Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. (Ephesians 6:19)

Today's reflection is by Mario Melendez

Ministry Associate at the Episcopal Chaplaincy at Boston University

How do you pray? If you use words, what words do you use? Do you use words that come to your heart at right at that moment? Do you pray the Lord’s Prayer? Do you pray using the Daily Office? Some people like to use Lectio Divina, a “divine reading” of Holy Scripture and its stages of ‘reading’, ‘reflection’, and ‘response. Perhaps you pray the very simple and powerful Jesus’ Prayer from our brothers and sisters from the Eastern Orthodox tradition: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” Perhaps you don’t use words at all as you look at an icon, take a walk and wait for the sunset, or listen to a piece of music.

There are many ways to pray and Lent can be a time to explore new ways of praying or rediscovering forms of prayer that were once part of our lives. Thomas Merton said that prayer is a “movement of trust, of gratitude, of adoration, or of sorrow, that places us before God, seeing Him and ourselves in the light of His infinite truth”. In this season of Lent may the ‘mystery of the gospel’ fill our hearts with the mystery of the love of God that is beyond explanation.