Tuesday, 2/20/18 – Inventory Time

Many of us are digging out papers, bank statements, and checkbooks to help us prepare our tax return reports. As we do this, we find ourselves doing inventory of how much money we took in last year and how we spent it. For some this is a wake-up call. Maybe we’ve been spending beyond our means or maybe we aren’t distributing our money in the best possible way. Though this process is not always fun, it is refreshing to see clearly where we stand financially so we can improve our practices next year.

As the government calls us to do income inventory, the Church invites us to do spiritual inventory. This is not always pleasant, but it gives us a clearer picture of where stand in our relationship with God. Sometimes it is encouraging to know that we’ve been keeping on the right track; at other times it is a wake-up call that alerts to make adjustments in our spiritual lives.

Using the tax-form analogy, we can think about preparing three reports. One is an evaluation of our prayer “spendings.” The second is on our fasting habits. And the third is an almsgiving report. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are not just Lenten practices. These are necessary ingredients year-round for us to live a healthy spiritual life. Though we focus on these three areas during inventory time, we apply them year round.

In today’s reading from Isaiah we are reminded of God’s part in our spiritual growth (Isaiah 55:10). Speaking for God, the prophet says:

“Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful…so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.”

God’s grace is the spiritual rain that comes down upon us every year. Without it our lives become a disaster, no matter how hard we try. As his grace soaks into our spirits they come alive with life and bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. These in turn reap praises and glory to God, thus completing the process as God intended it.

On the other hand we know that rain has the power to do more than nurture the seed that is sown. There are times when it causes mud slides or even floods. Rain also cleans the air as it falls and washes sidewalks clean. It always gets the job done in one way or another.

We sure don’t want our spiritual ground to become mud that washes down a hill side. As God sends the rainfall of his grace, we want to have the “air” of our spirits cleaned and the paths of our lives made clean. Beyond this we want to do all we can so this rain soaks deeply into our hearts and releases the fruit of the Holy Spirit in an abundant way.

This is where our inventory comes in. We keep the soil of our spirits rich and receptive by practicing the three disciplines that the Church brings to our attention now.

Jesus gave his disciples a short lesson on the habit of prayer. He told them that much of what people call prayer is not prayer at all. Then he gave them an approach to prayer that works (Matthew 6:7-15).

“Do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This is how you are to pray: ‘Our Father who art in heaven…’”

As we do inventory on our prayer lives, we ask if we’ve fallen into the “babbling” habit. Pagans prayed more than the disciples of Jesus did. They spent a long time bombarding their gods with words—believing that the more they babbled the more pressure they put on their gods. Jesus’ disciples, however, were to pray as children. They had a Father who knew what they needed and provided it in abundance. Their prayer was not so much begging for favors as it was turning their attention in love to the Father they had in common. Prayer was to be as natural as breathing. As we open our mouths to inhale air, so we open our hearts to “inhale” the Father’s love—we breathe in his grace and remind ourselves of how generous he is to us. Prayer is the joyful “soaking in” of the spiritual rain that he pours out upon us moment by moment.

We can go on to examine the fresh teaching of Jesus on the practices of fasting and almsgiving. Fasting was not about self-deprivation and almsgiving was not about guilt-driven giving. We ask ourselves if doing fasting and almsgiving as the pagans do or as disciples of Jesus were to do.

Meantime we ask the Holy Spirit to help us take a gentle inventory of our lives, so that our post-Lenten lives will be much richer and much stronger than they are now.

“Look to him that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame” (Ps 34:6).

About the Author

Author Bob Garvey lives in Louisville, Kentucky. He has a master’s degree in religious education and has been an active leader in the Catholic charismatic renewal for forty years. After retiring as a high school teacher, he began to write daily commentaries on the Church’s liturgical readings and other topics relevant to Catholic spirituality. He is married to Linda, has three daughters and four grandchildren.

Author Archive Page

16 Comments

  1. I was raised Methodist but loved the beauty of the Catholic traditions and churches. I became Catholic when our eldest child had her first communion in the late 70’s. I love the beauty of the rosary, but am troubled by the repetition of the same words over and over. Babbling it would seem. This has kept me from feeling comfortable with sayin the rosary though I have tried many times. How does the Catholic church reconcile the two?

