Oremus (Let Us Pray!)

In normal times, Lisieux House brims with activity (ask us about our epic Catholic parties — with emphasis on the Catholic), but with the pandemic, our house entered into a period of quiet. Like many others around the world, we have had the opportunity to slow our pace of life and to share life with those close to us even more than before.

In the calm, we have been given the grace to better prepare our hearts for what God has in store for us.

It is precisely this environment that paved the way for us, as a community, to do a study on prayer. For the past two weeks, we have been taking part in a program called Oremus, an 8-week class on prayer taught by Fr. Mark Toups from Ascension Press. Each week we are assigned a video to watch before our group sharing on Tuesdays, which is moderated by St. Anne Catholic Church in Seattle.

After our community dinner on Tuesdays, we gather around our long table to discuss with one another and the St. Anne community (through Zoom) what we have learned and to share our prayer experience for that week.

The women of Lisieux House discussing about our prayer lives

This week, the idea of intentionality stood out. Fr. Mark pointed out how we are all so intentional about so many areas of our lives — relationships, careers, and even the meals that we eat!

And what is prayer if not the means through which we build and sustain our relationship with our Lord?

We were encouraged to apply intentionality to our prayer lives, to be thoughtful about when we pray, what we pray, and how we pray. A practical application of this, provided by Fr. Mark, would be to choose a Scriptural passage to pray with before you actually pray. (Bible roulette is not normally encouraged, folks!)

An equally important idea was the idea of consistency, that we show up consistently and choose to make time for God. Kelci said it beautifully: “Prayer is not for the purpose of pleasure. It’s for the purpose of fostering relationship. When we wake up to pray everyday, we honor God in that faithfulness.”

These ideas also should never conflict with our vocational commitments, for God desires that we honor our calling. Prayer sustains our vocation!

These are just the few things (among so many!) that we are learning together. We are excited for the fruits that will come forth from this study and will certainly apply what we learn by praying for all of you!

On a final note, we have also begun having monthly Adoration at Lisieux House, with our house sacristan Anna leading the effort! We are so very blessed to have the Blessed Sacrament in our home. Without question, we have the best housemate in the world. That said, please let us know how we can pray for you, so we can offer up your intentions before our Lord!