Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and this is The Scent of Resence.

So you know there are certain things in life that are optional, right?

Like they're not required, they're not necessary, they're not mandatory, they're just like,

yeah, if you want to do it, go ahead and do it.

If you don't want to do it, don't worry about it.

There are some things that are completely not optional, things like air and water and

food and sleep and like these good things in life that we absolutely need that I can't

just say, nah, I'm fine.

I don't need that and then expect to have life.

Prayer is one of those things.

In the life of the Christian, in the life of the one who follows after Jesus, a lot of

us treat prayer like it's optional.

Like yeah, it's something that I'll get to when I have more time.

Something that I'll get to, if I can work it in, if something that I'll get to when

I retire and I don't have anything else going on.

And then we would look at ourselves and wonder, wait, why don't I have more life?

Why don't I have more joy in my life?

Why am I not happier?

Why are I closer to God?

Because I've been treating prayer as if it's optional when it's absolutely essential.

So if we understand that, then we can understand this next thing.

The next thing is, if you decide that you're going to actually engage in no longer treat

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