Easter

Witnessing life transformed by prayer changes life

By Tony Pichler

	A Compass series

I met Christ in St. Louis. He was in a park, behind the Old Court House and Gateway Arch. I didn't know that I would encounter him in that spot, nor did I believe that a box of Kentucky Fried Chicken could bring us together. But I met Christ on a hot summer night nonetheless.

It was a sweltering July evening, not an uncommon occurrence in St. Louis. The sun was setting over the Gateway Arch and the Old Court House in the Jefferson Memorial Parkway. As the program director for Young Neighbors in Action, a national service immersion experience, I had a choice to make. I could either go up into the Arch again, a prospect that made me feel ill, or I could make myself useful by doing something with our excess food left over from our picnic supper under the Arch. I chose the latter and proceeded to pick up the Kentucky Fried Chicken boxed suppers while wondering what I would do with them.

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Then it hit me. I would take a leap of faith and venture toward Busch Stadium with the 10 boxes. Knowing that a park is just beyond the Old Court House, I decided to head that way, hoping that someone in need of food might appear. I did not expect to draw a crowd. However, before I knew it, three young people and an adult from our group were following me like some Pied Piper, looking for an adventure in giving.

As we approached the park fountains a homeless man quickly appeared. We approached him, hoping that we could unload one box supper. What happened next will forever change my view of life and prayer. Instead of the man taking the box, he asked if we could stay with him for a few minutes and prayer with him. He shared his story, including his challenges of living on the streets of St. Louis.

He asked us to gather into a circle, join hands, enjoy a moment of silence in the presence of God and pray. While I had ventured to the park to distribute our excess dinners, I left the park with a new sense of meaning, especially regarding prayer. This man was not asking God to remove him from the streets of St. Louis, or to give him money to buy or rent a house. He was not asking God to give him new clothes, food in his stomach or a job. This man was asking for strength and peace to live the life that was his reality.

That is the thing with prayer. Some people view God as some big vault from which we can make daily withdrawals if we simply ask. Our relationship with God, and therefore our prayer life, becomes a consumer-type of activity.

God, instead, is the Source of All Being. God is love, God is peace, God is healing and God is strength in difficult times. Our prayer life places us in touch with the Spirit of God and directs our lives in a spiritual manner, in touch and in tune with this love, peace, healing and strength of God.

Prayer truly is a transformation of our inner selves, connecting our spirit with the Spirit. When this inner transformation occurs, when we have a connection to the Source of All Being, our lives, and the lives of those around us, can truly be transformed. There is power in that. Not a power over people, but a power that gives us strength to really be present to people - the Body of Christ.

Each day is an attempt to focus on the Source of All Being and strive to see and hear God in all of the events and people that we encounter. Some pray the Divine Office, attend daily Mass, meditate on the Scriptures, or simply rest in the presence of God. All of these prayer forms help to center our spiritual lives so that, when faced with the adventures of our day, we might truly see God moving and acting in our lives.

While a cold box supper from Kentucky Fried Chicken may have provided sustenance for a homeless man in St. Louis a few years ago, his focus on prayer and experiencing God in everything and everyone that he encounters continues to nourish me and my prayer life to this day.

In the Scriptures, the disciples ask Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray." In the shadows of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, I believe he taught this disciple to pray.

(Pichler is the director of lay ministry formation for the Green Bay Diocese.)