Chicken Soup Prayer

I have what I call the Chicken Soup Theory. When you go to pray, when you go to pray, it’s kind of like making chicken soup. Now if you’ve ever made chicken soup, when you get everything in the pot all of the junk comes to the top, all that stuff, all the grease and whatever comes to the top. That very often is what happens when we start to pray especially at the end of a  very busy day. All of the junk begins to come to the top. That’s how it goes. And I think what happens there, it’s okay, that all of the junk, and all the distractions come. Make it  part of your prayer and choose not to focus on it,  and to move on, to place yourself in the presence of God. ~ Fr. Anthony Ciorra Ph.D.,
The Spirituality of the Twelve Steps for Everyone. (Transcribed from Audiobook)

We listen to prayers in public,
some seeming inspired,
without a stumble, eloquent…
some labored, showy,
ostentatious, seeming sermon-like,
an effort to educate the congregation.
But private prayer is between God and us
and God knows our hearts and minds
with no words at all.
If we sit in silence. God on our mind,
in our heart, it’s prayer if we seek the contact.
Let them roam. God made us
and understands us as a parent does
a language-less child.