Bootstrapping the Interior Life: Respond

Reprinted from my old blog.

The first thing to do in pursuing the interior life might also be the easiest, and that is simply to respond. If you find yourself thinking about God, for any reason, that’s a sign that God’s calling you to attend to Him. So do that.

I’m not suggesting that every time you think about God, you drop everything and rush off to some private place to pray. St. Paul tells us to pray constantly (1 Thess 5:17), but one has to eat and work and so forth. If we are to pray constantly, then, we need to be able to pray while doing these other things.

So if you happen to think about God, pray something simple. It can be something as simple as “Thank you for being with me.” It can be something more formal, like the Jesus prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Whatever you want to say is fine. The point is that you’re responding to God’s call….and over time, you’re building up the habit of responding to God’s call wherever you are and whatever you are doing. You’re also learning to recognize His presence in your day-to-day activities. It’s all good.