  2. Thanks for this reflection Bob. Business people do understand how and what an inventory is.
    Thanks for reminding to take an inventory of the prayer life.
    Meditation. Talking to Him like as He is in front of us, as a Father; then babbling would never be in a prayer.

    God bless!

  3. The rosary is intended to be a mantra type prayer that Is intended to quiet the mind and brings us into the restful presence of Mary. When babbled or said mindlessly, I’m not sure it is a prayer at all.

  4. Thanks Bob for this very wonderful reflection about taking an inventory of our prayer life especially during this time of lent.When praying with the rosary my prayer becomes more complete in a way I cannot explain but I feel more fulfilled in prayer. May be Bob you can explain it in a more better way for Ann to understand. I mean the repetition of the prayer Holy Mary full of grace….. helps me go deep in prayer.

    God bless you Bob and your family

  5. I like Ann, feel like I’m babbling when I say the rosary (i try to concentrate on the words but get distracted). Is there a good online resource that helps explain the “contemplative” nature of the rosary? Thank you Bob. Love reading your words.

  6. Chiming in on praying the Rosary…it has been very helpful to me (and to my family) to pray a scriptural Rosary (a short reflection for each “Hail Mary,” or use a book illustrating the mysteries (sometimes one image per prayer) using sacred art. Praying the Rosary is definitely an art, not a “count-and-check-it-off-of-the-list” task (even though we do use the beads). There are many resources available online for both of these approaches. May God bless you as you strive to understand and be blanketed in His grace through Mary!

  7. Anne, I don’t believe he has a video specifically on the rosary, but Fr. Mike Schmitz has a number of powerful videos discussing the modes of prayer and the value of prayer within our Catholic Faith. If you have not watched him, I would offer that he is exceptionally good at answering questions like the ones you have in a very easy to listen to and understand kind of way. You can find him on YouTube.

  8. I can’t remember where I heard or read this, but sometimes I insert a phrase into the Hail Mary after “ and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus” like “ who rose from the dead”, “who ascended into heaven”, “who sent us the Holy Spirit” etc. depending on which mystery of the rosary I am praying.

  9. Hi Anne! your question is a very good one and please allow me to give you an idea of what I’ve heard about repetitious prayer. First I understand that babbling means something like repeating a word or couple of words, with the intention to get into trance, something like what the people who practice the kundalini yoga do by chanting a mantra to get out of reality; second, babbling is a word that means “vain or useless repetition” from the Greek “battalagesete” to repeat something mindlessly, but I’m sure that when you or any catholic prays, we don’t do it “mindlessly” and remember that praying (having a dialog with the Lord) is never something vain neither. Now, let me give you a couple of Bible passages where you’ll find beautiful repeating words of praise to the Lord: 1_ (Matt. 26:44); 2_(Lk. 18:13); 3_ (Rev. 4:8); 4_ (Ps. 136) and, Paul recommends us to “pray without ceasing” (1Thess. 5:17). God bless you.

  10. Great question, Ann. A lifelong Catholic, I also can’t get behind the Rosary. It does feel like babbling, especially when I’ve gone to Mass early, and have seen the tail end of people praying the Rosary. It seems lightning-fast, not contemplative at all. Everybody just going along with the words. Maybe I just don’t get it, and they do. They perhaps have done it so long that they easily get into a contemplative state, but from the outside it looks, and for me on the inside it feels, like mindless babbling from rote memorization.

    That being said, I have to cultivate a more prayerful attitude, in general when I pray, and specifically now when I am in the middle of a novena to the Infant of Prague (husband’s grandmother gave us a statue and a prayer booklet) as a means of extra prayer during Lent.

    When the novena is done, I’ll have to find something more up my alley. Perhaps the Stations of the Cross. I’ve always been drawn to them.

    Maybe that’s it. If you feel drawn to a prayer, and you can embrace it, and place your consciousness into it, then it’s not mindless babbling, because you’re engaged in it.

    A blessed, prayerful Lent to all! May God bless us on our journey!

  11. I believe what Jesus was referring to when he said babbling was those who tried to impress others with words. If the spirit of your prayers is honest intent to converse with
    Lord repetition doesn’t matter. Pray from the heart

  12. Thank you to everyone who responded about ideas on how to be more engaged with praying the rosary. Thank you for caring

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