among the many ways we pray, we frequently place ourselves before God, giving thanks for his mercies, praising him for his compassion, interceding for our families, neighbors, government, the poor--laying before God a wide range of concerns, the labors of our hearts and minds. Some pray fixed-hour prayers each morning, each evening; some practice centering prayer, the "prayer of the heart." Some practice lectio divina or make frequent use of the Jesus Prayer. But no matter how we pray, in all honesty, we are often aware that our prayers are now and again unnecessarily restricted in the breadth of their concerns. With something like a "checklist" or with petitions associated with a litany, we might well be wearing blinders that reduce what Paul calls "the mind of Christ," narrowing our concerns to a little of "this" and some of "that." Lacking the imagination to see "bigly" before God, we settle for small praying, comfortable praying, unimaginative praying.

The Church, however, gives us resources to widen, expand, and deepened the way we prayer. If you find yourself knowingly repetitive (boring yourself and God perhaps?) and restricted in thoughtful praying, I urge you to visit World in Prayer and take the time to read, investigate, download, and perhaps print and place in your prayerbook what you find at World in Prayer. You will be surprised at the care with which your Christian brothers and sisters have opened themselves to new avenues of concern, new venues of focus, and new appreciations for what God is doing, what we need to do, and how these two fundamentals may come together in our lives, in our prayers. Go ahead: take a look as how others are looking at prayer.

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