Catholic Fire

By Jean M. Heimann “Prayer is nothing else than an intimate friendship, a frequent heart-to-heart conversation with Him, Who we know loves us.” ~ St. Teresa of Avila Are you simply going through the motions when you pray or are you on fire for your faith? Sometimes, as Catholics, we get into the rut of performing our spiritual practices out of habit without really thinking about what we’re doing.  We get into a certain routine that has become dull and we don’t know how to put the life back into it. Or we may fear that if we discontinue or alter our routine, God will punish us by distancing himself from us or by allowing bad things to happen in our lives. How can we get back on track and pump up our prayer life? We need to be able to pray with conviction. Our primary reason for prayer should be because we love God, who is our Creator and our Savior.  As such, He deserves our praise and we, in turn, desperately need his grace.  When we pray with conviction, we p...

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated Mass on Tuesday morning in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta residence. Following the readings of the day, the Holy Father spoke about the proper attitude of the Christian at prayer. Reflecting on the episode from the Second Book of Samuel, which was read at Mass, in which “David danced with all his might before the Lord,” Pope Francis recalled that the whole people of Israel were celebrating because the Ark of the Covenant was returning home. He went on to say that David’s prayer of praise, “led him to move beyond all composure,” adding, “this was precisely a prayer of praise.” Explaining that the passage caused his thoughts to turn to Sarah, Abraham’s wife, who, after giving birth to her son, Isaac, said, “The Lord made ​​me dance with joy.” He said that it is easy to understand a prayer of petition – asking something of the Lord – and prayer of thanksgiving, as well. Even prayer of adoration, he said, “is not so difficult,” to understand....