Last week, I was meeting with some students at the Caritas organisation who will be working in the UK for 2 months. One girl was telling me how she used her English skills during the summer while she was doing her ironing! "I just speak English to myself," she said, "Talking about my day and so on." I commented that it was a cool way to do it, and perhaps it was just like praying. She replied, "Actually, I have also been praying in English because when I'm in England I will be staying with some 'sisters' (nuns), so I guessed it would be a good idea to learn how to pray in English. I suppose it's like 'praying in other languages'..."
I found this attitude very refreshing, even challenging (for me, as I learn Czech). It reminded me of when I worked at Caritas about 7 years ago, and I prayed with a young man who was having problems (he was a schizophrenic). I asked him if it would help if I prayed for him - as he told me he was a Catholic believer - he agreed...and so I did - in Czech! Grammatically, it was perhaps not one of my finest moments (I'd only been here for a couple of years) - but spiritually we 'connected' & I believe God gave him the peace that he needed just at that time...
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