St. John Vianney and Prayer

Meditation Five

What is prayer? St. John Vianney teaches us some powerful things about prayer. This is the fifth in a series of reflections on his instructions about prayer.

Time stood still. Isn’t that a strange thing to say? If nothing was moving, there would be no time. But there is always something moving: the sun or the moon traveling across the sky, the gentlest little breeze stirring the leaves, the rain falling or the grass growing. Moment follows moment and each one is a little different from the one before.

Sometimes a moment is so perfect, so wonderful that a person wishes it would last forever. But the moments slip away and seem to be lost. Yet God gathers them up and keeps them before his gaze. Everything good is found in God.

That’s why when you take the time to be still in the presence of God, time seems to stand still. Because in God everything is found, everything is redeemed, and everything is perfect. Then we touch eternity and experience, even here on earth, eternal happiness and perfect joy.