On prayer and culture

"As Thomas Merton wrote, when it comes to prayer, we are all beginners. 

"We get bored and distracted. Our mind quickly wanders to a million different things, and we begin to feel the pressure of the world creeping in, demanding that we cut our prayer time short. Even Theresa of Avila, that great Catholic master of prayer, admitted to shaking the sands in her hourglass to make the time go by faster. There are great stories that reflect these mundane moments as well.  

"I remember when I was younger my mother took me to see The Fiddler on the Roof. I got a kick out of Tevye, the Russian milkman who is always talking to God. At one point his horse is injured and he is forced to drag the milk cart on his own. Discouraged, Tevye looks to God to make sense of things:   'I can understand it when you punish me when I am bad; or my wife because she talks too much; or my daughter when she wants to go off and marry a Gentile, but . . . what have you got against the horse?'"--Michael Flaherty, President of Walden Media

Read more here.  Hat tip to Suitable For Mixed Company.