Prayer doesn't necessarily require a lot of time, complete silence, or an empty church. Sometimes a single sentence is enough. A few words spoken slowly\u2014in the middle of work, while walking, as we get into the car, or just before replying to a message. A short prayer to remind us that God is there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ejaculatory prayers are short, simple prayers that we can repeat throughout the day to lift our hearts to God. The word comes from Latin iaculatorius<\/em>, whose meaning was related to the act of throwing a dart, an arrow, or any object with force over a distance. Thus, ejaculations are short exclamations or prayers that a Christian\u2019s love and trust send\u2014like little arrows or darts\u2014to the Lord, the Blessed Virgin, or the saints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his letters, Saint Paul exhorted us to \u201cpray without ceasing.\u201d And short prayers can be a means to that end. This is explained in *The Russian Pilgrim* (Monte Carmelo, 2009), a classic of Eastern Christian spirituality, which recounts the spiritual journey of a pilgrim who attains this union with God through the brief phrase\u00a0 \u201cLord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.\u201d He makes this prayer his own throughout the day and even learns to recite it in rhythm with his breathing. In this way, he managed to keep the name of Jesus\u2014and also His mercy\u2014on his lips, in his thoughts, and in his heart at all times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an interview about the founder of Opus Dei, Blessed \u00c1lvaro del Portillo quoted several short prayers that St. Josemar\u00eda used to recite, one of which was: \u201cI am yours; I was born for you. What do you want from me, Jesus?\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this interview, the Blessed one recounted: \u201cWhen I asked to be admitted to the Work, our Founder explained the spirit of Opus Dei to me, and advised me to say many ejaculatory prayers, make spiritual communions\u2026 and offer numerous small acts of mortification throughout the day. When he spoke to me about ejaculatory prayers, he explained: There are spiritual authors who recommend counting the ones you say throughout the day, and they suggest using beans, chickpeas, or something similar; putting them in one pocket and transferring them to the other each time your heart turns to God with one of those prayers. That way you can know exactly how many you\u2019ve said and see whether or not you\u2019ve made progress that day.\u00bb And he added: \u201cI don\u2019t recommend this to you, because there\u2019s also the danger of vanity or pride. \u201cIt\u2019s better to let your Guardian Angel keep track of them.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The founder of Opus Dei drew his short prayers from Scripture or Christian tradition. Thus, in point 92 of *The Way*, he recommended: \u201c\u2026when you don\u2019t know how to move forward, when you feel yourself fading, if you cannot throw fragrant logs into the fire, throw in the twigs and leaf litter of little vocal prayers, of ejaculations, which continue to feed the blaze.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n La oraci\u00f3n no necesariamente precisa de mucho tiempo, silencio absoluto o una iglesia vac\u00eda. A veces basta con una frase. Unas pocas palabras dichas despacio, en medio del trabajo, mientras caminamos, al entrar en el coche o justo antes de responder a un mensaje. Una peque\u00f1a oraci\u00f3n que nos recuerde que Dios est\u00e1 ah\u00ed. Las […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3091,"featured_media":63866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[553,548],"tags":[384],"class_list":["post-63863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ecologia-integral","category-foco","tag-oracion"],"yoast_head":"\nSt. Josemar\u00eda, faithful to his short prayers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
To start the day<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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To ask for help<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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When We're Worried<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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To Overcome Impatience or Anger<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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To Give Thanks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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To offer the job<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Before starting a difficult task<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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To order for other people<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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When we feel like we're drifting away from God<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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To end the day<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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