In the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit, amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here,

that you see me, and that you hear me.

I adore you with profound reverence, I ask your pardon for my sins,

and for the grace to make this time of prayer foodful.

My immaculate mother, St. Joseph, my father and Lord, my guardian angel in her seat for me.

It's no harm to make explicit what we already know, and that is that we are praying right now.

And since we're praying, trying to pray, we remind ourselves that it's not what we do with our minds.

Prayer happens in what we do with our will, with our heart. And therefore prayer doesn't happen

automatically from listening to the considerations that I'm making, hearing these words. Prayer

is what happens in the intimacy of your will, of your heart between you and God, and therefore it requires

an effort. It requires the deliberate exercise of your freedom, choosing to pray, choosing right now

to believe that he sees you and that he hears you.

Choosing to believe that he dwells within you as in a temple,

wanting to increase in you the gifts of faith, hope, and love.

So in a sense, as I continue, I'll be making a number of considerations and reading

quotes and saying things from scripture. As I continue in a way underneath those words,

hopefully at different moments inspired by them, your personal prayer needs to happen. You and him, you in the

Holy Spirit. And God will give it to you that prayer. If you want it, it's up to you to want it.

It's not up to you to pray. It is a gift. It's something that we have to receive. But with great trust,

with great humility, knowing that if we want it, he will give it to us. So with that desire,

with that wanting, I'd like for us to consider something very important about Jesus

...