In prayer, we might ask things of God—but sometimes God will not answer how and when we might want. Greg Okumu, SJ reflects on prayer using his own experience of the 30-day silent Spiritual Exercises retreat. Based on the readings for the 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time.
I didn’t think I could survive thirty days in silence… but it changed my life.
Hi, I’m Greg Okumu, and this is my One-Minute reflection.
As a Jesuit novice, I did the 30-day Spiritual Exercises in silence—on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Some days, prayer came easily. Other days, it was dry, cold, even frustrating. But I showed up. I kept praying. And slowly, God showed up too—sometimes in peace, sometimes in tears, but always in love. At the end of my retreat, there was intense joy at the awareness of the many graces the Lord had granted me.
Prayer doesn’t always “work” the way we want. But like the persistent widow in the Gospel, we’re called to trust—even when it’s hard, even when God seems distant.
God hears us. He is always attentive to our prayers. He’s never late. He just loves us on His time, not ours.