Quiet Time

Dear Friend, 

It was a house in Portland, Oregon, located on Hoyt Street and it had a front porch. Memories galore jostle in my mind of conversations and music on that porch. The porch will always be my symbol of that first year of friar life and what I learned.    

One of our in-house teachers that year was a friar named Clifford Herle. We weren’t yet novices, in the official sense, but we were stumbling into our first steps in friar life. Clifford was patient with us. In bulletin letters or homilies you’ve likely heard some of my memories of Clifford – and maybe even the lesson I’m about to relate.  

It came to me as I read Saint Paul’s words to Timothy in this weekend’s second reading. Like Paul to Timothy, Clifford offered us good coaching and encouragement.  Also like Paul, Clifford had served many years in a culture very different from where he’d grown up (Los Angeles in the 1930’s). He’d returned from many years in the Philippines not long before saying yes to being our director.  

Perhaps based on this experience, Clifford was adamant about the importance of daily personal prayer time and what he called “quiet time.” This week Luke has Jesus present the parable on the importance of praying always and never growing weary. For Clifford, prayer was about listening more than voicing. It was indispensable preparation for community prayer. Without it, he said, we short-change ourselves and those we gather with, especially for Mass.

What are you learning these days about your personal prayer? Who were/are your teachers? How do you bring personal prayer to Sunday Mass? I ask because we’re all novices when it comes to prayer. For me, anyway, it’s a theme that always takes me back to the front porch, to begin … again. 

Gratefully,

Father Dan ofm, Pastor