"People have different temperaments, rhythms and seasons. there isn't just one way to be in prayer, communion or relationship. There isn't just one way to be in a dialogue. Laity and clergy used to think we had to adjust to a monastic prayer style. We still have not recognized the rhythm of American society, or the rhythm we live as parents, workers and families...Respect your own temperament. Respect the rhythm of your life and know that it will change at different periods of your life."(R. Rohr "Radical Grace" p.121)
I am not one who subscribes to the one size fits all model of ministry. I believe that the wide varieties of piety are a direct result of the different temperaments etc. that Fr. Rohr writes about. Each chapter of my life, and sometimes those chapters seem to end sooner than I think, bring new rhythms for sure. How I lived as child, was very different than the teenager, who was able to change at college, who then went through rapid changes, to the change of being married, to the change of being in seminary, to the change of being a priest, to the change of having kids. Now those rhythms are tied in directly to the changes in my children's rhythms.
Every aspect of life has changed with those changes, including prayer. I will say that weekly communion has been the one consistent throughout.
One of the frustrating parts of trying to maintain or even start a prayer life is noticing and acknowledging how the day generally flows. Yes each day may bring a surprise or even a wrinkle, but for the most part, it is reasonably predictable, and that's how I find a way to get into that daily dialogue with God.
In a few years my rhythm will again change as my children graduate high school. The hope will be to adapt to that change in the parts of my life that are essential to my physical and spiritual health.
Blessings,
Ed
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