Discovering a Prayer Place

In one of his books entitled "New Seeds of Contemplation", Thomas
Merton, popular author of "The Seven Storey Mountain", emphasizes
the importance of a prayer place for each and every one of
us:

Let there always be quiet, dark churches in which men can take
refuge. Places where they can kneel in silence. Houses of God,
filled with His silent presence. There, even when they do not
know how to pray, at least they can be still and breathe easily.
Let there be a place somewhere in which you can breathe naturally,
quietly, and not have to take your breath in continuous short
gasps. A place, where your mind can be idle, and forget its
concerns, descend into silence, and worship the Father in secret.

This is wise spiritual advice from a very spiritually experienced
Trappist monk. And we know that it is really difficult to pray
when children are jumping up and down in the house, when the radio
is blaring loud, and people converse about political issues that
can disturb one's peace of mind and heart. That is why, if we
feel called to deeper prayer, we need to discover our own prayer
place. It would only be like canoeing upstream if we try to fight
the everyday distractions in the house. So, instead of getting
irritated and angry with all the noise in the house, we can search
for a place where it is silent and we feel God's presence as we
enter into that silence.

If there is really no silent place in the home, then we can search
outside for another place. The adoration chapel of our parish is
a good choice. We could check which time that adoration chapel
has less visitors so that we can be less distracted by others.
But the adoration chapel is not the only prayer place we can go
to. If you live in the suburbs or in a rural area, then a
clearing in the woods or a sitting area by a creek would also be
a good prayer place. What is important is that whenever we find
the need to rest, to be silent, to seek peace, and to listen to
God in prayer, then we have a prayer place to go to where we can
be before the fullness of Life Himself.

Once we decide on our prayer place, then let us take every
opportunity we can to be in that place - especially during times
of trouble, disquiet, and lack of peace. Since it is truly
impossible to control a noise that is greater than us, we can just
seek that silence that is greater than the noise around us. When
we have discovered where this greater silence can be found, then
let us make it our prayer place - where we can breathe naturally
and not be suffocated by noise.

(If you want to have more ideas on prayer, you can check the
Librarything.com widget at Books, Blogs, and Podcasts.)

Related resource

Our Catholic Prayer: A Popular Guidebook, by Therese Johnson
Borchard