We live in a world of instant everything. We value speed. This is true not only in our culture at large, but in our spirituality. When we pray, we want to see results. And we want to see them now. Our need for quick results is especially urgent when we, or someone we love, is in distress. If we cry out to God in a time of distress and the distress continues or worsens, we are likely to question ourselves and to question God. We may wonder if we have done something wrong because our prayers are not being answered. We may wonder if God has abandoned us or if God cares about us.

Sometimes prayer is about waiting. Sometimes prayer is the practice of waiting patiently for God. To wait patiently for God is to trust in God’s unfailing love for us. To wait patiently is to pray with hope that we are not abandoned or forgotten by God.

This is not an easy kind of prayer to practice. Most of us will need to pray for gifts of trust and hope as we wait for God. And even these gifts may be slow in coming.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​If, however, we ask for the grace to practice the prayer of waiting we will find something changing in us. We will find that we are waiting not only for relief from our distressing situation but waiting for God’s presence to be made known...READ MORE